Contemporary Geometric Beadwork Team

Joke van Biesen

Ever since I was young I have been creating things with my hands, always supported by my parents who have encouraged me and my brother and sisters to express ourselves with all kinds of materials. Years ago, Carol Wilcox Wells' breathtaking and overwhelming book ‘The Art and Elegance of Beadweaving’ challenged me and introduced me to the unlimited world of working with small, high-quality Japanese beads. In 2017, my interest in geometric beadwork led to my collaboration with Kate McKinnon and the Contemporary Geometric Beadwork team. Through this collaboration, and inspired by geometry in nature, I had the opportunity to develop myself and to specialize in creating decorative designs in combination with architectural surfaces.

Photo by Kate McKinnon

Collar composed of pentagonal elements

Delica Beads

2019

As long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by Dutch 16th and 17th century portraits, showing women, men, and children posing in dark clothing with patterned lace collars. I’m intrigued by their shapes and ways of folding and by the amount of detail and variety of the patterns. In my design, the use of both transparent and white beads for the patterns, combined with a black background, are a way of looking for the same perfect contrast. This three-dimensional collar is composed of nine regular pentagons grouped in a closed circle. Each pentagon is built up from ten regular triangles, five black triangles, and five lacy patterned white ones in a way to aesthetically connect art and geometry.