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~ U P D A T E D August 9, 2006 ~
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Fearless Beadwork

Improvisational Peyote Stitch, Handwriting & Drawings From Hell

                                                ISBN 0-89822-100-2

Search for Joyce Scott on halfvalue ~ Search for the book on halfvalue

Joyce Scott. Self-Published in 1994 during a residency at Visual Studies Workshop, funded by the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation.

This book by contemporary beadwork pioneer, Baltimore artist Joyce Scott, is essentially a handwritten comic book revealing Joyce's tools and techniques for peyote stitch, which she uses to execute her freeform, freestanding sculptures made of seed beads. It is informal, irreverent and informative, with hand-drawn illustrations of increasing and decreasing in 3D peyote stitch, and B&W photographs of the artist's mostly figural work.

The writing is hilarious and Joyce depicts herself as a superhero in high heels and a spandex suit. Reading this book does for beaders what reading Spiritual Midwifery does for women going into labor -- it's a total psychic release! But good luck finding a copy. It's way rare. ~
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Bead Art

                                                 ISBN 0-89024-367-0

Search for the book on halfvalue ~ Alice Korach

Edited by Alice Korach (former and founding editor of Bead and Button magazine)
Published in 1998 by Kalmbach, this hardback commemorates the works in the national exhibit Beadworks 1998 (now called Bead International), at the Dairy Barn in Athens, Ohio. As I recall Alice stated in a B&B editorial that the photography and layout were completed in something like two weeks, and it shows. The layout is a bit confusing, but the work is a good representation of contemporary bead art typical of the show, perhaps not quite as edgy as the next exhibit (2000, see below) but we do get to see Dustin Wedekind's premiere of his 2D repetitions of men in underwear. Woohoo!

The intro by Kathlyn Moss is painfully long but as an exhibitor in other shows I have to admit it's cool when you get to see your name and work mentioned in a juror's statement. Plenty of room for that in Kathlyn's ten pages of keen observations. Pity they didn't somehow work that text in with the pictures and captions.~
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The Best in Contemporary Beadwork

                                        BEAD INTERNATIONAL 2000

                                                ISBN 1-883010-77-2

Search for the book on halfvalue ~ Jean Campbell

Like Bead Art above, this is also a hardback, in a slightly larger format, but Interweave managed to include the name of the venue (Dairy Barn Cultural Arts Center) on the cover. Edited by Jean Campbell (author and former editor of Beadwork), the high-powered jurors were beadwork artists and teachers NanC Meinhardt and David Chatt, both aficionados of right angle weave, plus Renwick guy Kenneth Trapp, who was flown in, no doubt, to add legitimacy to the craft (Thank you Kenneth, seriously), although he admittedly didn't know much about beadwork. Tour guide and Bead Museum honcho Cheryl Coburn-Browne writes the introduction.

NanC's juror statement is mainly a lecture on how to photograph and enter your work in important shows. Kenneth Trapp tells us to please not submit bad slides, and David Chatt talks about himself (and how being rejected once is a good thing, looking back).

I very much like the range of works in this show, but it is not what anyone would call "pretty" beadwork (exceptions are some of the lampwork and Nancy Zellers's "Malignant Paradise" -- pretty, not sweet). Body parts, Joyce Scott clones, and unusual materials. If blingedy beaded crystal bracelets or amulet purses are your thing, avoid this book.~
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The Best in Contemporary Beadwork

                                        BEAD INTERNATIONAL 2002

                                                           ISBN 0-971758-1-5

Search for the book on halfvalue

I forgot to mention above why the show's name changed from "Beadworks" to "Bead International.". It seems there's a store called "Beadworks" and they trademarked the name, so one Sunday morning the owner of the store did an Internet search and wrote everybody cease and desist emails. Margie Deeb's long-running website, Minoa Beadworks, as well as White Raven Beadworks, were a couple of web casualties. Now we are not to utter the name, especially on Sundays, or type it anywhere it can be spidered by a search engine. Beadworks, beadworks, beadworks. Beadworks.

Anyway, this paperback book, the last comprehensive publication of this premiere national beadwork show, is my favorite of the three "catalogs." The layout and photographs are clear. Artist statements of about one paragraph are included. The jurors did a good job of selecting a diverse range of good quality pieces that are thoughtfully executed, artistically sound, and, dare I say, possess intrinsic beauty as well as deep emotion. Plus I like the pretty colors.

Jurors were Mimi Holmes, Ruth T. Summers, and Valerie Hector. Mimi has an interesting resume. I can't find it now but I've read that she has been in something like 1.2 million shows in all 54 states. One time I figured out she would have to have her work in three shows each month for something like six years. Whew! That's a lot of sequins. Back to the book: the jurors were all equally impressed with the entries. Their commentary adds a good bit of detail to the written record of this craft.~