WHAT’S NEW

• Look What’s Next…
Paradise City Arts Festival

Thrilled to share my debut participation in this beautiful show. And can you think of a nicer place to be in early fall (my favorite season!) than Northhampton, Massachusetts? I can only imagine how beautiful the foliage will be. Need an excuse for a Columbus Day Weekend road trip? I think you have it! I can’t wait.

The Three County Fairgrounds exhibition space, covered but open air, is the perfect choice for a live show given health concerns in our current climate. It’s my first in person show since the onset of the pandemic and I wouldn’t have signed on without the sincere assurances from the show’s organizers that the health and safety of both attendees and exhibitors is their top priority. I believe them. You can too.

Click on the image above to be taken to the show website for further information. Hope to see you there!



• Now available as a paperback book, downloadable PDF or “Stitchip” (a USB flash drive)!
Betsy Beads: Confessions of a Left-brained Knitter

 

 

 

 

This is my book. Plain and simple, I am as proud of this effort as anything I have ever done professionally and forever grateful to the team at XRX Books who encouraged me to write it and provided all the support any author could ask for in bringing it to reality and putting it out into the world. Along with technical bead knitting instruction and over 30 pattern designs, it tells the story of my creative awakening in a series of seven essays scattered through the book as well as a publisher’s colophon.

How I got from where I was to where I am today encompasses quite the journey. I share an abbreviated version of that journey in the short form video I created for the Society of Arts & Crafts “CraftBoston: Fiber Stories” online show that runs from July 16 thru August 29. You can view the video on You Tube HERE. Visit the online show HERE. See my work in the show HERE.

If you are sufficiently intrigued to learn more, the book is available for purchase HERE in its original paperback edition, or as a downloadable PDF or on a USB flash drive called a Stitchip that you can connect to a computer or laptop. All from the original publisher, XRX Books. Still undecided? You can preview the book by clicking HERE or on the link named “Betsy Beads” that you should see in the Navigation Menu to the left of this post. I hope you’ll check everything out as time permits. Proud knitter here!



• Studio B Knits in the News!
Philadelphia Weekly Highlights Fiber Stories


  

What a nice surprise! The PR folks from The Society of Arts and Crafts alerted me to a listing in The Philadelphia Weekly, sharing news of my participation in the upcoming CraftBoston Fiber Stories Show. Not gonna lie… Always nice to see my work and name in print. Show opens on Juy 16. In THREE DAYS!! Counting down… 3 – 2 – 1… 🎆



• A new Society of Arts and Crafts Virtual Show
Craft Boston Fiber Stories 7/16 – 8/29/21

Only nine more days until the opening of CraftBoston Fiber Stories, the newest virtual show to be offered by The Society of Arts and Crafts. I’m honored to have 10 pieces selected for this show and always happy to support and have my work recognized by this terrific organization, the oldest continuing non-profit champion of fine American craft. Lots of stories will be shared by the 40 some artists in this show, myself included. New for me was the creation of a short form video – really more of a slideshow – telling a bit of how I came to this work and what it means to me. It will appear on my Artist Page when the show opens on July 16. I look forward to reading the stories of others in the show and will welcome feedback on or questions about mine. I will share links as they become available, both here and on my Instagram page bio.



• New Year. Hallelujah!
New Work to Share

I can’t imagine I’m the only one who is not sad to bid goodbye to 2020. Not that there wasn’t anything to be joyful about. At the top of my list? We welcomed another lovely granddaughter to our family. That makes three of them! And it’s pretty clear that the world is profiting from the presence of more and more strong women. We’re just doing our part.

Working with The Society of Arts and Crafts as they mounted their first online CraftBoston Holiday show was also a highlight. Yes, sales were made, but equally important was expanding my circle of friends as I “met” and learned from other participating artists in ways I might not have had time for at the live shows of the past. Whatever format they choose to utilize, I will be grateful for any opportunity to work with these great people in the future.

And while there were times when I wanted only to retreat into “regular” knitting in order to self soothe, I continued to find inspiration in materials and diverse visual imagery. I’ve added images of some new pieces to the One-of-a-Kind Necklace Gallery so please click on over and have a look. One of my favorites appears below.

Lastly, if you are in the Philadelphia area, I urge you to stop in at The Gravers Lane Gallery in Chestnut Hill. I’m always grateful to have  my work shown there alongside so many gifted and inspiring artists.

I feel positive changes brewing for this coming year. I choose hope. I hope you will too.



• Good grief! What a year!
Looking Back. Looking Forward.

Artist Photo - Square

LOOKING BACK:

Personally:    Every day in this past year of so much challenge, I have tried to be grateful for what I have while remaining mindful of the losses endured by so many. Reaching out when I’m able to offer sympathy and support. But somehow it never seems enough. But we do what we can and encourage others to do the same. What else can we do? If you can think of it, try to do it.

