Meet Our Teachers!
What is the art of beading without some stellar individuals to help guide the way? We know how important it is to have experienced teachers providing valuable insight and direction, which is why we are honored and thrilled to present a variety of beginner and intermediate level bead stitch classes from an impressive list of jewelry teachers. Whether you are brand new to the world of stitching or you have been practicing for years, our beading teachers will know how and where to meet you to help develop your potential. So what are you waiting for? Sign up for one of our beading classes today and get started on your path to making beautiful jewelry creations. You can start by learning a little more about our teachers and what they have done in the past.
Susan Council
Susan started beading in 2001. Her creative journey began with stringing and simple wire wrapping. She participated in several craft fairs at Unum, various churches, and took part in some opportunities in Florida. After developing the basics, she moved on to bead weaving, starting with the Right Angle Weave. From there she learned several other stitching techniques, went on to purchase supplies in bulk, and began to amass a large inventory of beads. After encouragement from her friends, Susan decided to put her talent and resources together and open Bead Therapy.
Classes: Moroccan splendor bracelet (Indian Summer/ BEAD WORK Aug/Sept 2014), waving American flag bracelet, flat spiral, Viking knit, Christmas beaded ornament covers.... and many more!
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Annette Holbert
Originally from western North Carolina, Annette is a self-taught jewelry artist. She received her Associate degree in Nursing, but now primarily focuses on jewelry creations, making repairs, and teaching classes. Her specialties are basic beading, wire, metal, glass, seed beads, and polymer clay. You can find Annette’s work displayed at places like A Better Bead and Crafts in Brevard, NC, Cherry Tree beads in Asheville, NC, and at our Bead Therapy shop in Chattanooga. We are thrilled to have this talented designer and creator on our team and helping instruct our classes. She also makes beautiful enameled pieces in the shop that we have for sale.
Classes: wire wrap cabochon, coiled wire earrings, Wire wrap fish pendant, and beaded wire hoop earrings, Bead Boards and many other great things!
Ashley Norris
Ashley starting making jewelry in 2009 after she tired of fiber art (Pictoral piecing and embroidery) with bead weaving and then moving on to wire work. She is a vendor in the Chattanooga Market and the Cambridge Square market in Ooltewah. She works at Bead-Therapy full time now, helping friends find beads, solving problems and teaching classes.
Classes: earring findings, beading with wire work earrings, French Wire Flowers, free form wire work bracelet and beaded wire wrap bracelet.
Kassie Shaw
Kassie Shaw is a bead weaving designer from Western North Carolina. Her style is down to earth and wearable but she also loves to make bold pieces with lots of contrast and pops of color. Kassie has been published over a half-dozen times since she started beading in 2004, and in 2015. F+W Media published her first book, Beadweaving Beyond the Basics, which explores some of her favorite right angle weave variations. Kassie's kits and tutorials can be found on her website www.beadingbutterfly.com. She has been a patternista for Starman, competed in several big beading contests and has many popular patterns.
Classes: Fae's trinket, Flutter-bye bracelet, Couplets bracelet, beaded earrings.
Internationally known, Dale “Cougar” Armstrong is a diehard rockhound, lapidary, and a full-time wire jewelry artist, instructor, and author; with a background in the fine arts, cloisonné, and repoussé prior to making wire jewelry. With more than 45 years of combined experience, Dale uses absolutely no solder or glue in her traditional wire jewelry designs and teaches how at jewelry-making events around North America, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, and Switzerland. Her award-winning work is sold in galleries and gift shops and has appeared in many printed publications. Author of numerous magazine and Internet articles and the bestselling book, “Wirework: An Illustrated Guide to the Art of Wire Wrapping”, Dale has made many different series of instructional DVDs; has many free tutorials on YouTube, has appeared on the PBS broadcast show ‘Beads, Baubles & Jewels’; is a member of the Beadalon Design Team and a representative for Euro Tool. Dale has also worked as an instructor and live presenter for Jewelry Television.
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Engibe Walker began beading around 1993 and is self taught. She specializes in peyote (which she LOVES) and does several other stitches. Best know for her bead embroidery works of art, she has participated in local Pow Wows and other local shows. Many examples are in the shop for sale that she has done for missing and/or murdered indigenous women. She teaches many fabulous projects at the shop. We all want to be Engibe when we grow up in our beading lives!!
Melody MacDuffee
Melody is not only an incredible bead artist, she is a nationally published author and respected humanitarian who started her creative journey with fibre crochet in Alabama. Specializing in delicate wirework, Melody offers an intricate technique that you are sure to be mesmerized by. Back in 2007, the non-profit organization Soul of Somanya was established after Melody responded to a request to go and teach her jewelry-making techniques to rural communities in Ghana, West Africa. We are thrilled to have Melody on our team and as one of our exceptional instructors here at Bead Therapy.
Classes: wire bezels, wire lace, wire earrings.... all things wire!
Meredith Brook
Meredith started beading around 2012 beginning with attending Jewel School and then attending classes through the Unum craft club with Susan Council and beading with other friends. She followed the rule of all bracelets need earrings to be proper. As she followed her beading path, she began to design her own jewelry sets and help others create their own sets through teaching classes at Bead-Therapy.
