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