Curious Red Designs

I am thrilled to announce that I have a shop on Etsy (just in time for the holidays!): Curious Red Designs!

To balance my time at the screen and connect with my high school girls, I have turned to making small beaded art pieces with my twin daughters. Here, time slows down and breath becomes balanced — an intense focus on the placement of each small bead with help of an exacto knife and tweezers — an artistic meditation of craft and breath.

I have always been a maker, learning drawing and sewing from my mother. This passion became all-consuming, driving me to pursue a degree of fine arts and art history at UNC Chapel Hill. After graduating college, I moved up to Washington DC to work with artists Lou Stovall, Sam Gilliam and Rockne Krebbs. Seeking a way to use art to make a difference, I went back to school at the Corcoran to obtain a degree in graphic design.  

After a couple years working for large and small design firms, I started my own business, Studio Red Design. My mission-driven and full-service graphic design firm partners with educational institutions, mission-driven organizations, membership organizations and spirituality/wellness clients—on local and international levels—to provide quality and creative solutions to their communication needs. My design work is hugely fulfilling, but I still feel the need to make with my hands and heart. During a visit to New Orleans, I had the chance to stop by Betsy Younquist's gallery and was completely taken with her quirky creations so reminiscent of Edward Gorey and Tim Burton. Learning from local artist Tara Shimberg, I started making my own pieces.

I am in love with the attention to detail, the bold colors, the whimsy, the surreal fun of her carefully crafted creations. Tara and Betsy’s work inspired my hand to creating our own small jeweled-moments. At first, I felt guilty indulging at such simple pleasures of making jewlery. But I have come to understand how jewlery can be a form of communication and identity; such pieces can speak without words. Its a joy to create with my twins at our kitchen table (though less fun to clean up!).

I adore working with small beads as they always remind me of the importance of small things and bring me peace and patience (hugely helpful to a mother of teen twin girls!). I use found/recycled objects as possible as they bring a certain permanence and history to each piece. I have been collecting broken jewlery and old costume pieces to use as collage pieces, looking to recycle and renew. I draw from my art history background to incorporate symbolism, archetypes, and ideas to create wearable artwork assemblages.