Professionally:   So many “Thank you!”‘s owed…

…To everyone who found their way to this site in the last year and especially in the last two months. Many as a result of my participation in CraftBoston Holiday Online 2020 and others who found their way, regardless of how you got here. More visitors than I’ve ever had. So many pieces going to forever homes. May they bring you as much joy in the wearing as they have to me in the creating. So grateful!

…To everyone at The Society of Arts & Crafts, sponsors of the CraftBoston shows and so much more. As I saw them pivoting from live shows to virtual ones, I was blown away by the amount and quality of work done by such a relatively small staff of individuals devoted to the advancement of fine American Craft. So many opportunities for artists to share both our product and our process. I’ve learned so much. I’ve “met” and connected with other artists in ways that a live show doesn’t always afford. I am in their debt.

… To the staff at Gravers Lane Gallery in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bruce, Barbara, Boin. Not sure you will ever know the extent to which your ongoing support is invaluable to me. I will never take it for granted.

LOOKING FORWARD:

What to say? Hope is a word I can now use and really believe in what appears possible. There IS real light at the end of this pandemic and politically corrosive tunnel. But there are still weeks and months (and years?) of continued strength required. Let’s not give up when we are so close. Let’s do what is asked of us. Wear a damn mask. If at all possible, stay home. Respect the fact that the health of one can affect the health of many. We can do this. Please do this. So we can be together again. It is my fondest wish.

Happy New Year everyone. This year, let’s work to make it more than a hackneyed expression. Thank you.



• HOW TO SHOP THE STUDIO B WEBSITE
All available work is 20% off during Craft Boston Holiday Online thru 12/31/20

JAS - SlinkyGo BigDo-KNOTS

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the bottom line.   I don’t have a “Shop” component here on the website.   Never have.   But you can follow the links below or in the Navigation Menu to the left to see what’s available in the Galleries.   I’ve listed both the regular retail and 20% discounted prices (which are in effect thru 12/31/20.)   Contact me HERE with any questions or to arrange a purchase.   FREE PRIORITY SHIPPING ON ALL SALES.

ONE OF A KIND NECKLACES

ONE OF A KIND BRACELETS

BEAD BALL NECKLACES

CUSTOM SLIDER BRACELETS



• The Countdown Has Begun! 4-3-2-1…
CraftBoston Holiday 2020 Opening Day is Thursday November 12

CBHO Postcard w images

Thursday is the big day. The grand opening of CraftBoston Holiday online. I’m so pleased to be among the 75 artists from all over the country to be represented in this first ever online show mounted by The Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston, MA. Along with the sale of beautiful fine craft, they have lined up online opportunities for virtual attendees to learn from and connect with the artists. And they are FREE! Click HERE to see the line-up for the first week of scheduled events, including my studio tour and demo on Friday Nov 13 at 10 am. I’ll be showing you how I construct basic bead knitted beads. I’ll have pieces for sale in my CraftBoston Retail Space (see three of them above) as well as posting the prices for available pieces here in the website galleries. This will be a first for me. And BONUS! I will discount all website prices an additional 20% for the seven week duration of the show. When you see something you like, CONTACT ME to arrange the sale or simply to ask further questions. Let’s do this!!



• Back In the Game!
Craft Boston Holiday 2020 Goes Virtual

Craft Boston Holiday 2020 (1)

Wonderful news! Leave it to the Boston based Society of Arts and Crafts to find a way not only to offer a safe, virtual version of their highly regarded juried Holiday Craft Show, but EXPAND the show in a way that will provide exhibitors a longer time to show and sell their work and lots of different ways for virtual attendees to connect with and learn from artists in real time. I’m thrilled to be one of those artists this year.

If this is your first visit to my site, I hope you’ll take a moment to look around, especially in the jewelry galleries, using these direct links in RED or the Navigation Bar on the left. Check out One of a Kind Necklaces and Bracelets and Limited Edition Bead Ball Necklaces. If you are a return visitor, look again. I’m posting some new work as of 9/23.
 

Watch this space for updates as more details are coming. Thank you SAC!



• Reflections on the Craft Boston ’20 Weekend That Isn’t
I Choose Hope

Craft Boston '20 postcard  

 

So many situations these days offer us reasons to be happy or sad, hopeful or fearful, grateful or resentful. You might even experience all of these feelings in a single day.

Today was to be the opening of Craft Boston Spring 2020. I was so looking forward to a wonderful weekend back in the Cyclorama with my sister/best helper Dulcie Flaharty by my side, connecting with friends old and new and being inspired by the creativity of artists from all over the country.

So today I am both happy for my memories of years past and sad not to be there now. But also grateful and hopeful. Grateful to my friends at The Society of Arts and Crafts for choosing the image of one of my necklaces for the show’s promotional postcard. (You can see a full image of the necklace, Meander II, if you scroll down on my One of a Kind Necklace Gallery page HERE.) The postcard never made it to the printers because, well, you know. But we live in a digital age. So there’s that. And I choose to be grateful.

And last but certainly not least… There are heroes out there in the world. Every day kind of heroes. Never more than today. More to be grateful for. And we will make it through this together. So I choose hope. Always hope. Please stay safe.