From Beader to Jewelry Designer
Instructor Elizabeth Prior
July 15,16 & 17
Fri |6-9pm| Sat |10-6pm| Sun |10-2pm|
Class description:
Friday evening will begin with a dessert and beverage reception allowing us to get to know one another. Elizabeth will introduce herself and her unique style in the world of jewelry. We will learn all about those jewelry findings that make up our pieces. Elizabeth will show us examples of how to make your own findings to make your jewelry a one of a kind piece!
Saturday we dive into using our hands, our tools and our imagination to create beautiful designs from the ordinary! Take your Grandmothers old pearls and re-work it into a fabulous design that is all yours. Perhaps you have a vintage button, a trunk full of ordinary beads or a bracelet that is broken-today is the day we will turn those precious pieces into our own design. We will learn from Elizabeth that we do not need to purchase a jump ring or an ordinary lobster clasp, we can create our own. Ear wires, chains, jumprings, clasps, headpins are all intricate parts of a piece of jewelry. We will learn the skills and develop the vision needed to become a true jewelry designer.
Sunday is a day to practice and fine tune the skills we have already learned and to be inspired by each other. We will walk away from this escape with new found confidence, energy and friendships!
A message from Elizabeth
The first jewelry I remember making was with twist ties that came with sandwich bags before they were the fold over type. I stripped the paper off the wires and replaced it with little sleeves made from paper that I had colored, to my specifications, with either crayons or colored pencils and cellophane tape. I stored the wires and their interchangeable covers in a matchbox that I’m certain I lined and covered in some fashion, though I don’t remember exactly how. I was not, at the time, allowed to wear earrings and I did not have pierced ears so I just squeezed these make-shift hoops onto my ear lobes while riding the bus to school, selecting the paper sleeves to cover the wires that matched whatever outfit I was wearing to fourth grade that day. It wasn’t about having earrings to wear. It was the making that I loved.
My relationship with metal began in 1974 at a university student hobby center. This material that I enjoyed so much was not addressed in any way in that school’s art department so I left. My jewelry education truly began in1978 at the Penland School in North Carolina where I spent 8 weeks in a Jewelry/Metals Concentration class and took three summer classes in Sculpture.
In 1982 I received my BFA in Jewelry / Metals from Maine College of Art in Portland. After school my education continued when I worked for two years at a craft gallery and then moved to NYC to live with an art school friend, another jeweler. I was the office manager of one of New York’s premier catering and event planning companies. That experience was essential to the refinement, the clarification, of my aesthetic.
Life as a full time production jeweler began in 1987 when I returned to Maine. I became a regular participant in American Craft Council shows and other national juried events, both wholesale and retail. Gallery representation has included: Aaron Faber, Whitney Museum of American Art (Store Next Door), and Clay Pot in NYC, Freehand in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, American Artisan in Nashville, Quadrum and Artful Hand in Boston. I have received editorial coverage in Metalsmith, Jeweler’s Circular Keystone, Ornament, Bead and Button and Maine Boats Homes & Harbors magazines.
Today I continue to build jewelry with a combination of silver and gold as I have for over twenty years. Always intrigued by the flame, I began lampworking in 2004 which brought me back to the tiny glass beads I strung in the 70′s.
My most recent collection, Latitude & Longitude, came from a lifelong interest in all things boat and sea. Originally these pieces were made only as gifts to sailing friends, usually stamped with the coordinates of their home port. Now that technology has broadened the awareness and understanding of these numbers I find that everyone appreciates the idea of identifying a particular place on our planet. I have done the meeting place of a true love, the birthplace of a child, home addresses, favorite destinations, and places dreamt of visiting, yet to be seen. Many people decide they want to identify more than just one spot so are building collections. The designs are extremely simple, meant to be universal in their appeal and wearability , truly just about the precious information they carry.
Registration is open now
From Beader to Jewelry Designer : $325
Your Art Escape includes:
- The weekend workshop
- A basic materials kit valued at $50 ( additional supplies available for purchase)
- A dessert and beverage reception on Friday evening
- Catered lunches on Saturday and Sunday
Spaces are limited. Students are required to notify Artascope Studios at least one month before the start of their class to receive a full refund. Contact us at (207) 799-5154 or toll free at 888-786-6556 with any questions about your Art Escape® experience. We are open daily from 10am to 6pm.
Read more information about workshop sign up policies or contact us directly.
Artascope Studios | 352 Cottage Road | South Portland, ME 04106
(207) 799 5154 | info@artascope.com