Inspiration Times Two

People who are so involved with an idea that they bring in others for mutual benefit intrigue me. The bead world is full of enthusiastic inhabitants, but I’ve found two who, for me, are standouts — Elise Winters and the late Gabrielle Liese.  Each has contributed not only to the Museum’s forthcoming exhibition NEW JEWELRY IN A NEW MEDIUM, but to the appreciation and enjoyment by a larger audience of beads in general and polymer clay beads in particular. The exhibition opens December 17, and features contemporary jewelry fashioned from polymer clay.

A collection awarded to the Museum by the Polymer Collection Project forms a substantial part of NEW JEWELRY IN A NEW MEDIUM. The Polymer Collection Project is a collaboration of collectors organized by renowned artist Elise Winters. Believing that respected, progressive museums would be interested in acquiring polymer art for their collections,  Elise combined her own substantial, museum quality collection with those of three other discerning collectors — Nan Roche, Lindly Haunani and Carol Watkins — to form a collection large enough to give to more than one museum. Then she went on the road to visit deserving museums around the country, traveling to each to discuss her plan to encourage the appreciation of polymer jewelry and inviting museum directors to visit her in New Jersey.  At the end of the search, Elise and her colleagues chose a number of museums to receive their donations.  Mingei International was one of them. In addition, Elise created the Polymer Art Archive, a treasure trove of information with easy online access.  Check it out at http://polymerartarchive.com.

This exhibition will be the first chance visitors have to view any of the beads in the Museum’s recently acquired collection from The Bead Museum in Glendale, Arizona.  The founder of that museum was Gabrielle Liese, an elegant, warm, sophisticated woman with a taste for adventure. She grew up in Connecticut, and during her school years, spent summer months in Europe with one exception; that was in 1928, the year that her mother decided it was time to see America. The cross country trip included a voyage to Alaska, and was also her introduction to the Southwest where her experiences in New Mexico and Arizona initiated a lifelong fondness for the region. After finishing school in New York, Gabrielle worked as an actress on Broadway, then studied interior design as an apprentice at the architectural firm of William Wright Crandall in New York City.  In 1940, she married Theodore Liese, a cavalry officer when the cavalry still rode horses. While he was away fighting World War II, she and their two small children moved to Darien, Connecticut where she used her spare time to study architectural drawing and landscape architecture and volunteer for the Red Cross motor corps.  After the war, the Lieses decided to move to the Southwest, where Ted could enjoy his horses and Gabrielle her love of the region. In 1949, they bought a cattle ranch outside of Prescott, Arizona.  Ever civilized, her granddaughter reported that ranch chores began each day, but at the end of the day a proper cocktail hour was observed followed by candlelit dinner. 

Gabrielle opened an interior design studio in Prescott, and that’s where she discovered her fascination with beads. In the 1970s, while working with a client, she ordered African trade beads to create a shade pull. When they arrived, they were in a necklace. She put on the necklace. I don’t know if the pull was ever made, but when the always curious Gabrielle learned that those beads, made in Venice, were more than 100 years old and that they would have been commonly traded for gold, salt and slaves, she began to recognize the historical, economic and anthropological importance of all beads.  She told the Arizona Republic in 1999 “It made me feel there was a lot more to beads than I realized.”  After her mother’s death, the Lieses pursued their interests in archaeology and horses on regular trips abroad, where Gabrielle also collected beads.  In 1984, she founded The Bead Museum and Gabrielle Liese Research Library in Prescott (moved to Glendale in 1999) to promote the appreciation of the historical, cultural and artistic significance of beads and adornment from ancient, ethnic and contemporary cultures.  

Looking forward to seeing the beads that the efforts of Elise Winters and Gabrielle Liese brought to the Museum, I looked up polymer clay, and here’s what I found. 

The polymer is polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the material best known for its use in modern plumbing.  Fine particles of PVC are suspended in a plasticizer. It is called clay because it is easily modeled. (Clay is actually fine particles of silicate suspended in water.) Suspension is what happens when heavy particles are held in a lighter medium like sand in water.  Eventually, the particles will settle out if something is not done to maintain the suspension.

I must digress.  I looked up the chemical definition of suspension, and found some everyday examples.  The ones I like best are mud and muddy water, Italian dressing and dust particles in the air.  I used to love to watch dust particles dance in sunbeams when I was little.  Now I know I was having a chemistry experience. 

The neat thing about polymer clay is that it comes in a wide variety of colors that can be mixed as the artist sees fit, then folded, sliced, modeled, layered, carved, extruded and much more.  It also forms an unbreakable bond with acrylic paint, its counterpart in the liquid world, and it can be fired at low temperatures (225˚-275˚) in your toaster oven.  (A wise woman has advised me against using the regular oven to bake polymer clay.  Fumes, you know.  You‘d never get a decent soufflé again.)  Still, why bake pies when you can bake polymer clay?  The results may not be tasty, but they will be spectacular.  Jewelry made from polymer clay can appear to be made of metal, shell, bone, turquoise or wood to name a few of the effects the polymer artist can achieve. I even saw a picture of sushi made of polymer clay.   It almost makes me want to try my hand with this medium. Maybe I should get some and make a holiday dessert.  It would be a pecan pie for the ages.

If you want to see for yourself, the Museum is presenting a Folk Art Studio on Saturday, December 10 from 1 until 4 pm.  Besides polymer clay, you can try your hand working with sheet metal and paper mosaic tiles. The workshop can accommodate 30 students.  For information or reservations, call 619-704-7498 or visit www.mingei.org/programs.