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Meet our Artists and Instructors
About Our February Visiting Artist
Leslee Frumin
Leslee Frumin is a bead and metal artist
from San Juan Capistrano, CA who teaches off-loom bead weaving
as well as metal/jewelry techniques. She has been teaching
for a number of years and truly enjoys it.
Leslee's passion for all of the colors
and textures made possible by the marriage between beads,
metals, and stones keep her excited. She fabricates clasps
and connectors and often sets semi-precious stones to enhance
the design. Her art jewelry pieces are one of a kind. Leslee
has won awards for some of her combination bead and metal
projects.
"Teaching is a wonderful event
for me. I love the fact that the students are there because
they want to learn a new technique or a project I have created.
I am thrilled to see the new directions students take a piece.
I am delighted to hear about their successes in receiving
awards for their work or becoming designing artists themselves.
I can't think of a better job than this."
Leslee teaches at shows, bead societies,
and stores across the country including the Bead & Button
and BeadFest.
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About Sarah
C. Chapman
Sarah C. Chapman is a studio metalsmith
whose jewelry is inspired by architecture and by nature as
architect. She shows her work at juried art fairs, galleries
and stores throughout the United States. More of her work
can be viewed at: www.chapmanmetals.com
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About Kate Crofford
Kate Crofford started beading properly
while working at our sister store, Caravan, in 2000. She abandoned
the use of unwaxed dental floss and carpet thread as stringing
media after learning how to correctly attach clasps to necklaces,
no longer having to string until it was long enough to go
over someone’s head. Her magpie-like lust for shiny things
and her obsession with stones has led to a hard-to-break habit
and the need to spread the bead sickness. She has still not
developed the focus (read: patience) to become a serious seed-beader,
but loves to warp wire to do her bidding. Kate likes teaching
because enthusiasm is contagious, she loves the “eureka!”
moments most students have when they understand a technique
and begin playing with new ideas, and she was always taught
to share. She likes wire, copper, stones of all types, comic
books, hardware, music, and steampunkery. You can find erratic
and eclectic postings of her work at www.dontpanicproductions.etsy.com
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About Kate Kane
Kate Kane loves the beads. And the
beaders. Where else can you find color, shape, texture, and
sparkle? She works in the store on Saturdays and teaches courses
like Boot Camp, Resin Pendants, Knotting, and an assortment
of needle techniques like Star of India and Tutti Frutti.
Kate likes to design jewelry for the store and for the classes.
She especially enjoys naming her creations. In her personal
collections, she likes to use vintage chain. She loves turning
people on to the joys of beading. Her motto is "easier than
you think, and so much fun it should be illegal."
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About Aimee Leang
Aimee Leang started making jewelry
at her first summer job working for Gallery 37's summer arts
program. After that Aimee's Mom gave her a set of tools purchased
from Caravan beads and her passion was found. Aimee is well
versed in the skills of wire-wrapping, metalsmithing and lapidary.
A former teacher for the Gallery 37 after school program,
she spent several years teaching jewelry making to high school
students at Kelvyn Park and Al Raby high schools. More recently
she has been teaching beginning to advanced wire work classes
for several years at Caravan and Briolette.
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About Hannah Rosner
Hannah was a semifinalist in the lampwork category for
Bead Dreams 2009 and won second place for her bead embroidered
collarpiece in the Treasures of Toho 2009 Contest. The Treasures
of Toho necklace can be seen in the February 2010 issue of
Bead & Button. She has been lampworking since 1992 and beadweaving
since 1986. She has had the opportunity to meet and learn
from some of the best beadmakers and flameworkers in the US.
She began teaching both lampworking
and beadweaving in 2000 and has taught at bead stores and
bead societies across the US.
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About Kat Wisniewski
At 10, Kat made friendship bracelets
for her friends from embroidery floss and she has only progressed
in her jewelry making techniques from there. Maturing from
her seed beads loom bracelets, rock tumbling, polymer clay
bead making and more, she now is a nationally known instructor
in the chainmaille jewelry field. Kat has been teaching chainmaille
& wirework professionally since 2005 throughout the Chicagoland
area, and also at the internationally recognized Bead & Button
Show "I create while sitting on my bed, all my materials spread
out across the bed, dog & cats nearby, listening to inspiring
music and I just go at it. This is how I invent weaves & projects
by just trying different combinations of elements together
until I get a result that I fall in love with". Kat has invented
about 9 weaves, many of which have become the highest quality
tutorials sold internationally. Currently, she keeps herself
busy displaying her pieces at art shows throughout the year,
teaching about 4-8 classes per month, inventing new weaves
that will eventually become tutorials, and designing fashionable
chainmaille & wirework items.
Kat Wisniewski, www.elementalartjewelry.com
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