ARTIST
Meet Barbara Packer
After studying color and design at F.I.T and the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan I became an internationally acclaimed quilt maker. Because of several futile attempts to repair a broken necklace of treasured trade beads I learned a Japanese method of knotting. This stimulated me to try my hand at “quilting” seed beads around a core. I “seamlessly” segued from stitching hundreds of pieces of fabric into two-dimensional quilts to weaving thousands of minuscule glass beads into three-dimensional globes. From these I created uniquely beaded-beads into necklaces earrings and bracelets.
This work has been received enthusiastically by collectors and bead lovers for its vibrant colors, dynamic design and jewel-like qualities. As one recent commentator noted, "[h]er understated jewelry—whimsical yet sophisticated—functions like a superb perfume: it draws observers close to the wearer's neck or wrist."
The result of incorporating 24-K gold, sterling silver, palladium and platinum encrusted glass beads into various base colors has produced sophisticated jewelry wearable for many occasions or no occasion at all!
I accomplished my goal of handcrafting an original expression applicable to contemporary usage by using a sustainable, renewable and common material, i.e., sand fused into glass.