Meet the Artist: Helen Langhorne

                                                 
                                                                               Helen Langhorne

                            This is the eighth in a series of profiles of the artists
                                                                               who are living The Tallulah Life 

Life is a journey and it's ever changing.  When I first started out in the arts, I painted in oils.  Then I discovered that art doesn't have to hang on the wall.  A real revelation to me as I grew up in a household where my mother painted beautiful watercolors and my older sister painted portraits.  Once I discovered the versatility of polymer clay, things evolved from there.  I sculpted art dolls for a while and just loved it.

However, it was about that time that it was discovered that I had a condition called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.  EDS is all about hypermobility of the joints. Collagen is the glue that holds our bodies together and mine is faulty.  This means dislocations and partial dislocations and a lot of pain on a daily basis.  My hands are particularly affected and so working daily with clay was out for me for the most part. 

It was then that I picked up beading.  I could still hold colors in my hand and make something of them.  So, for now, beading is my passion but I still dabble in paint and other media from time to time.  Beads, however, have my attention.  They come in all sizes, textures and colors.  Mixing beads up and creating some art to wear is just plain fun, and who doesn't like to have fun?

I'm so happy to be a part of the Tallulah girls, all of whom have enriched and inspired me.





Meet the Artist: Stephanie Kastler

                                                                              Stephanie Kastler

       This is the seventh in a series of profiles
                                       of the artists who are living The Tallulah Life.

My first memory of making jewelry was at my 5th birthday party. Back then I used nylon fishing line and plastic beads. Today I prefer sterling, gold, glass and pretty stones.

While I love to string all kinds of pretty beads in any configuration that comes to mind, I've been trying to stretch myself by learning bead weaving, bead crochet, kumihimo, and improving my wire working skills.

The best part about making jewelry (besides playing with all the pretty beads!) is when someone picks up one of my pieces and their face just lights up because it touches them in some way.

When I'm not making jewelry, I'm working with young adults with developmental disabilities. While I do love my job and the people I work with, it can be stressful and having a great creative outlet is wonderful.

custom rosaries

I have lots of plans for new beady projects, so I'm looking forward to this summer!

Meet the Artist: Susie Weaver

                                                                                        
                                                                                          Susie Weaver

                                   This is the third in a series of profiles of the artists
                                                                                        who are living The Tallulah Life

From the time I was a child, I recall coloring, cutting, and pasting paper. As I got older, I discovered that there were a myriad of colorful media I was attracted to, including paint, colored pencils, and colored and patterned paper. I’ve tried my hand at many art and craft projects, including needlework and scrapbooking.

 

Most recently I have been caught up in the beading bug. You just can’t have too many beads. I have other artsy friends who were also trying beading techniques, including bead weaving, who encouraged my addiction and taught me their secrets. I have enjoyed working with glass and semi-precious beads and various metal wires. I have also been experimenting with polymer clay, which I find is a natural extension for a jewelry maker. Finding attractive ways to combine all these materials into necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings has been my goal. My favorite color palettes are inspired from the sea and the southwest dessert, so you will see a lot of that in my work. Nature has always had a special attraction --

                                        Our Creator is the ORIGINAL artist.

Tallulah Faire: The beginning

You should know, first, that The Tallulah Life includes more than just the blog author. This Tallulah Life is not about a single "fruitful woman," but about a group of friends with common interest and love of creative arts. Most of us met through a retail shop that fed our love of scrapbooking and other paper arts. Out of this store grew a group who met monthly to learn and bond over projects and techniques. Even when the shop, sadly, closed, many of the friends kept in touch. Some of us met to continue our learning and creation of lovely objects d'arte. And even after those meetings became less formal and less frequent, some of us met regularly just for coffee at our favorite Panera, where we continued to share what we were making just for the love of it.


Tallulah Faire is our first endeavor to share the fruits of our creativity with friends and neighbors. The plan, as it stands at the moment, is to hold this event on Saturday, April 28th (raindate: Sunday, April 29th). In the coming days and weeks, we will share more of the particulars. This will include a detailed time and place, previews of the art that will be for sale, and introductions of the Tallulah artists.


And so it begins...