Seven

 The world  is on fire and it has more thorns, teeth and poison these days than I would have imagined it could ever wield. Daily, we ponder being masticated by evil orange clowns and flying monkeys and their exploding dumpsters. There is nothing I can do about that. Can't even offer you much solace in the form of wise words, silver linings, platitudes. Nothing is going to be ok just because I say so.

I am sure you all have figured that out without me and perhaps you came to the same conclusions: it's all going to fall apart with or without us losing our mind.

I can't deal with all the evil and while I am not going to not look at the evil  I am  also not going to be sucked into the abyss either. Fucking thing has gone from staring to wolf whistling this year. 

So what now? Little things. Snuggles, comfy socks, comfort food, dog kisses, favorite music. Sharing and caring and reaching out and connecting. Forgiving when I should, moving on and closing doors when that's what's called for. Cultivating the fire within because righteous anger is also a very valid feeling to nurture now. Can't let that mellow into indifference by the barrage of never ending assault on dignity, human rights, decency. Spend time with the wrath, turn it into art, aim it where you may- but with intent and forethought.

I have been revisiting the places and things that made me happy in the past. The roots of my bead creativity. Rediscovering old designs, looking at them sometimes a decade and a half after their inception and see if they still hold meaning, value. Seeing through their lens to gage  how much the world has changed. Or how much I have changed.

I have come to the conclusion that I circled back. How was once is how it is now: we have gone through a long spell of beading where bigger, more, different was the rule of the land. Remember the Czech beads that used to come out so quick  and disappear so quick too that by the time you hunted them down and learned their name, they went obsolete? All the lovely new materials squeezed into bead embroidery in so many ways that the only thing left out was perhaps soul? Hence searching for that soul is what got me back to reevaluate the values.

For me this year is about meaning. Style. Thought. Essence. Editing. I firmly believe that the most important aspect of being an artist is editing. It's not just all the stuff you pile on, it's all the things you don't. Simplicity is only simple secondhand. To get there on your own, to concentrate your effort, will, power to give form and to keep things distinctly in line with the thing that makes you- You; that's a worthwhile undertaking.

This year is about comfort in repetition, underlying rules governing compositions, basic and beautiful and timeless elements combined. I am not going to purge my stash and chase some puritanical ideal. Nope, that's not it. I am going at least partially focus on harmony and balance found in colors and shapes without distraction. 

I have been enjoying sketching more. Medieval art always felt close to my heart. 

An image kept on nagging at me: the three hares. Strange image it is, one that appears all over the world. 

For the past five years or so I pestered at least four different artist friends with making me three hares. At the time I imagined them to be a focal made out of either  metal, wood, ceramics, or plastic. I was going to just bead around them and bury them in pretties and be done with it.

It just so happens that due to any number of circumstances the bunnies did not hop home. It is for the best.  I think I did right by the three hares more so by beading them.

I looked at pictures of manhole covers from England. I looked at pictures of tombstones from Jewish cemeteries. I looked at art from all over, the three hares interpreted by any number of eyes and hands. Then I sketched them in my little book and worked on them wild bunbuns until what was on the paper matched up with what was in my heart.

I am not going to lie. This is not as simple as it looks. Since there is no space wasted, this is a meditation in beads. Every single thing matters. From cutting out the paper template perfectly to outlining and filling in one bead at a time, to carefully pinning bunbuns on a form to make them fit. 

It is the simplest and hardest thing and as such, it opens so many many possibilities, inspires so many hareful explorations. 

I ended up calling it Seven. Because the three hares are combined with four others to make a necklace. Seven. With all the things that this number brings. Everyone has feelings about seven. I am not going to tell you about all the things seven stands for, means, you can find your own personal meaning in it while you get lost in it. 

During the pandemic and awful lot of bead stores closed down or changed the way they do business. Bead societies scattered. Things are changing. The snow globe of our beadiverse got picked up by some uncaring outsider's  hand and was given a long lasting, vigorous shake with no care to the inhabitants. Lots of things fell to the side and got buried under other things. Lots of other things started reflecting light where there was no light before. There are many shiny particles still swirling for the moment -up and down- and it seems like things will never settle in the same pattern as they were before. 

And life is such: the only thing constant is change, after all. 

I am excited to announce that the first place you can  take this workshop is the Museum of Beadwork ,  second weekend of July 2025. You can't sign up for it just yet but when signups open, I will add the link to this post. I am honored to be working with the museum and will also have an exhibit there that may or may not coincide with the workshops. 

 The pictures of my prototype show the necklace made out of lapis lazuli beads with gaspeite eyes. I will have other gems. Think garnet, malachite, spinel and pyrite. Think pearls and labradorite too. There will also be less expensive but equally beautiful options of glass beads taking the place of the gems. 

For those who can not participate in person, there will be the option to take the class with the aid of a full length video course combined with a  2 hour zoom meet up after the event.