Books, Exhibits, and a Call For Work

Greetings, beaders around the world.  I hope this finds you well. It’s been a challenging Spring for us all, I know. Here in the US we are getting hit hard, and most of the country is shut down. Delivery systems are overwhelmed, as are humans. It’s very stressful, and most of us are grieving.  I am grateful for the peace and continuity that beads provide.

As you might imagine, the printing press and the bindery scheduled to produce our paper books are mostly shut down, and supply chains and delivery companies are in tough shape. The press estimates that our books can be done in August, but it’s difficult to know what summer will bring.

If there is ANYONE on our pre-order list who would prefer to cancel their pre-order and pick up the books later when they are printed, just email me at kate@katemckinnon.com and a cheerful instant refund is yours, as always. (Include your order receipt if you want to make it easy.)

Capitola Bradshaw riffing on a Debra Schwartz idea
for a simple, elegant bangle made of four Warped Squares

•  •  •

Happily we have a great deal to release digitally while we wait – in just two weeks I’ll be publishing our new Technical Section, which I think will amaze you even if you’ve been following. This release will be free to all, and links to the content will premiere here on the Book Blog, on YouTube, and our Facebook and Instagram pages.

On May 1, one of our favorite beaded forms, the Warped Square or Hypar, will be featured in our first global Call For Work. We will be asking beaders all over the world to make and send in Warped Squares for our team to assemble into square tiles and other architecture, and we will create several huge museum installations incorporating them. Right now we are busy refining our ideas, but when we publish the official Call we will provide diagrams, counts and instructions.

Above, Sylvia Lambourg, Eggbox/Flying Carpet Tile in Assembly, 2020
Concept Ingrid Wangsvik, inspiration Kim Van Antwerp and Victor Vasarely

Thanks to a generous gift of beads from John Bead in Toronto, we will be able to not only accomplish the exhibits, but sponsor a huge project celebrating indigenous/First Nations beadwork and bead artists as well. We are so grateful, thank you Daniel John, Carmi Cimicata, and also Debra Schwartz, for suggesting the collaboration.

Tight hugs from me to you all during this challenging time. Let’s love each other, share what we have, and keep working with our hands. Those who know how to work with fabric are called to help now making masks, and those of us who can grow food, make beauty, teach children, fix things that break… well. We will all be sorely needed.

We will help each other get by.

About katemckinnon

Kate McKinnon has devoted herself to the study of how things are done, and how they could be done better. Find her at katemckinnon.com or on some city street, walking fast, smiling at strangers.

View all posts by katemckinnon →