Hand-made Paper Bead Jewelry
I was incredibly lucky growing up to attend high school in a suburb of Boston, which allowed me to major in art and assisted me with getting accepted into art school. My goal was to be an art teacher but at the time the arts were being cut from schools, so jobs were hard to come. shifted courses and attended the New England School of Art and design and worked doing fashion illustrations. Keeping the dream of teaching and not happy in my work, I attended Massachusetts College of Art and graduated with BFA in Art Education. My career in education took me from teaching art to Special Education and finally into Middle School administration.
Through each step I managed to still teach art in afterschool clubs, extended programs for Salem State College and local community education programs.
I find joy in creating art- think in my mind of what something could look like or be and then figuring out how to create it. Additionally I love to teach and watch the creative process from children of all ages and adults. I am currently the Gallery Manager and Education Coordinator for the Sandwich Fine Craft Gallery and Sandwich Home Industries. Being surrounded by great art, talking about it to customers and teaching classes is a dream job in my educational retirement.
I learned to make paper beads in a History of Crafts Class at Mass. College of Art. I dabbled with them on and off over the years and because I was serious about creative jewelry with a wide variety of beads I had learned how to make. I continue to explore with different papers, diverse ways of cutting the paper to create different shape beads and playing with unconventional materials like cloth and cork.
ArtWorksCCAC 