BEADING DEMONSTRATION

 AT LEAGUE OF NH CRAFTSMEN GALLERY

Deb Fairchild, of Hampstead, NH, will demonstrate bead weaving techniques at the Littleton League of NH Craftsmen Retail Gallery on Saturday, June 19, from 11AM-3PM.

Deb works with tiny seed beads to make beaded jewelry, scarves and neckwear, using both loom and off-loom weaving techniques.   
She particularly likes off-loom techniques, which are worked by hand with a needle and thread, one row at a time.   

These freeform methods allow for experimenting with color and adaptations of techniques, the hallmark of her work. She works to create impressions of people, places and things through abstract explorations of color.  Each piece is a one-of-a-kind study in color, rhythm, movement and form.

She uses several basic stitches, each with different characteristics that produce distinctive patterns and appearances.  In brick stitch, the beads line up & overlap like rows of bricks.  In right angle weaving, the bead lie at right angles to one another. Bead netting creates a soft, lacy, sometimes rippling pattern with open areas between the beaded areas. 

She considers her scarves to be her signature pieces, which she describes as “painting with beads.”  Each scarf has tens of thousands of tiny beads, and incorporates a wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes, all of which create a rich visual texture. The finished pieces look and feel like fabric, which she says people don’t really understand until they see them, even other beaders. 
 

Deb also teaches beading, incorporating innovative approaches to teaching about beads and beadwork with a curriculum that encourages students to probe their own creativity and artistic expression. She is co-author of the Master Beaders Program, which offers a mentored development environment for beaders of all skill levels.

Retired from a career as a university administrator, Deb has an undergraduate degree in anthropology from Harvard University.  She says she isn’t sure whether she came to beading through archaeology, or to archaeology through her love of beading, but both define a lot about who she is.  She has also studied color theory extensively.

Deb will have some works-in-progress at the demonstration, illustrating the complexity of some of her pieces, as well as other pieces that make it easy for people to see how easy it is to create original pieces of beaded jewelry.

She is state juried in the League of NH Craftsmen
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The demonstration is free and all are welcome.  The League of NH Craftsmen Retail Gallery is located at the Village Book Store, 81 Main St., Littleton.    For more information call 603-444-1099.