500 years of women in art

I just received an email with a link to this video on Youtube. I apologize if I'm the last person in the Universe to see this and you've all seen it before. If you haven't, it's really amazingly done and I hope you enjoy it. Someone has compiled 500 years of women's portraits in art and blended them together with music into an interesting sort of "journal." Click here to view. Enjoy!

Aloha from Makaha!

I am so happy I found out about this project at about.com before the deadline passed! It is such a thrill to participate with all of you and under the guidance of one of my most admired beading goddesses, Robin. I purchased "One Bead at a Time" back in 2000 and am still completely awestruck! I have been wanting to learn more about bead embroidery and try my hand at art journaling - this is the perfect opportunity. I recently decided to go back to college and the current whim is a degree in Art History. So I thought I'd try to incorporate that into the journal as well. Once a month I will visit one of the local galleries or museums here on Oahu to find my inspiration for the month's project. The Honolulu Academy of Arts currently has an exhibit on Indian Textiles and Beadwork - that sounds like a great place to start! My next piece just might be inspired by a three dimensional artwork by David Hockney that's at the Contemporary Museum of Art. I think I could very well end up with 12 different journals rather than just 12 pieces of beadwork! Warmest wishes to all and a big thank you to Robin!
Nancy

Tentatively Excited

My name is Melodie and I live in Oregon. I've lived all over the U.S. and lived for a few years in Italy a very long time ago. My family lived on an Indian reservation in the Southwest USA when I was a child, an one of our neighbors taught me to bead. The rest is history. I have more beads that time, but sometimes I just like to touch them and look at the colors. Beading has almost always been a meditation for me. I am excited about the project, but also know that I am a procrastinator extraordinaire.

In addition to beading, I sew, quilt, paint, embroider, cross-stitch, etc., etc., etc. I also care for my disabled husband and for my mother. The profession that found me is information technology and I am an IT director for a gaming resort.

I do not want to fail in meeting my promised beading, so I've put away everything else to bead for the next year. I am not used to having only one project going at a time, so wish me luck!! There are so many incredible beaders with this project, I am in awe. Some time ago I was asked from whom I would take beading lessons if I could, I answered, "Robin Atkins." Now, I am part of this huge project she is pulling together. What a blessing!! Thanks so much!!

P.S. Here it is toward the end of June and I've not stitched a single bead yet. I am moving right now so my life is in chaos. I hope to get settled into my new country home soon. I have the first page all planned out and I've gathered the bits and pieces for it. The theme for the first page is sort of "When I was young". At this mid-point in my life, I've been reflecting on all the people, places, and things that have come into and out of my life. Everything that brought me to where I am now. So, we'll see what comes out in the journal. Beading Blessings to all.

So Many Options, Only 12 Months?

Hi, I'm Andi and the piece here is Cactus Moon, a fusion of machine embroidery and bead embroidery. It's one of a series based on a hand embroidered piece called Desert Moon. I vary between expressions, depending on what motion I need to feel or what colors I want to use. I used to say I made quilts when beadwork was too slow. I was able to take a workshop with Joyce Scott at the Quilt/Surface Design Symposium ten years ago, and what I didn't learn there, I got from Robin's wonderful One Bead at a Time. (Robin, you may remember me from ArtFest in 2002, I met you in the bathroom after my part of the teacher slide show where I mentioned you and your book).

Anyway. I am not exactly sure which format I'm going to take yet. So many possibilities. I like these so far:
Chinese Zodiac
Western Zodiac
Moon of the Month (for instance, June is the Strawberry moon)
Month of the month (just do a piece based on that month, to put together in a calendar format at some point)
Roy G Biv with a bit extra :)
Twelve Tribes of Israel
Twelve Dancing Princesses
Twelve Days of Christmas

Oh dear, I went and woke my brain up.

I am very excited to be here and very excited to meet you all.

Pull the shades!

"~little windows into the personality of an artist ~"
This is one of my work areas in my Arizona studio, my mind and personality isn't much different. Grinning - Does the world really want to look in my window?

My personal preference is to see photos and progress of everybody's work. I can't work in a Vacuum and find that creative give and take makes for a more interesting outcome on any project. I thrive on bouncing creative ideas around, which is why I attend Bead Caves and teach - I learn as much from my students as I teach them.

For a couple of years I've been saying that I wanted to do a major, long term, project and I thank Robin for the opportunity to do just that - one that really grabs my attention, can be broken down into manageable chunks and gives me some focus & deadlines to meet. I'm mulling around a "theme" or "structure" for my project. I grew up in Chile, so I'm thinking of my structure as a very loose association based on an Andean Quipu, which was sort of personal notes in cord and knots. In reality, I personally need the physical structure of the "blank pages" of a journal to write upon with beads. What I bead for those pages will be what each month throws my way. Each string will be a month, recorded somehow, in beads.

Liz's test...

..looks like I can post also. I do love blogger. It is very easy.

Pictures? Hmmm, I've been thinking about that - while I do love seeing what everyone is doing, maybe wait a couple of months. I have a couple of ideas running though my head (trust me, they have plenty of room to run and I took the scissors away from them), I know that I am directly influenced by what I see.

That's how these hips got this size.

I am very excited to be part of this and I am off to the fabric store to see if what is running in my mind is laying on a shelf there.