Customer Reviews

Masters: Beadweaving: Major Works by Leading Artists

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

MASTERS: BEADWEAVING is the latest title in Lark Books' astonishing Masters series and quite possibly my favorite. I'm a huge fan of this series. Each title is dedicated to a particular craft or niche; other books include the very beautiful Masters: Art Quilts: Major Works by Leading Artists (The Masters) and Masters: Gold: Major Works by Leading Artists (Masters Series). In Masters: Beadweaving, Carol Wilcox Wells, a master beadweaver herself and seminal bead-book author, has curated a title featuring three dozen bead artists each given eight pages to showcase their best work, with quotes from the artists and short essays by Wells about their style and technique rounding out the presentation.

Including sculptural work, vessels, and of course jewelry, as well as a wide array of stitches, the range of work presented is astonishing, and the excellence of the artists who are featured absolutely manifest. More than just outstanding craft, the pieces selected are truly fine art. Above all, this inspiring volume is simply gorgeous -- beaders and non-beaders alike will find endless visual delight in the book. Since I received it, I just can't stop picking it up. With it already underpriced at $24.95 for what it delivers, Amazon's discounted price makes it an amazing steal.

For beaders and fans of the medium, here's what you want to know: The 36 artists featured are Jeanette Ahlgren, Jo Ann Baumann, Virginia L. Blakelock, Rebecca Brown-Thompson, David K. Chatt, Sonya Clark, Marcia DeCoster, Sharon Donovan, Wendy Ellsworth, Margo C. Field, Linda Fifield, Diane Fitzgerald, Susan Etcoff Fraerman, Leslie Frazier, Valerie Hector, Laura Leonard, Dallas Lovett, Eleanor Lux, Laura McCabe, NanC Meinhardt, Maggie Meister, Ann Tevepaugh Mitchell, Rachel Nelson-Smith, Karen Paust, Huib Petersen, Don Pierce, Melanie Potter, Madelyn C. Ricks, Cynthia Rutledge, Joyce J. Scott, Sherry Serafini, Natasha St. Michael, Marcie Stone, Laura Willits, Amolia Willowsong, and Sharmini Wirasekara. Enjoy!

here is the letter I wrote to Lark Books but was never answered:

I purchased Masters: Beadweaving from Amazon.

Boy was I disappointed in Masters: Beadweaving.

Sadly I already own a book that has many of the projects that you published in this one. Even sadder, it was published by you so you already knew those items were published in a similar collection.

SHAME on the publishers and the artists involved. I feel my money was stolen from me. Some of these pieces are over 10 years old! If they didn't have anything NEW to show, then they didn't deserve to be in this new collection. I didn't buy this book to see things I have already seen. I bought it to see NEW things. In many cases, you didn't even take a new photo of the piece. It must have been less expensive for you to have borrowed images from the previously published "500 Beaded Objects". You didn't have to pay photographers for new photos. One such photo was presented new by flipping the image in photoshop... a very cheap trick. Some of them had different names but the same photo credit and the same photograph. I am a beader and a photographer. This is all so very disappointing.

I might never buy another book by Lark Books or Sterling Publishing, I am so disgusted by this. I work hard for my money and with the economy in the state it is in, I am so disappointed that I paid for pages of items that I have on the shelf already. I simply don't have extra dollars to pay for inspiration that isn't very inspiring because I have much seen it before.

The beautiful and creative sculpture and jewelry in this book illustrate just how far beadwork has come as a medium and how far its best practitioners have come as artists. Whether figurative or abstract, the selections show the variety in style, content and technique employed by today's top beadweavers. The book itself is handsome, well designed and the reproductions are first rate. A must for any art library.

Just got my copy today and I'm more than thrilled. It's a nice heavy, quality book for the price. The photos are good and the little blurbs about the artists are very nice. Yes, we have seen some of the beadwork by famous artists (Diane Fitzgerald, etc.) before in other books, but a lot of it I haven't seen before.

Can't wait to sit down tonight and pore over every page!

I first saw this book in May of this year, when I took a class at a bead store in Ventura County with one of the instructors featured in this book. The students in class had brought along their copies of this book for the instructor to sign -- so I had to get my own copy from Amazon so I could do the same for future classes. It's been such a treat to have the instructors featured in this book autograph it for me when I take their classes!

This book is just absolutely lovely eye candy! No, there are not any instructions for the featured projects, but that isn't the point of the book. The point is to showcase wonderful projects by the true masters of modern beadweaving. The photos are gorgeous and incredibly motivational. I'm so happy that I bought this!

I liked the book. Only, it was a lot of images that I have already seen and comentary that I had already read. I subscribe or buy most all the beading magazines and there were just no suprises. But for someone who is new it will be inspirational.

Well done from cover to cover. This book has many of the leading artists. The only complaint I have is that there is no "new" work from that "loomatic" Don Pierce. All of his work has already been shown over and over in many publications. Still love Dons work, tho. It is amazing what can be don with seed beads. A feast for the eyes.

I just loved this book, well put together with brilliant pictures and jam packed with inspiration. A must have for any beader aspiring to greatness.

Masters: Beadweaving captures so much of the best work of the past 10 to 20 years of beadwork that I'm simply amazed by it. It inspires me with the range of what beaders can accomplish when creative vision is allowed to flourish. That's what thrills me about beadweaving: the combination of free-flowing creativity and detailed precision is rare and precious. And that's what this beautiful and precious book of photographs (with a little bit of commentary) is all about.

This is one of the most beautiful books on beadwork I have ever seen. I love the format which tells a bit about each artist without the cumbersome or often self-indulgent "Mission Statement" to wade through. The photography is excellent and the choice of artists is brilliant. I took it to my Bead Group and the people who didn't already have it, ordered it.