Artist Biographies
Anne Dilker
Moss Hollow Pottery
Anne came to jewelry design via pottery. “Clay has been a part of my life for nearly as long as I can remember. After 10 years as a full time studio potter I started making beads in 2005 and was, more or less, forced into jewelry design to provide examples of my beads in use. It was a natural fit to start working with fiber and mizuhiki (Japanese paper cords). My beads have big holes, necessary to accommodate the firing rods, and the bulk provided by fiber as a stringing material works really well. I hope you'll join me for a class or two. We'll tie some knots, twist some textiles, and have an overall good time.”
Cindy Edelstein is the owner of Jeweler's Resource Bureau, a niche marketing consultancy dedicated to helping designers grow and prosper. A journalist by trade, Cindy's expertise comes from 20 years in the fine jewelry industry championing the designer sector with projects she has created just to serve her niche. She has created trade shows, conferences, publications and online businesses that offer designers education, marketing opportunities and business advocacy not seen anywhere else. Often called the Designer's Guru, Cindy has listened to her clients and set out to teach and offer them all they need and make it fun and easy to do.
Website: www.jewelersresource.com
Blog: www.jewelrybusinessguru.typepad.com/blog/
Email: cindy@jewelersresource.com
Dottie Hoeschen was born in Chattanooga, TN, but grew up in Marietta, GA. Marietta was at this time a rural community and it was while playing in those woods near home that she grew to love the organic shapes and patterns that now figure predominantly in her work.
She received her Bachelor of Visual Arts degree from Georgia State University with a major in painting. After graduation she worked independently in a variety of media (primarily oils and watercolors) and exhibited extensively through the '80s and '90s, showing a strong affinity for landscape, though still life and some portraiture also figured into her subject matter. Her paintings made their way into the collections of Walt Disney World, Coca Cola Company, Cape May County Cultural Heritage Commission, and the Banks Haley Gallery, as well as many private collectors.
The birth of two sons called for a change in tactics (she could no longer have long uninterrupted stretches of time in which to work) and eventually a change in media. About nine years ago Dottie began to make small pictorial pins as a way to express her creative side without needing to have those large "blocks" of time. She began to add a few beads dangling from the pins to add interest and movement, and was surprised to find that, gradually, what could be done with the beads became more interesting than what could be done with the pins themselves!
An exploration of bead weaving began in earnest about seven years ago and she now teaches classes and has had articles featuring her work in Bead&Button Magazine, Step by Step Beads, and Bead World. She has also been included in several books.
Dottie now lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Harold. She has two sons, Josh, who guides and teaches in Alaska, and Ben, who is a Sophomore at Prescott College in Prescott, Arizona.
She can be reached at: dottie@stonebrashcreative.com
Eleanor Wiley
Contemporary Prayer Beads
Bay Area resident Eleanor Wiley is a mother, grandmother and an artist. Her work celebrates the universal use of beads in prayer, as a tactile reminder in the practice of being present in each moment. Her Sacred Wheel of Peace, representing all spiritual paths, is becoming widely accepted mandala, 'A Place to Begin' to be at peace with self and one another.
Eleanor has supported and been actively involved in her community over the years as a speech pathologist, adult school educator, gerontologist, community activist, and hospital administrator; her life experience and community background lend a dimension to her workshops that gives participants of all ages insights into the endless ways they can personally incorporate beads into their lives.
Eleanor has been creating Contemporary Prayer Beads since 1994. The beads have been exhibited both nationally and internationally. She has presented workshops at the Parliament of World Religions, Cape Town, South Africa, and Barcelona, Spain; and through the Balkan Youth Reconciliation Series, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria; Budapest, Hungary; and Timosura, Romania. She has given personal prayer beads to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Fr. L Freeman, OBS, founder of the World Community for Christian Meditation, Ram Das, Ophra, Rachel Naomi Remen MD, Larry Dossey MD, and many others.
The book A String and a Prayer: Creating and Using Contemporary Beads, authors Eleanor Wiley and Maggie Oman Shannon, was released in September 2002 by Red Wheel Weiser Publishers.
Contributor-Beading for the Soul-Interweave Press Fall 2005
There Are No Mistakes-Redwheel/Weiser April 2006
Elizabeth has been beading since March 2003 when she and her young daughter started BeadJeweled, Inc. At first she began with stringing but was soon intrigued with the endless possibilities offered by seed beads. Elizabeth has been teaching at national bead shows since 2005.
Elizabeth is drawn to the three-dimensional aspects of fitting beads together. Many of her designs resemble traditional jewelry but are constructed with seed beads. She lives and works in Tampa, Florida.Please visit www.beadjeweledinc.com/ to learn more about Elizabeth's work.
John Winter has been a beadmaker for 15 years, and his work has been published in numerous publications, including Lapidary Journal. His videos, Glass Bead Making and Glass Beads in Concert with Metals, have been well recieved and form the core of his classes. He has taught at the Corcoran College of Art, Augusta Heritage Center and at bead stores and societies around the country.
Email john@winterglas.com
Website: www.winterglas.com
Linda has been designing and teaching bead weaving and wire work for over 10 years. You can find her at most Innovative Bead Expo shows as well as Bead Fest Philadelphia.
She has had over 60 of her designs published in most of the major beading magazines and wrote her own book "Great Beaded Gifts" Sterling Publishing NYC released in hard cover in 2005 and re-released in 2007 in soft cover.
You can reach her at ladybeading@aol.com if you have any questions regarding her classes.
