Last year I challenged myself to create a beaded tapestry each month. I decided that I do enjoyed the process, the exploration, the structure of the challenge – that I would do it again.
This year I have created 12 hands in polymer, holding various symbols that related to myth or the seasons/wheel of the year. Join me on this journey! I will be posting the inspirations and meaning each month as I design and create the mixed media piece.
For the first half of the year – go to this original post.
It started out as challenge to myself. Inspired by artist/beader and now fellow Art Elements contributor Cathy Mendola. It turned out to be educational, inspiring, and very, very fulfilling. Here is the remainder of the 2016 beaded goddess tapestries: 
December may be my favorite. Mandala and snowflake inspired shapes crown her head.
November – with a nod to Thanksgiving – rooted, holding wheat, recalling the harvest.
October brings Dia de Los Muertos. The color palette and designs inspired by sugar skulls and talavera tiles.
September/Virgo is my sign. I wanted her to reference the Zodiac a bit with the plenty/harvest that adorns the frame.
August – the ocean. Cresting waves, sandy neutrals.
July – the summer sky and a hint of swirling fireworks.
I am beginning work on a series for this year. While I had intended to take a smaller seasonal challenge this year – I had a great idea…. Stay tuned! Pictures coming!
I can’t believe we have turned the calendar page to December… Before we deck the halls, and fatten the goose – lets take a minute or two for the November COM over at Art Elements!
This month we had a guest artist! Kristie Roeder of Artisan Clay donated a few of her signature glass/glaze circular pendants. They are rich in color – pools you can dive in to! As you would expect – I forgot to take a picture of mine when I received it… I got the one pictured here on the top right!
The donated pendants from Artisan Clay
The colors were evocative of the night sky to me – and we had a Super Moon on November 14th. Wheels are turning… the Muse taps me on the shoulder. And I knew I would wire the “moon” into the center of the piece. Then stars, then crystals… and it all came together quickly.
Jasper “moon” wired into the celestial sky
Umm – love it all and its too big for me to wear – even better! I’ll hang it in my studio!
Finished pendant
I decided to add to the piece with a top section: nickle silver and faux bone. The Latin translates ti: “From darkness, light” and is a favorite quote of mine. I love the engraver – for those freehand swirls! I need to experiment more! I’m not sure how I want to hang the piece, but this ribbon is one option. What are your thoughts? Overall I am really happy with how it turned out – and I have been beading so much lately, it was GREAT to saw again…
Thanks for stopping in and please don’t miss the other designs this month from guests and team mates alike.
Guest Designers:
ArtE Team
Unloading a kiln is like opening presents. Its eager and tentative. Excitement and trepidation. Anticipation, sprinkled with hope, resulting in happiness.
I do this on average once a week. My work, my student’s work, other student work… Here is one window into one kiln.
My triple hare, my students mural tiles and other student work.
My custom giraffe, mural/mosaic border tiles and my adult students relief tiles!
My triple hare, my students mural tiles and other student work.
Welcome Autumn! Welcome to the reveal of the Tree themed challenge at Art Jewelry Elements. Caroline gave us a simply amazing inspiration post to start us off, and this image haunted me… 
This face in the trees made me think of many visual references, Green Men among them. But what to do? First there is my piece from a year or so ago – when Rebekah gave us wood grain hearts for COM:
Heart of the Forest piece from April 2015
Then there was a haunting memory of a poster I had as a teen. A poster showing carved stone heads of all the River Gods of Ireland. Personifications in stone of the rivers deities… A little Googling and I found some images. (Carved by E. Smyth, they are on the Customs House in Dublin)
River Gods of Ireland by E. Smyth. They adorn the Customs House in Dublin.
So I knew I wanted to reprise the dryad face… and move forward with that idea. Perhaps different faces for different tree species? I started with stoneware face cabochons I had in my inventory.
Heart of the Forest piece from April 2015
Heart of the Forest piece from April 2015
I love the matte stoneware with the softer satin look of the polymer. I did use some cabs that were glazed, but kept to my autumnal palette. I am thrilled with how this idea is evolving!
My 4 mixed media dryads await accents.
Feeling Fall. Waiting for beads and gems…
These dryads pendants are not going to set down roots in my studio! They will be paired with gems and as necklaces the will head to FaerieCon in November. I need to add a few dryad sisters to the grove…
Until then:
please take a peek at what our guests and my teammates have created this month!
AJE Team
So – earlier this week I mentioned “art camp” as Lesley and I had taken to calling it. And how we went to the AVAM. ( My first time!). So the week of our vacation held another local/art/field trip first for me. Isaiah Zagar’s Magic Garden in Philly.
I knew Zagar was a tile/mosaic master and eccentric visionary type artist. ( He even taught a work show earlier this year at Hacienda Mosaico in Mexico) I knew he had many public works around the South St. section of the city. I was prepared to be delighted. I was in actuality inspired and blown away.
Full scale wall mural installation on the same block as the Gardens. Note: dogs!
There is a sense of freedom and chaos in the murals – yet they are all designed to have composition and flow. There are commercial tiles integrated amidst fragmented industrial tiles and artists OOAK tiles. There are mirrors in abundance to play with light and reflection; incorporating the viewer into the piece… and a chance for random mosaic selfies, I will admit.
I was completely enchanted with other ceramic pieces incorporated into mosaics in such a non traditional way.
The inner courtyard at the PMG is simply… epic.
Art is the center of the real world.
This sanctuary to be inhabited by my ides and my fantasies.
