Gallery
Beaded Leather Purses
My love affair with seed beads began in 1970, just after graduating from the University of Colorado. I was living in a single room log cabin at 10,500ft. in the Rocky mountains with no running water or electricity and began beading by the light of kerosene lamps. I beaded circular mandalas in geometric patterns that were laced onto leather handbags that I taught myself how to make. Beading fired up my creative energies and provided a means for me to express the beauty I witnessed around me as well as a way of reconnecting spiritually to the world I lived in.
For twenty years I continued to work with beads and leather. In the beginning, I beaded onto a light piece of leather stretched tautly over an embroidery hoop using a simple back-stitching technique. This was taken off the hoop when completed and laced onto the front of a leather purse. Eventually I wanted to break out of my perfectly circular motifs and I started to bead directly onto the surface of the leather handbags. This shift opened up many more design possibilities for the beadwork and I started to take the beading over onto the back of the purses and under the front flaps. In addition, I started to bead 3-dimensionally onto the surface of the purse, building the beads up in layers upon layers.
Unfortunately the first ten years of my beaded hand-bags were never documented, though I do have several of the earliest ones that I made for family members that were returned to me to be photographed. I still occasionally return to making beaded leather products, such as baby moccasins, and still enjoy the feel and smell of leather as I’m working.
Jewelry
Since the dawn of time, humans have used beads for body adornment both for protection against evil spirits as well as a means of showing appreciation for beauty. My work in body adornment falls into the latter category. Each piece is meant to amplify the intrinsic beauty of the person wearing the necklace, bracelet, earrings or brooch. I instill in each piece the beauty I feel inside of myself, coupled with the beauty I see all around me: the graceful elegance of Mother Nature at her best.
The techniques I use are traditional stitches from different cultures around the world, such as the gourd stitch from the Middle East, the herringbone and Xhosa double-faced scallop stitches from South Africa. These are used in a free-form manner along with a wide variety of different beads, some of which are made by hand using either a torch or kiln. The variety of beads and technique give each piece its texture, contrast and uniqueness. I also occasionally use precious and semi-precious gemstones in some of my larger neckpieces such as the Australian Boulder opal in “Earth Fire”.
I enjoy making custom-designed, one of a kind pieces of jewelry for specific clients, knowing that the beauty I am channeling into the piece will reflect the inner beauty of its new owner. And I especially enjoy making free-form jewelry since each piece will be unique and will reflect my need for spontaneity and improvisation, not only in my work but in the rest of my life as well. “Experiment, Explore and Enjoy” is my motto!
Vessels
In early 1995 I taught myself how to make small beaded vessels. My goal was to create a three dimensional form that did not need an armature, as in my beaded stick figures. I also liked the concept of the vessel form as a container for etheric matter or for more earthly items such as jewelry, rose petals or even daily vitamin supplements. Thus, these little vessels could be viewed as contemporary sculptural basketry or they could have a more utilitarian function within the home.
I started in the bottom of each vessel with three beads, using circular gourd stitch and kept the circular motion going as I brought up the side walls to the desired height. I designed specific patterns in these early vessels, such as kokopeli and various totem animals such as bear, turtle and butterfly. In this regard, the vessels became “spirit” vessels, meant to convey the power that each of the totem animals represented.
I began to experiment with the shapes of these vessels, making the walls contort inward and outward, closing up the tops of some of them to create an interior space that is mysterious and pregnant with potential. Some forms also have a hidden surprise within that can only be discovered when picked up and held.
I experimented with spiral shapes and bead patterns, the spiral being an ancient symbol since Paleolithic times. It stands as a symbol of oneness and traces the rule of the “golden mean” – the special relationship between a part and a whole that acts as a formula for harmony and beauty.
The ruffled edges I put on some of these vessels led directly into my more sculptural series of ‘SeaForms’.
Stick Figures
I began my sculptural beaded stick series in 1989. I searched through the forest in which I live for tree branches that resembled the human form in some sort of movement or gesture. Working in the gourd (peyote) stitch, I wove the entire surface of each stick with size 11 glass seed beads, free-forming the beadwork in difficult areas such as where branches protruded from the main trunk. It was as if I was giving the branch a second surface or skin of beads. I placed each object on a base of my choice such as slate or wood. The largest piece in this series stands 3 feet tall.
Each piece in the stick series represents a deep emotional process within myself that is reflected in the title. “Resisting the Mirror”, for instance, portrays the contortions we go through when the mirror of truth is presented to us and we resist looking into it out of fear of what will be reflected there. Often we would rather avoid the truth of how our words or actions have affected another person.
Because wood is extremely fragile, shipping these pieces to exhibitions was problematic. “Resisting the Mirror” was part of a national, 2-year traveling exhibition of contemporary American Craft and was returned to me broken in three places. Upset and deeply annoyed at its fractured condition, I resisted repairing it for well over ten years.
Seaforms
The concept for my ‘SeaForm’ series began to evolve in 1995 as an outgrowth of my previous work in beaded baskets and figurative stick sculptures. I wanted to work without an armature yet still be able to evoke movement and motion in a free-standing sculptural vessel.
Each ‘SeaForm’ is sui generis, inspired by underwater coral reef structures. I use a multitude of off-loom beadweaving techniques that include the gourd (peyote) stitch, herringbone, ladder, brick, single-needle right angle weave and netting stitches. Most beads are added one at a time with needle and thread and each bead eventually receives two passes through it. I use a variety of sizes of glass beads as well as a variety of beads with different shapes and textures. The more complex forms are made in component parts that are stitched together with needle and thread and may take up to three months to complete.
I do not begin with a pre-conceived idea of how the forms will develop, or even what colors of beads will eventually be used. Instead, I respond to the forms as they evolve in a totally interactive and collaborative manner. My sense of color is intuitive and playful.
The glass bases are designed specifically for each ‘SeaForm’ and blown by a friend under my supervision. The surface textures on each base are introduced while the glass is in a molten state, using a series of bronze ‘stamps’ that have been cast from ocean coral.
The titles for my ‘SeaForms’ have come through an integration of my interest in the mysteries of under-ocean scenery and the bodies of water located within the Indonesian Archipelago and the Caribbean.
Mandalas
Beading mandalas is a meditative process for me. It is a means of reconnecting with my internal center and exploring a new path to spiritual and creative expression. It is a way of creating balance and harmony in my life.
The word mandala comes from the ancient Sanskrit language of India and can be translated as meaning “circle, center, or circumference”. I began making beaded mandalas in 1970 when I first began working with beads. These were stitched onto leather handbags I made by hand and became the focal point of each purse. The early designs were geometric patterns that radiated outward from a single bead in the center.
During the summer of 2013, in preparation for our two-person exhibition at the Jenkins Arboretum, I created a series of 3 dimensional mandalas that were set into wooden frames turned on the lathe by David. These include a number of flowers and a desert scene from Monument Valley. The concept of using a 2-dimensional plane to create 3-D beadwork is both exciting and a challenge and takes my original work in mandalas to a new level of intricacy.