EBP Exhibitors
The Emerging Beader Program chooses 12 exhibitors every year for a 3 month showing in the exhibit: Starting From Here.
Exhibitors have been juried into this show and are listed below in chronological order of when they will be shown. Past exhibitors are listed at the bottom.
January 5th to March 30th, 2024
Kelly Hudson, Maine
Kelly grew up in Hartford, Connecticut, but has been happy to call Maine her home since 1992. She discovered the joy of beadwork after attending an art social with some friends in 2020. Though she never considered herself very creative, she was excited to learn a way to create beautiful things. Kelly is self-taught, and still looking for her creative niche.
She dabbles in bead stringing, bead weaving, bead embroidery, kumihimo, and mixed-media beading. She joined the Maine Bead Society in 2022 to learn more and join the wonderful beading community. This is her first public exhibition.
February 2nd to April 27th, 2024
Susanne Verallo, Phillippines
Deeply influenced by her origins and her Italian training, Susanne’s jewelry work aims to take Philippine craftsmanship to the forefront, showcasing bold and daring creations that tell significant stories and stay true to heritage.
“Jewelry is so much more than decoration. Its personal and intimate nature makes it the perfect vessel for stories. The Philippines, my home, is an endless source of inspiration. As a jewelry artist, I choose to tell the stories of the Filipino people. From the myths and legends of our ancestors, to the beauty of our native flora, each jewelry piece I create is a celebration of our Filipino culture."
Susanne Verallo is a designer based in Cebu City, Philippines. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in interior design from the University of San Carlos, and a Master’s degree in product design from Domus Academy in Milan, Italy.
To discover more of her beaded jewelry visit una-artesana.com.
February 2nd to April 27th, 2024
Jocelyn Garcia, Chile
Jocelyn is a beader of objects, amulets and power jewelry. Each piece is a ritual in itself with a meaning and purpose. Pieces become objects of power made with clear intention, love and prayer. However, the work is not complete until the person who wears it makes it their own, and puts their own energy or prayer into it.
This process is an artistic throughline that develops with each stitch, giving rise to unique and passionate pieces. Her creativity is always practiced in connection and gratitude with the four elements and seven sacred directions.
In her artwork, Jocelyn reflects on her life as a Biochemist, scientific researcher, Kundalini Yoga instructor, and incense burner woman. These varied vocations resonate and awaken distinct areas of herself, translating messages, sacred knowledge, and even colors into her work. Through this practice she hopes to be a worthy guardian of the profession and keep alive the cultural ancestry of her people.
To view more of her work, find Jocelyn on Instagram @mujertejido.
April 5th to June 29th, 2024
Jo Ann Edwardsen, Washington State
Jo lives in the very North West corner of the US in Birch Bay, WA. She is surrounded by the beauty of the ocean and the expansive mountains, which influences the nature of her work. She took up beading with a passion during the Covid years and owes much to all the bead artists that shared their knowledge on YouTube.
Beads are, by far, Jo's favorite medium to bring her art to life. The myriad of colors, textures, and shapes offer a rich source of inspiration and expression. Whether she is creating jewelry or embellishing objects, she tends to work organically, with no set plan or agenda. She does not typically draw out a design as she prefers to let the piece emerge on its own, finding its voice with the beads she has at hand. The driftwood pieces almost always know what they want to be, she simply helps them flesh out their identity with beads and other objects.
May 3rd to July 26th, 2024
Karolina Turnquist, Denmark
It all started two years ago, when Karolina (Kaja) finally had more time for herself. She decided to try beadweaving and it was love at first thread.
Over the course of many years, Kaja studied old customs, folk art, and traditions of the people from her region. Recently, her main focus has been Ukraine, and has expanded to include bead cultures from various countries. She was fascinated by the use of jewelry in personal expression and belief, or as artifacts of social status. Kaja found that little glass objects carried history and beauty; people sent messages with their patterns and used colors to convey their emotions. She was inspired to tell stories that only beadwork could express.
Kaja is a 38 year old Polish woman living in Denmark. She has a masters degree in Ukrainian Cultural Studies and works in the jewelry industry. In her free time she designs and makes her own beadwork. She most enjoys creating earrings since they best express her style.