The garden is excavated down and interlocking pathways are built of concrete, flotsam & jetsam, found objects…
The gardens were a personal piece that Zagar worked on – the space was his studio – for app. 8 years. When the land owner wanted to sell/demolish the installation, a grassroots community organization saved the PMG, and it now functions as a non profit organization. I would recommend it to anyone, tourist or not, artist or not. Its a momentous undertaking that is impressive, inspirational, fun yet gritty, filled with joie d’ vivre.
I’ll just sit and watch the clouds roll by and ponder the meaning of life… and how mosaics may feature in new work this fall…
The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.
Why had I never been here before?
Last week my friend and blog colleague Lesley Watt was visiting. We had planned our vacation art camp with a mix of field trips and artwork projects. The weather was so insanely cooperative – very unlike late August/early September usually is… So our first adventure was the AVAM in Baltimore, on a glorious temperate, blue-skied day…
Mosaic bluebird of happiness.
A museum is covered in installations.
Bunny! On the “Magic Bus”
This mosaic Cosmic Galaxy egg was breath taking. It even incorporated images from the Hubble telescope. ( Artist: Andrew Logan)
The Museum grounds are outstanding. Sculpture, installations, fountains, gardens. I felt completely enchanted before we even entered the museum.
A sense of fun, a tranquil enclosure…
There are many instances where words or a quote stop you in your tracks. I did manage to capture a few heartfelt phrases.
There is no photography allowed in the museum, so you are seeing pieces from the grounds, and in the mirror below a stealth pix of Lesley in a mirrored mosaic. The blue sculpture above? Entirely beaded, representing John Waters and Divine as a folk art weather house – you know – where figures emerge and disappear depending on the weather readings?
No pictures allowed IN the museum, but the bathrooms were fair game!
In the gardens between the buildings. A true oasis in the city.
Need I say more?
Amazing views from the AVAM Bird’s nest balcony
After the museum we headed to the Inner Harbor for a tourist browse and then dinner. Crab cakes, naturally.
The Inner Harbor – then off for crab cakes!
Lesley has posted regarding the adventures over at Art Jewelry Elements. Take a look at her pix! And stay tuned for more here, later this week!
Every square inch is used…
Its a whirlwind. I felt such a sense of relief as I left to set up… yes – before the show started! The week prior was so busy and stressful! Thursday was set up, airport trip to pick up friends, and time to socialize!
The debut of the shrine pendants!
I was happy to debut my polymer shrine pendants – which were well received! I will be continuing to work with this shape and format. Lovely to see familiar faces, to talk beads, to meet new people !
And with Cooky Schock and Heather Boardman as my booth neighbors – I couldn’t ask for a better home away from home.
The “Mythic Nature ” line in cabs and pendants.
A few of the monthly goddesses on display
And a last minute batch of goddesses – of course!
I always wish I had taken more people pictures…
So I am really glad when friends take pictures!
There was some shopping. There were some high jinks. There was a lot of coffee.
The lucet – braiding Zen
New this year: the lucet. Braiding from one cord with these fork shaped tools. Easy once you get your tension right… Cooky has these stunning hardwood lucets made in Wales by an artisan woodworker.
And the beads. And cabochons. And headpins. I was pretty restrained – only 4 strands of gems. I couldn’t handle the thought of being at Bead Fest and NOT buying stones! But the real treat for me is the artwork beads and components by my friends and colleagues in Artisan’s Alley!
What Bead Fest post would be complete with out the “loot” picture?
Now – to recover, unpack, and plan for the September shows on my calendar!
Have a great weekend…
So Bead Fest is right around the corner. I have some 200 pendants and cabs that need to be glazed. Yesterday I glazed, loaded and fired the kiln and make polymer sugar skull cabs. Today – I felt like playing hooky. So I went on an art field trip…
Good day for drive!
I had a couple different ways to justify the trip – although no one challenged me. <smirks> I had NEVER been to Amy Blevins bead store even though it was a short hour away. And there were some enticing things she was posting online that I wanted to check out. There were classes this weekend with the charming Cynthia Rutledge; cant hurt to take a peak!
My destination! My “local” bead store…
Vintage style…
I don’t have any local bead stores in northern Delaware. I am so glad to support my friend, and a local-ish store… I had some show and tell with me – and the August goddess is ready to bead. I needed a few things.
What a welcoming foyer!
Lisa Peters Art cabs and eye candy beads!
Yes, please.
Shh… class in session
The store is lovely! Brightly lit in a corner spot on the charming small town main street. It has everything and more you could want/need/lust after for your projects. I needed to show a little restraint – but I found all I needed and more! I could see myself taking a class there in a heartbeat. The joy of a class in a setting like this – as I was discussing with Amy – you aren’t rushed. Class sizes are smaller and much more personal than at the larger bead shows. Great one on one with the instructor, and shopping right there. I know sometimes the big shows are the only access people have to classes – but after the Shepherdess years I am thoroughly spoiled. Bead & Glass Boutique is the class room climate I prefer!
Mischief managed
So the August goddess is glued and ready. The aquas and teals are my favorites, but I wanted to do something different this month. I wanted to play up the antique/ivory/bone palette. So – Umm. I needed beads. And waiting for Bead Fest? Nope – leaves me no time left!
August goddess
Antiques and ivory
My favorite palette
Oh yes. O beads, mini daggers, 8 hex beads in bronze, those triangles! And Amy gave me a great tip for stacking the 2 hole – umm are they the super duos? Well, anyway – I have a plan, and inspiration!
Time to get started…
Oh – speaking of Bead Fest – I will be back in the glaze cave tomorrow morning. If you are planning to attend, I would love to offer you this admission coupon! See you there!
Admisssion pass
At the international arrivals gate in Philadelphia- yet I hear Hugh Grant in my head from “love actually”. Well I may not be IN Heathrow but I’m awaiting Lesley arriving from Heathrow. 
Jenny Davies-Reazor 
