I have been a visual artist and musician since childhood, squashed my artwork for a couple of years thinking I had to do what others told me to do, then returned to art while still in high school. Soon I decided that artists are pretentious assholes and dove back into music. Soon I learned that musicians are assholes as well, so I decided to do both art and music anyway.

In 1992 I dove into the medium of beads. First the big beads, the trade beads and their history. Then, after a workshop with Joyce J. Scott I dove deeper into seed beads. My first self directed piece was a three dimensional eyeball. My work was exhibited at “The Rebellious Bead” at Creative Partners Gallery in Maryland in 1995 and I have continued to exhibit and educate locally, nationally and internationally since then.

“What IS that?” People often take my wearable pieces and say they should be placed on a wall. Conversely, people hold wall and sculptural pieces up against their bodies and suggest they be used as wearable pieces. I invite you to discover them in all contexts.

This is a video I created for professor Sam Norgard about my work:

Lectures Detail 5 – Norgard Designs

Thoughts on the work

The defining element of any bead is its hole. This little piece of empty space is the magic ingredient that allows for one bead to join another. I love this simple illustration of the power of nothing, of space.

I use this delicate, shiny, traditionally feminine medium to make grimacing monster heads, eyeballs, lunging women. I love the surreal and the irreverent, and weaving these themes into sculptural pieces gives me a place to express my fascination and admiration for box-busters and envelope-pushers. 

I may or may not have a specific idea for a particular piece before I string my first bead, but my mode of working allows for discovery throughout the process.  Sometimes the piece tells me what to do next, sometimes I call the shots.  The best pieces were begun with the least preconceptions.

I use a wide variety of stitches from around the world, each stitch giving different textures and sculptural capabilities.  I use mainly glass beads as well as found materials, some over 100 years old. 

The main purpose of this type of artwork for me is its narrative possibilities.  Structural considerations and uses tell as much a story as the images.

Teresa Sullivan Studio on Patreon: www.patreon.com/TeresaSullivanStudio