Maggie Meister of Amphora Designs is my September 2016 Inspirational Bead Weave Artist. We all have our own signature style and I found that we tend to lean towards other artists that fit your own style. Maggie's work speaks to me. From her choice of color and her style of beading to her love for two drop peyote stitching and the 3D designs. Her deep interest in history is showcased in every design. Just by reading the description of a piece is a history lesson on its own. I can smell Italy and ancient times gone by, by just looking at her designs.
Maggie's work is regularly published in various international magazines and she is highly regarded as an artist to be respected. She teaches all over the world and her bead inspired tours of Italy, well known.
What I love about Maggie's work is it is functional and wearable. I personally worked up a few bracelets and they are amazingly beautiful and comfortable to wear. Her interesting use of shaped lines, that no one else ever dared to tackle, makes the designs priceless. She transforms difficult forms and shapes made with mosaics into a bead design.
Background by Maggie
The love of ancient history, color and patterns have followed me throughout my life and my designs have come to fruition during the time my family and I lived in Italy. In looking back, beads have always been a part of my life – from playing with Mardi Gras beads or collecting semi-precious stones as a young girl to my love of ancient and ethnic jewelry as I became older. Today seed beads have become the medium I use to translate my sources of inspiration into personal designs for adornment.
When living in Naples, Italy, I was surrounded by ancient history. The fragments of Roman columns, mosaics and frescoes are my inspiration and I am grateful for those “ancient voices”. Translating these voices into designs fills my days with joy and wonder and I cherish my “connection” with the past. Teaching and beading are ways for me to share this wonderful experience and bring those voices of the past into the present.
Visit her website to get to know this inspirational artist.
www.mmmbeads.com
Thank you Maggie, for your valuable contribution towards our craft.
