Bead Arts

Transformer 2 bracelet
Photographer: Greg Mullin

Artist: Tina Koyama
Location: Seattle

Website & Blog: Tina Koyama
e-mail: tina@tinakoyama.com

Tina, your work is obviously very organic. How do you describe it?
My current focus is on self-supported sculptures using off-loom beadweaving stitches. My work is probably most closely related to contemporary basketry: 3-dimensional forms made from flexible materials. I like to keep an open mind about what constitutes a “bead” (technically, anything that has a hole going through it!). I have a series of sculptures made from pasta, which, as anyone who has strung a macaroni necklace knows, makes excellent beads!


No. 5 in the Semolina
Photographer: Greg Mullin

What is your creative process like?
My creative process is completely improvisational and intuitive. I never plan or sketch anything – I simply choose some beads, thread a needle and plunge into it. That improvisational process is both the fuel and the outcome of my work. I am as compelled by the challenge of continually asking, “What happens if…?” as I am by the eventual answer, which always surprises me. Ultimately, it is that surprise that motivates me to continue exploring in a way that implementing a planned design never would.

I always listen to music while I’m beading, and my favorite is the improvisational jazz piano of Keith Jarrett. I can listen to one of his CDs a hundred times and always hear something new – some tiny nuance I missed previously. I’m completely inspired by his apparent fearlessness in appearing in concert before thousands of people to play music he has never played before. My artistic goal is to be the Keith Jarrett of beadwork!

As far as my work habits go, that’s where my background in writing (see below) comes in handy. I get up every weekday morning at 5 a.m. and bead for a couple of hours before going to work at my various day jobs (when I was a writer, I wrote every morning before work – different medium, same habit). On my days off, I bead for 4-5 hours in the morning. It’s not really about looking for or waiting for inspiration – it’s about showing up every day and being there when inspiration arrives. Sometimes it arrives, and sometimes it doesn’t, but either way, I get a lot of beading done (almost 1,000 hours a year).


Soft & Stone
Photographer: Greg Mullin

What kind of training did you have which helped you achieve your current level of artistry?
I have a B.A. and M.A. in creative writing, and before 2002, most of my creative and professional work was in writing (I did corporate communications for 20+ years before I discovered beads). Until 2007 when I earned a certificate in fiber arts from the University of Washington’s Extension Program, I had no formal education in art.

I began beading probably the way many beaders begin: I made a few earrings and strung a few necklaces, but that type of beading didn’t interest me for long. After a while, I got bored, and I almost gave up beads entirely – until I discovered seed beads in 2002. That’s when I realized the amazing potential of beads – the ability to create complex, 3-dimensional shapes simply by pulling thread tightly through them. The book The New Beadwork (Kathlyn Moss and Alice Scherer) changed my life because I suddenly saw that beads could be used for artistic expression in many ways, not just as jewelry. It really opened my mind to the possibilities.

As far as my beading education goes, early on I used books to learn basic stitches, and I’ve taken numerous classes at local bead shops and bead shows. Even though I’ve been teaching since 2003, I still enjoy taking classes myself, because everyone has a different way of doing things, and there’s always something new to learn. I also enjoy the social aspect of classes.

I’d have to say, though, that my primary training is and always has been simply experimenting continually. I have several shoe-box-size boxes filled with tiny pieces of beadwork (maybe ½ to 2 inches wide) that I have made to explore a stitch or technique. I’d say those boxes are equivalent to a painter’s sketchbook.

Is there a tool or material that you can’t imagine living without?
You mean other than beads?  Three things: Beading glasses; full-spectrum task light; triangle-shaped scoop. I am always on a quest to find the ideal beading thread, which, as far as I’m concerned, hasn’t been developed yet!

What inspires you to create?
Curiosity is probably my primary inspiration. I’m always wondering what would happen if I tried doing something different. Beads themselves (the various shapes and sizes) are also a strong source of inspiration because they can come together in surprising ways, depending on the light, finish, color, stitch used, tension, whatever. The continual discovery keeps me motivated.

What inspires you to keep going when the work gets frustrating or tough?
If I run into a frustrating problem, I usually just “bead through it” and keep going until I find a solution. I’m kind of persistent that way. Sometimes I’ll put the problem down and start working on something else for a while, and often that frees my mind enough to go back to the first problem and find a new solution.


Transformer 1 necklace
Photographer: Greg Mullin

What is your best piece of advice for those who would like to rise in their level of artistry?
One of my goals as a beadwork instructor is to help students overcome the fear of working without instructions and discover the joy of working improvisationally. My encouragement is to continually experiment with whatever stitch or techniques you know and go beyond what you have learned. If you take a class or read a magazine article to make a piece of jewelry, take it a step further by changing the design in some way. Another tip is not to feel compelled to always complete something as planned. For example, if you start out to make a bracelet but find that the design is changing in some way that is no longer appropriate for a bracelet, let the bracelet go and follow the beadwork. Even if you end up with a piece of beadwork that can’t be worn in any way, you will have learned more from it than if you had simply made another bracelet according to plan.

[editor's note: Tina teaches nationally at bead shows, bead societies and other venues and also sell kits for many of her class projects. For information on kits and classes, please visit her web site and see the "classes" section!]

What takes up the majority of your time besides your art?
I have several “day jobs”: freelance writing (feature articles for magazines and marketing writing), teaching beadwork locally and nationally, and customer service for an online bead shop.

What’s your favorite activity besides beading?
Knitting! In the evening when the creative side of my brain is tired and lazy (I do my best creative work in the morning), I like to knit, which engages my hands and a different part of my brain but still feels constructive. At night, knitting calms me so that I can get to sleep (whereas beading would rev me up). I also like to take knitting with me to the doctor’s office to fill the time while I’m waiting, and I like to take it with me on planes, too. (I also love freeform knitting and crochet! But that’s creative and isn’t the same as comfort knitting.)

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