Featured Artist Louise Little

Artist Louise Little creates stunningly exquisite jewelry that evokes the beauty of the American Southwest where she lives. To see more of her wearable art, please visit her website.

 

 

As a Glass bead artist I draw inspiration from the southwestern deserts where I make my home.  I play with fire and create glass beads which I use in my art jewelry creations. I have been making glass beads in the Venetian style since 1997 and have studied with many glass masters.

 

 

My parents discouraged me from pursuing an art career so I chose business and computer science degrees instead. I channeled my creativity to weekends and holidays exploring various mediums until I met glass in 1997.

 

 

Glass is mysterious. It is not liquid or solid and definitely has a mind of its own. I love working in the torch then placing the finished pieces in the kiln where hours later the glass reveals its surprises.

 

 

I love the transparency of glass. I love that I can make glass look like ancient stones born of the earth. I love its history and its influence in the world and try to mimic historical beads.

 

 

And I love expressing the beauty and culture of the southwestern deserts in my glass beads and art jewelry creations – like my Urban Lariat series.

 

 

I could not express my vision with glass alone so I pursued other jewelry making techniques like metal smithing, enamels as well as polymer, metal clays, and bead weaving.  I utilize all of these mediums to best express the story in the piece of jewelry that I am creating.

 

 

My favorite way to use my beads is like they are precious stones.  So I set them in metal and accent them with natural stones. Sometimes just the metal tells the story with simple form and texture.

 

 

Recently I have challenged myself to go beyond jewelry and have been working on small “desert” vignettes that capture a small icon of the desert to hang on your walls.

 

 

I never lack for inspiration.  I love the challenge to take that inspiration and figure out how best to create it.

 

 

My passion is creating the desert in glass and metal.

 

Louise Little invites you to follow her on Facebook.

 

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