By training, I’m an accountant. I spent my career managing financial operations for United Ways in North Carolina and Florida. I discovered beading when I took a class with several friends at Sawtooth School for Visual Art.
The class was a life changing experience. The best way to describe it is to say I fell in love. Everything just clicked – the look of the beads, the colors, and the way they felt in my hands. I began to make beaded jewelry and I continued to take classes. I spent several years using all my free time to work with beads. Finally, I decided to retire from my job and devote myself fulltime to working with beads.
I love beautiful objects of all kinds, particularly those that are functional – a well made chair, a beautiful bowl, a glass vase. Because I believe everyone should be able to have and use beautiful things, my goal is to design and create pieces that are beautiful, of excellent quality, and affordable.
I create my jewelry with off-loom bead weaving techniques. I use beads, paper, sequins, agates, and minerals in my work. I am inspired by the play of colors, textures and the interplay of various beading stitches as they come together to form a finished product. I take great pleasure in creating with my hands and am delighted when someone falls in love with one of my designs. I take pleasure seeing the enjoyment they get from wearing it.
I sell my work at crafts fairs around North Carolina, at the Sawtooth School for Visual Art Gallery Shop in Winston-Salem, at the Fiber Company in Winston Salem and on Etsy. My work has been displayed in gallery shows at Waterworks Gallery in Salisbury and at the Yadkin Arts Gallery in Yadkinville.
I am a juried member of the Yadkin Valley Arts Guild and a member of Associated Artists of Winston-Salem. I continue to use my financial expertise by serving on the boards of several arts organizations.
I live in Winston-Salem with my husband Larry Bohannon, who is a woodworker, and our dog Sandy.