To discover more of Kaja’s work visit folkajabeadwork.etsy.com or find her on Instagram @folkajabeadwork
May 3rd to August 31st, 2024
Julie Gray, Maine
After experiencing a near-death incident in 2009, much of Julie’s artwork engages motifs of mortality, illness, mourning culture, and the psychological space of “limbo” thematically.
In order to address these intangible subjects, she has come to use symbolic means, humor, cultural signposts and varied media. She primarily uses papier-mâché, beading, photography, needlepoint and childhood craft. Her hope is that these creations become more accessible to the audience, and perhaps they will open up dialog about mortality and spiritual inquiry—subjects typically deemed “taboo” in contemporary North American society.
Whether a person believes that we return to the dust from which we came, we go on a journey to Heaven or Hell, or our souls continue in a similar trajectory (simply leaving our bodies behind), Julie’s goal is to normalize these discussions surrounding mortality and the experience of being in a human body.
Julie is a Maine artist and you can view more of her work at www.juliekgray.com or on instagram @juliekgray
July 5th to September 28th, 2024
John Paul Amaral, California
August 2nd to October 26th, 2024
Hannah Batsel, Illinois
Hannah has been a professional writer, book artist and illustrator for over a decade. Recently she began exploring the world of bead embroidery and off-loom bead weaving. Her beadwork explores themes of magic, protection, and personal symbology: amulets and charms that either repel harm or attract desirable events and treasures. By naming our desires and converting them into tokens we gain and carry with us a greater understanding of our own values and identities.
As an emerging beader, her current body of work is mostly composed of patterns designed by other artists. She hopes to use the knowledge she has gained from those spectacular designers to expand her burgeoning catalog of original works. In her future works she hopes to explore garments as larger canvases for symbolic beadwork.
Hannah Batsel holds a BFA in Printmaking and Book Arts from the University of Georgia, and an MFA from Columbia College Chicago. Her handmade artist books can be found in library and museum collections around the country. A is for Another Rabbit and The Knight of Little Import, can be found wherever books are sold. She lives in Chicago with her friends and partner in a spooky old house filled with books, taxidermy, and as of recently, thousands of beads.
September 6th to November 30th, 2024
Kristen Lothspeich, Tennessee
Kristen is a mixed media artist currently residing in Tennessee. She started creating art in 2020 during the Covid pandemic. The company she worked for closed down leaving her permanently laid off. As a result she had more time, and hopefully some talent, to create some wonderfully interesting pieces.
She describes her work as "Art you wanna throw away in the trash." Her background in biology led her to explore the natural processes of decay and microorganisms. She was inspired to create her interpretation of rotten fake food from early childhood memories of her home. She recalls, “My mother had huge plastic and glass grape clusters on the bay window of our living room. I would pluck the plastic grapes, squeeze them and suction them to my face pretending they were warts.” Fake fruits were popular decorative items decades ago. Now, Kristen wants to bring them into modern day homes, but with the twist of making them appear rotten.
In these pieces Kristen transforms artificial food using paint, beads, semi-precious stones, cat fur, and found objects into beautifully rotten works of art.
October 4th to December 28th, 2024
Connie Schardt, North Carolina
Connie studied Art History at UC Berkeley and earned a Master's degree in Library Science. For the next 34 years she worked as a medical librarian. Upon her retirement she promptly started looking for projects to channel her creative energy. Seeking an artistic challenge, a friend introduced her to a glass fusion studio. Her glass pieces tend toward Day of the Dead themes and portraits of known people.
Always in the back of her mind was the bead work of Sherry Markowitz whose work she saw exhibited at the Seattle Art Museum. Inspired, she turned her sunroom into a studio where she could create large-scale 3-D objects – swordfish, boar head, turtle, pig, moose head, stork, and even Elvis. Her designs are organic and start with a color theme and evolve as the piece emerges. She seeks inspiration from other bead artists and Indigenous cultures. Beading has become her passion, her escape, and she is always on the lookout for new objects to transform. Having no formal art training, she is self-taught and considers herself an aficionado and practitioner of folk art.