Artist Statement by Marcie McIntire:
I believe any artistic endeavor should involve a vision. My vision has been primarily to explore my design capabilities. During my youth, I spent a great deal of time experimenting with color and design. I discovered the design potential of an artist is practically unlimited. It was exciting to make use of my designs and the media I chose was beads.
Creating designs is an individual pursuit, particularly when an artist uses her personal designs. Further Ojibwe tradition, including the oral tradition passed down in bead working families has dictated that we use our own designs. The designs portray any experience in our lives that has meaning. Thus the meaning attached to the designs is individualistic because it reflects our personal life experiences. The meaning can change with time and individual experience thoughout the course of one’s life.
I have been striving throughout my life to have beadwork accepted as a true art form rather than relegated to craft or folk art. It does not matter which media is used as long as an artist’s inspiration and motivations are in pursuit of her vision. A vision involves an artist’s interpretation and rationale of her existence and destiny in the universe. Such an interpretation is derived from tradition, personal beliefs and individual experience.
My art is not merely an occupation or a means of financial gain. Instead it is a lifestyle consuming most of my moments. I live for my art each day of my life.
Marlene Richey has been on both sides of the jewelry showcase having run a wholesale handmade jewelry business and a successful jewelry gallery. During the past three decades she has grown and nourished these artistic, entrepreneurial businesses and taught herself how to sell, market, merchandise, publicize and profitize designer jewelry and fine craft. She is a well-known teacher and lecturer on the subject of design entrepreneurship and the author of the book "Profiting by Design."
Website: www.marlenerichey.com
Email: marlene.richey@comcast.net
Working with different materials provides an avenue for me to play with every element of design to stretch my concepts of what goes with what and how so that the world is never a constant; never the same as it was a minute ago. I like that new way of seeing. It's both surprising, delightful and world expanding.
Meredith's classes are known for the volume of information she has to provide as well as her humor in the classroom. It is her intended goal that her students are successful in her classes.
Michelle Buettner
Graduate Pearls Diploma (GIA)
Michelle Buettner Bio:
Michelle Buettner is the jewelry artist and designer behind MiShel Designs. She holds a Graduate Pearls Diploma and Pearl Grading Lab Certificate from the Gemological Institute of America (Carlsbad, CA).
Always in pursuit of knowledge and studies of various gems, precious metals, and semi-precious stones as well as new techniques and mediums, her design philosophy mirror’s her view of life and beauty; “Beauty surrounds us every minute of every day. To be aware of it simply requires being open to all you encounter.” She takes pride in the quality she uses to create her designs and places emphasis on durability and functionality as well as esthetics.
Michelle is grateful to those close to her in the arts community and credits them with fostering her artistic talents and providing her with invaluable knowledge and design skills.
Michelle’s jewelry designs are currently offered for sale at The Textures / Robert Roman Gallery at ArtSpace on Sixth in Old Town Scottsdale, at Heart and Soul Boutique in Prescott, Arizona and through several online boutiques/outlets such as her signature boutique MiShelDesigns.com, as well as Indie Collective, the Indie Friendly section of Craftrevolution.com, Wedding Wire, Wedding and Design, and Azure Sea Imports. MiShel Designs has also been featured seasonally as a ‘Designer on the Rise’ at Stylebakery.com.
Michelle lives in
Email: shel@asicj.com
Website: www.misheldesigns.com
Shannon Harrison has been teaching classes and workshops on bead stringing and beaded jewelry repair for over 24 years. She enjoys teaching what she has learned through trial and tribulation. Let her make beading easy and fun, not stressful. Shannon is widely respected for her knowledge and expertise in repairing beaded pieces.
Email her at: pineyho35@yahoo.com
Sharon Smith is the owner of Wildflower Beads in Prescott, Arizona. Sharon can be reached at www.wfbeads.com or via email 506gurley@cox.net.
Stephanie Maddalena has a BA in Fine Arts and teaches at the Art School at Old Church and the New Jersey Center for Visual Arts. She also teaches at Brookfield Craft Center and Silvermine School in Connecticut and The Rockland Center for the Arts and Hudson Beach Glass in New York. She has taught at Urban Glass in Brooklyn, exhibits at the Park Avenue Armory craft show in Manhattan and has been published in La Vie Claire Magazine, Spring 2005.
Email: smibeads@aol.com
Website: www.stephaniemaddalenaglass.com
Sue is a chainmaille artist and designer. She teaches classes in Wisconsin and Las Vegas, Nevada. She also teaches at national shows across the country. Her husband, Steve, makes her jump rings in several metals and multiple sizes. She started her professional life as a registered nurse, but for the last few years has been working with chain maille jewelry, sometimes combined with crystals. She has been teaching students the art of jewelry making in Wisconsin, Illinois, and now, Arizona.
Website: www.jewelrybysueonline.com
Sue Quinque was a high school art teacher for 34 years. Her passion for beads began seven years ago with a stringing workshop and continued to grow expanding to wire, chain maille and metal clay. She currently teaches at My Father’s Beads in Coopersburg, PA and Buttercup Beads in Pottstown, PA.
Email: quinque2@msn.com
Tracy Nelligan is an all around artist from St. Petersburg, FL. Her experience in art includes lampwork, pottery, water colors, stain glass, as well as being a silversmith. She has been creating beautiful glass for 13 years. Her affirmation beads have been seen in Bead Style Magazine and Barbara Mcquire's book. You can also visit the Florida Craftsman Gallery in St. Petersburg where Tracy has her art line. At the gallery you can view her sterling silver Dancing Angels, designer pendants and earrings, Woman with Attitude and Recycled Barn Angels.
