several classes, proposed the Beaded Journal Project (BJP). When the project was created, Robin
described it as “241 women and 1 man who are dedicated and committed to creating 12 bead journal pages, one per month, for a year, starting June 1, 2007. We live in 13 different countries, including 37 states in the USA. Our primary goal during this process is to stretch our creative and technical limits. The BJP is all about visual journaling using any media and techniques, as long as it includes beading.” I gladly joined the project in June of 2007, and this gallery is dedicated to the twelve pieces I created during that year.
Click on any image to see a larger view. All art pieces are framed; dimensions listed are for artwork
only. (Scroll to the bottom of this page for more details about the work in this gallery.)
This was the first time I had undertaken a lengthy series of work, and it proved to be both challenging and enriching (as much of life is). Quite early in the process, questions arose in my mind like: “What's the best way to finish the irregular edge and narrow stem of the leaf?” (and “Why again did I choose to work with such a challenging shape?”). It was a great exercise for me to work toward distinct and satisfying designs for 12 different leaves and panels—each with its own theme, connection to its month of creation, and relationship to my own thoughts, interests, and meditations. June, for example, with the summer solstice and my own love of yoga, became “Sun Salutation”—my greeting to warmth, summer, and the sun. It was also created shortly after reading Thich Nhat Hanh's book “The Sun My Heart”—a wonderful little series of essays I recommend for anyone interested in the thoughts of this remarkable Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk. Living in Wisconsin in a community surrounded by farmland makes me keenly aware of the cycles of farmland seasons. As I was creating “Harvest” in August, I had great fun creating little glass hay bales with some wonderful green and gold beads I'd been given. “The Quiet Season”, created in January, felt particularly appropriate for a winter in which my region received over 100" of snow. And “Emergence”, which I created in March, was inspired both by the renewal of life we were just beginning to see around us and by watching the wonderful film “Rivers and Tides”—a documentary about installation artist Andy Goldsworthy and his creations in nature. Each of the panels progressed in this way—responding to books and poems I was reading, responding to changes in the southern Wisconsin landscape, and responding to one another. It was my quest to make each panel distinct from all the others and yet part of a coherent series; and it is my constant quest to learn something new with each piece of art I make.
All of the panels are 9" wide, 11" high, and have a large cottonwood leaf as their central design motif. It is the slightly enlarged silhouette of a cottonwood leaf I found while walking my dog. The complete set of panels is my contribution to the four-person exhibition: “Fabricated Realms” displayed at the Overture Center for the Arts, 201 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin; June 21–September 14, 2008.