Contemporary Geometric Beadwork

Ingrid Wangsvik
Contemporary Geometric Beadwork
http://www.ContemporaryGeometricBeadwork.com
Ingrid Wangsvik is a professional musician, a teacher, and a core member of the global, open-source Contemporary Geometric Beadwork research team. Her colours and patterns are inspired by the nature that surrounds her in her native Norway. When viewing her colour patterns (which are usually spontaneously generated as she works, as opposed to graphed beforehand) people describe waves, boats, forests, flowers, crashing cliffs and themes from Norwegian cultural history. Ingrid’s work is unusual in that it is both structurally mathematically precise, but in the making is absolutely carefree about colour and pattern. And it’s magical to see how powerful locale and culture can be; even in play, the ancient scenes and themes shine through.
Asymmetric Waves Bangle
Kate McKinnon
Asymmetric Waves Bangle
Glass beads and thread
2019
The creation of this asymmetrical Rick-Rack Bangle is a model of another moment of discovery for our team, when we realized that a technique we showed in 2011 was actually the answer to a 2018 question. The overlapping rings of waves were built from loops thrown out from the first ring, and in that manner each wave was crafted in place. To create the asymmetry, the increase beads (a slightly different bead placement and stitch) was placed off-center when the ring of beads was cast out. As the lines are worked into fabric, that initial geometric information propagates into an actual wave-form. Some people say that they see mermaids, rising from the sea, in each peak of the outer ring here, but Ingrid did not place the beads with that thought in mind.
Arrow Bangle
Kate McKinnon
Arrow Bangle
glass beads and thread
2017
The Arrow is a simple progression of peyote fabric along a single spine of increases. The fabric climbs the increases in a spread of intervals chosen by the weaver. As with the Wave Bangles, we have used these pieces to model heartbeats, data streams, and the weather. The Arrow was a fun form to discover because we had not imagined a piece with only one running increase line before we found this one, and it remains unique in our library for this feature.