About the Artist
Biography
Laura Jean McCabe (b. 1976) is a primarily self-taught beadweaver with an education in historical costume reproduction and restoration, and anthropology. She produces elaborately beaded body adornment that combines Native American, African Zulu, and Victorian beadweaving techniques with modern materials and color schemes. She exhibits her work in national and international beadwork exhibitions, and sells her finished work at boutiques and galleries throughout the United States, as well as through this website: www.justletmebead.com. She maintains a working studio in Old Mystic, Connecticut, and teaches beading workshops across the US and throughout the world.
Artist's Statement
For centuries those creative acts that have been most often associated with body adornment rarely have been accorded the status of Art. While beadwork has existed in virtually every culture throughout the world since the beginnings of modern man, and has played a significant role both spiritually (with amuletic properties) and socially (as an indicator of status), it is generally viewed as a functional craft rather than an Art form in its own right.
Beads and beadwork have, throughout time, maintained a universal appeal that links people across cultures and across the ages. Beads date back more than 40,000 years, and are a uniquely human phenomenon, not found amongst other primates or even earlier human species. In addition to serving the human needs of vanity, adornment, and social status, beads have a deeper, more spiritual aspect. They have provided us good fortune, protection from evil forces, and a link to a more spiritual realm (both through prayer beads and elaborately beaded ritual body adornment).
From early hunter gatherers in the pre-agricultural age, to the Ancient Worlds of Egypt, Greece and Rome, onto Renaissance Europe, Tribal Africa, the Orient, Native America, the Victorian Period, and up through the Modern Era, beadwork has represented an uninterrupted tradition throughout time amongst virtually every culture on Earth. In a world of human differences, beadwork is a common link, fulfilling the most fundamental human needs.
It is in this history of ancient traditions, spiritual importance, timeless handcraft, and human commonality that the Art of Beads can be found. They represent more than precision handwork, personal adornment, or social significance. Each bead, beneath its lustrous surface, tells an age old story of human fear, human desire, and the human need for beauty.
By drawing on my education in historical costume and textiles and applying variations of Native American, African Zulu, and Victorian beading techniques to contemporary colors and designs, I strive to create beaded body adornment that celebrates and reincarnates the dying tradition of fine handcrafts, and helps to elevate beadwork to the status of Art which it undeniably deserves.
Books
Laura has authored two books on beadwork:
Creating Crystal Jewelry with Swarovski: 65 Sparkling Designs with Crystal Beads and Stones
Laura McCabes Embellished Beadweaving: Jewelry Lavished with Fringe, Fronds, Lacework & More (coming May 2010)
And she has also co-authored one book on doll making:
Creative Cloth Doll Beading: Designing and Embellishing with Beads
by Patti Medaris Culea, Laura McCabe, and Anne Hesse
All three books are/will be available for purchase both on this website (signed) and also on amazon.com. They may also be available at your local bead store.
Resume
Education
September 1993 – March 1997
University of Connecticut
Storrs, Connecticut
(Historical costume restoration)
January 2002 – December 2003
University of Connecticut
Storrs, Connecticut
(Anthropology and Archaeology)
Exhibitions, Awards and Honors
Master Class Teacher, Bead & Button Show 2010
April 2010; Selected as one of the All−time Top 10 Teachers at the Bead & Button show
Smithsonian Craft Show 2008
June 2006; Bead Dreams 2006, The Bead & Button Show,
(first place, seed Bead work)
May 2006; Bead International (Touring Exhibition),
The Dairy Barn, Athens, Ohio
June 2005; Bead Dreams 2005, The Bead & Button Show,
(first place, finished jewelry [collaboration with Lisa Niven Kelly];
third place, seed bead work)
June 2004; Bead Dreams 2004, The Bead & Button Show,
(third place, seed Bead work)
September 2003; Brave Destiny (surrealist art exhibition),
Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, Brooklyn, New York
September 2003; Decordova Sculpture Park and Museum,
Lincoln, Massachusetts
June 2003; Bead Dreams 2003, The Bead & Button Show,
(first place, seed Bead work)
May 2002; Bead International (Touring Exhibition),
The Dairy Barn, Athens, Ohio
July 2001; Gleaming Treasures, Embellishment, Portland, Oregon
(best of show & first place, seed bead work)
May−June 2001; The Art of Beads, The Mill Gallery, Guilford Handcraft Center,
Guilford, Connecticut (first place, jewelry)
June 2000; Bead Dreams 2000, The Bead & Button Show,
(first place, Finished Jewelry)
Select Publications
May 2010; Laura McCabe's Embellished Beadweaving: Jewelry Lavished with
Fringe, Fronds, Lacework & More
Lark Books
April, 2010, Artist Profile and Project Article, Bead & Button Magazine
2010, Featured Work, Perlen Poesie, Issue Number 3
(german Bead Magazine)
2010: Selected as a "Designer of the Year" for Beadwork Magazine
(one project article per issue for six issues)
December 2008, project article, Bead & Button Magazine;
15th Anniversary Edition
December 2008, Project Article, Beadwork Magazine
February 2008, Creating Crystal Jewelry with Swarovski: 65 Sparkling Designs
with Crystal Beads and Stones
Rockport Publishers
October 2007, Master Class Article, Beadwork Magazine
August 2007, front cover and project article, Beadwork Magazine
Winter 2006/2007, Artist Profile, Ornament Magazine
October 2006, Front Cover and Project Article, Bead & Button Magazine
Spring 2006, Featured Jewelry, Elle Accessories Magazine
Summer 2003, Artist's Statement, Ornament Magazine
Summer 2003, Bead Dreams Annual, Front Cover, Bead & Button magazine
December 2002, Artist Profile, Beadwork Magazine