"In a Natural Vein" is my submission for the January Art Bead Scene monthly challenge. Here's the inspiration piece:
It's a textile design for cretonne (a heavy unglazed cotton, linen, or rayon fabric, colorfully printed and used for draperies and slipcovers), circa approximately 1928. It's by Lois Mailou Jones, in tempera on paper.
Loïs Mailou Jones wanted to be remembered as an artist, not an African-American or woman artist. Her life spanned almost all of the twentieth century—a time of unprecedented changes in American history—and she was an active participant in the development of African-American influence in the arts. She was a trailblazer, a respected college professor, an artist ambassador, and an international expert on culture who documented everything she saw and did as a painter in the Harlem Renaissance, as an illustrator for Carter Woodson, a colleague of Alain Locke and Langston Hughes, an educator and mentor, and a champion of black artists in Africa and the Caribbean.
I was fortunate to have a perfect focal piece in my stash for this month - a porcelain cabochon by Nancy Schindler of Round Rabbit. It not only had the veined leaf motif, it also had the black and grey of the predominant design of the inspiration piece; I surrounded it with a beaded bezel in black and chartreuse. I used veined grey and black jasper beads and black stone nuggets for the bulk of this asymmetric piece. But it needed a bit more color...
And of course, I to find some more chartreuse!
The enamel over copper clasp and bead are from BeadSwedeSupplies and proved to exactly the punch of color this piece needed.
Available for purchase here.
