Doug Johnson
Bead Artist
Artist Reception
Saturday October 23rd, 10am-4pm
     
The Loom The Bead Bunker
  
The Loom
Over a period of thrity years I have created over 200 pieces of art working with micro-sized glass beads. Realizing the unlimited possibilities of this process I built a series of looms to accommodate works of art ranging in size from (ten inches by ten inches) up to (two feet by six feet) / (10” x 10” up to 2' x 6').
As the spectrum of colors increased for seed beads and became available I was able to create more detailed works of art. These encompass landscapes, city scapes and thematic works of art, which may be a breakthrough in fine arts and can be best described as “bead painting”. It has been said when viewing my work from a distance, they appear to be fine art paintings, however when you look closer, you will discover intricate mosaics, comprised of thousands of beads. The play of light on thes seed beads can only be described as stunning.
I built a bigger loom and started making pieces of 40-50 thousand beads. As time went on I found more and more sources of beads, built a larger loom and started making pieces of 100,000 beads. Now I am making pieces of two to three-hundread-thousand beads. I stayed exclusively with size 11 seed beads. They are the most common and offer the largest selection of colors. I now have close to a thousand shades of beads.
About the Artist
I first came in contact with seed beads in 1970. At first I strung them into necklaces using different patterns of color. I loved the colors and was soon shown how to weave them on a loom.
Being a guitar player at the time I decided to make a guitar strap out of beads. So I built a long loom and started weaving a strip of beads to be sewn onto leather. As I was weaving this long strap, I thought it would be nice to get wilder and make a scene out of beads. Imagine a house and barn or even a little village.
So I built a loom that could hold four strips in a row, each strip was 25 beads wide (like my guitar strap) so I ended up with a piece 100 beads wide. I wove each strip separately and sewed them together when they were done.
It was not until 1990 that I figured out how to connect the rows on the loom ending up with a solid piece when taken off the loom.
I started with about a dozen colors and could not find much more for years. I only made a handful of pieces over the years.
Then in 1986 I found an ad in a magazine for the Garden of Beadin in California. They offered hundreds of colors of beads which got me into beading steadily.
I built a bigger loom and started making pieces of 40-50 thousand beads. As time went on I found more and more sources of beads, built a larger loom and started making pieces of 100,000 beads. Now I am making pieces of two to three-hundred-thousand beads. I stayed exclusively with size 11 seed beads. They are the most common and offer the largest selection of colors. I now have close to a thousand shades of beads.
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