Bead Journal Project 2010

I am very excited to be part of The Bead Journal Project 2010.
I started working in fiber in the early 1970s.
I was trained as a weaver. Shortly after graduating from The California College of Arts and Crafts I started to do Pine Needle basketry.
In the early 1980s I was pretty consumed with basketry.
In 1979 I opened a retail bead shop in
San Diego,CA. A strong focus of the shop was education. In the 1980s I hired the very amazing Joyce Scott to come do a workshop. I was totally enthralled with her use of seed beads!
Peyote Stitch became a new obsession for me! At a certain point my baskets were so covered with beads that you could hardly see the basket! It was at that point that I started to focus more on the bead work. I continued to do sculptural peyote stitch both in jewelry pieces and sculpture. Over three years ago I sold the store and moved to Portland, Oregon.
It is wonderful to now have studio time that is free from the stress of owning a retail store.
I have been wanting to explore adding some of the textile techniques that I have been dabbling in for the past bunch of years to my bead work. The BJP will give me the ability to play with these techniques on a small scale and encourage me to stretch my imagination.
I am excited for this journey to begin...............