designsbyonye's Profile

Bio

I have been a bead artist/jeweler for 14 years, and I have had a passion for handicrafts all of my life. I prefer to work with glass beads, but I make use of all types, sizes and forms of beads. I am most functional in cross-needle weaving, right-angle weave, ladder stitch, peyote stitch, daisy-chain stitch, brick stitch, stringing and designing jewelry. I also paint and draw in abstracts and geometric grids (tessellation art); I enjoy practicing modular and functional origami, paper mache’, batik (wax-painting), braiding lanyards and basic macramé. I would love to learn knitting, crochet, quilting, kumihimo (Japanese braiding), sewing (past the basic level), basket-weaving, scrapbook art, drawing (people and animals), oil paining, metal-smith art, wire art and jewelry… I just love to learn new techniques!

The artists that inspire me are MC Escher, Salvador Dali, Piet Mondrian, Claude Monet, and Pablo Picasso, bead artists Lois Sherr Dubin, Valerie Hector (IL), Suzanne Golden (NYC), Virginia Blakelock and Carolyn Wilcox Wells. Additionally I am artistically inspired by mathematicians Sandor Kabai (http://kabai.hu) and George Hart – he is also a sculptor.
My exhibitions include the Indiana Black Expo Cultural Pavilion (2007 = 4 years), the Bead Bonanza (2007), IMCPL’s Meet the Artist XIX and XX.

The best thing about being an artist for me is that I can reflect aspects of God’s beauty and ordered complexity in my work. Many of my pieces (such as the Dodecahedra and Particle collections) are clear representations of geometric and scientific forms. I’ve managed to integrate my analytical self with my artistic self to create pieces that are functional, thought provoking, and inspiring to others. In this way I might glorify God and His people. Maybe I am not always understood, which is not really my aim, but God knows my heart and is continually blessing me with new creativity and ways to praise Him, to bless (i.e. empower to prosper) and uplift those around me.

For more photos of jewelry, go to http://flickr.com/photos/onye and select the Designs By Onye photo set. Feel free to browse the Previous works collection to see how my work has evolved over time.

Female, Born on November 17

Favorite Materials

Swarovski, glassbeads, seedbeads, sterlingsilver