Guest Artists

July 12th, 2024 to April 2025. Laura McCabe  

Laura McCabe is a primarily self-taught beadweaver with an education in historical costume reproduction and restoration, and anthropology. She produces elaborately beaded body adornment and sculpture that combines Native American, African, and Victorian beadweaving techniques with modern materials and color schemes.

She started Just Let Me Bead in 1995, at which time she sold her original designs to boutiques and museum shops. In 2002, she began teaching her art and continued to do so across the US and throughout the world until 2020, at which time she transitioned to video teaching. She exhibits her work in national and international beadwork exhibitions, and continues to sell some of her finished work online.

She maintains a private studio in Hampton, Connecticut where she and a dog named Lucy continue to live the creative life.

March 2025 to August 2025. Sabrina Frey

I am a full time award winning artist dedicated to expanding the artistic possibilities of my chosen medium, Glass Beads. Thinking beyond traditional beading methods of the past, I've developed many innovative techniques for highlighting the beads personality. As a nature lover, I use my beads to represent life by creating highly detailed representational art of animals, landscapes and the elements.  The beading techniques I have developed allow me to create immersive and tactile mosaics that embody the DNA of each piece. As with nature, they are a diverse aggregate of smaller parts that make one cohesive and unique body.

Protecting the world I love is also a priority, so I use many repurposed materials such as cabinet doors and serving trays to create my art work. These sturdy bases are given new life and add to the uniqueness of each piece. As a former academic, I enjoy sharing my discoveries with others and have played a major part in expanding and growing interest in bead mosaics. 

June to December 2025: Maracole Bijoux

Born and raised in Italy, Mara Colecchia (Maracole Bijoux) graduated in Rome with a specialization in Drawing Animation and game design from IED. She worked in the animation industry until 2008, when she took a chance on relocating to Los Angeles, CA, with the aim of consolidating her career in children’s entertainment. 

Instead, she started making visual art and exhibiting her work in local galleries, specializing in Pop Surrealism. Mara experimented with many mediums over a decade, until she discovered seed beads. Since 2019 Maracole Bijoux – a line of high end handwoven jewelry– is her main endeavor.

Mara exhibited her work at The Smithsonian’s Craft Show in 2024, and her collections have been featured in magazines dedicated to art and fashion. One of her necklaces is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Beadwork in Portland, Maine, and one of her brooches is on view at the Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum, in Athens. Mara has been teaching workshops in various art and crafts centers in the USA since 2021.

September 2025 to February 2026. Betsy Youngquist

Betsy Youngquist has always been fascinated with the intersection of humans, animals and mythology. Her creative pursuits are centered on exploring those connections. Beads form the backbone of the materials she uses. When creating these embellished objects, she collaborates with sculptor R. Scott Long in designing and constructing the forms. Each piece starts as a unique carving. The surfaces are encrusted with beads and found materials, often incorporating fragments of old porcelain dolls. Enjoy more of her work at byart.com/gallery.

January 2026 to May 2026. Kinga Bledsoe

Kinga Bledsoe was born in 1980, in Hungary. At 19, she packed up her life in a backpack and moved to the US where she has been residing since – albeit not at the same place. Currently, she lives in Jackson, Michigan with her family. 

One way or another, Kinga has always been creating something. This started to turn into a career when she was living in New York and painting. While the murals were fun, she did not feel like painting was her calling. She picked up a Bead and Button magazine in 2007, found a bead embroidery project, and then slowly but surely the obsession took over. After that first project, she started creating her own designs and quickly found her own distinctive visual voice.

Kinga is always brainstorming, and her imagination provides an endless supply of fanciful ideas that she translates into bead embroidery. Since 2013, Kinga has been teaching her designs all over the US, and sometimes internationally. Her greatest joy is planting little seeds of creativity in minds and hearts wherever she goes; encouraging others to embrace their own creative voice is her calling.

March 2026 to August 2026. Cliff Swain-Salomon

Cliff Swain-Salomon is an off-the-loom seed bead weaver known for creating non-traditional jewelry shapes and pushing the boundaries of color exploration. After injuring and losing use of both of his hands for over three years, he began beading when a friend recommended he try it as part of his hand rehabilitation therapy. He has exhibited his work internationally, including at the Toho Bead Galleries in Osaka and Tokyo Japan. Several publications have featured his jewelry including Beadwork Magazine, Facet Jewelry, Style Magazine, and Bead & Button, to name a few. You can explore more of his work on his website: www.cssfineart.com.

 June 2026 to December 2026. Sherry Serafini 

Sherry was voted one of the top 10 instructors in the United States by Bead & Button magazine. She lectures and teaches throughout the world. She has been published and has written articles for several well-known magazines, including being a featured artist in the 2024 Belle Armoire. Her work has been featured on the covers of trade magazines and catalogs and is the co-author of the Art of Bead Embroidery with artist & friend Heidi Kummli, Sensational Bead Embroidery, and Inspirational Bead Embroidery. Sherry has a series of DVD’s and has been featured on Beads Baubles and Jewels and JTV.

Sherry’s beaded art is known internationally and is owned and worn by Grammy winner Melissa Etheridge, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Lenny Kravitz, and singer Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas. Her beadwork has been seen at fashion week in Milan, and in recent years in Las Vegas her beaded headbands were worn at the MGM concert venue by Steven.