Classes taught include beginning Peyote, Herringbone, Right Angle Weave and Just Rolling along the bracelet.
Amy Luviano started beading at age 18 when she was given some handmade clay beads which made her first lovely necklace and it went on from there. Picking up skills on her own by looking at pictures, she could make just about everything. She actually learned Kumihimo at Bead-Therapy, but otherwise is mostly self-taught. At Bead-Therapy she teaches a varity of chain/leather/beads in multiple styles and is one of our most popular instructors.
Pat Davis grew up in Chicago, joined the Marine Corp. because jobs were scarce in her field after college and was stationed at Cherry Point, NC. She attended ceramic classes there for fun and then made and sold ceramics at craft fairs in/near Irvine California while stationed there. She then moved here and got into making jewelry at 5PM one day when her sister (from out of town) was visiting and they made a wild run to Michael's so Pat could learn how to make jewelry.
Pat has been doing Polymer Clay for over 4 years and makes and sells her pieces at the Chattanooga Market and Christmas Holiday Market where you can visit and see her works of art.
Dina Rogers grew up in chicago, but started making jewelry while her husband was stationed in Hawaii in the 90's starting with basic stringing. She then started teaching whoever wanted to learn in North Carolina, Tennessee and California where she corrupted her sister with the bead fever. She's done theraputic beading to women involved in domestic violence. She eventually evolved to make chainmaille, viking knit and leather work (dying, stamping, braiding and other leatherwork).
Nancy Deem
Sadly, our good friend has passed away and is now in a better place. We all miss her kind smile and talent in making beautiful jewelry and easy way of teaching. She will always be missed by those who knew her. She told me "I have been fascinated by beads since the wooden beads on my shoestrings in the 1st grade. Much (MUCH) later, in 2000, at a very low point in my life, I found a bead store in Atlanta that offered classes and it was full steam ahead. As soon as I learned a new stitch, I was designing with it. It wasn't long before I was asked to teach some of those designs to others. I've taught in the Atlanta area at Beadazzled and Beadjoux, Bead-Therapy in Chattanooga, and at The Beadcage in Columbus, GA." Rest In Peace, dear friend!!
Phillip Stansell
Phillip Stansell is a local self taught wire artist who started making wire wrap pendants in 2017 and has made some real stunning pieces with natural stones, copper and silver. Many of his pieces have been purchased and sold in California. We are happy to have Phillip teaching at our shop and feel that his work is only getting better!!
Judy grew up learning crochet from her grandmother at age 4 and she's finished college with an Art Major and Accounting Minor. She lived with the accounting and enjoyed all the fiber arts, beading and other crafts. She's taught paper bead making at John C. Campbell on several occasions and at the HGA Convergence. She's taught weaving, spinning, dyeing and a multitude of textile crafts and skills.
Nancy Collins inspiration comes from texture; natural stones; pearls with unique luster, color and shape; nature; and anything related to the sea – underwater, by the shore, or on the surface. She is motivated to create for women who have multi-faceted lives and make subtle or bold statements with unique jewelry, expressing individuality from ballgame to boardroom and anywhere the evening takes them.
Precious Metal Clay is a staple in her creations, providing opportunities for textures and hand carving unavailable with silversmithing techniques. Her journey began with a private class from Bernadette Deneau in Miami, followed by some online classes, a hand carving class with Holly Ginsberg, and Level II PMC Certification obtained at William Holland School.
Tracy Beamon started metal stamping two and a half years ago when trying to find ways to give personalized gifts. She is self trained in stamping. Tracy also does silversmithing with work and studied in Atlanta at Atlanta Artworx. She is a vendor with Chattanooga Market and loves traveling to different markets. 
Emma Rodriguez grew up in Venezuela and came to the states via Puerto Rico and started bead weaving a few years ago in a class taught by Engibe (her mentor and inspiration) and progressed to making her own patterns and designs. Now she is outbeading most of us at the shop (I would say we would be embarrassed, but we are proud of her!)
Connie Clark
Connie enjoys working and teaching in metal work, polymer clay, beading and more. She serves as President on the Board of Directors for the Greater Atlanta Polymer Clay guild, and is a member of the Atlanta Bead Society and her favorite thing is combining these different medium to create unique art. To view more of her work check her out on FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/connie.clark.1000 and look through her photo albums.
Jeff Fulkerson - Artist Jeff Fulkerson, M.A., has been creating stunning, imaginative jewelry for over 40 years. A contributing artist to Lapidary Journal/Jewelry Artist Magazine, his work has also been featured in Art Jewelry Magazine, Rock & Gem Magazine, the Tucson Show Guide and Step by Step Wire. Jeff has produced several instructional videos including “Beginning Inlay.” His Silversmithing Video Library offers jewelry artists of all levels the opportunity to learn and improve their skills. Jeff is the inventor of the Steady Stamp™ and the Fast Flare Forming Disks (pat. pend.) for making spinner bangles. He has taught at Bead Fest, Bead & Button Show, Art Retreat in the Desert, Art Unraveled, the San Diego Museum of Man, and several private studios and bead shops across the country. A self-taught silver-smith with a background in construction and design, he counts himself fortunate to have studied with many great Native American artists in the last few years, most notably, Richard Tsosie, Navajo, Jesse Monogya, Hopi/Navajo and Michael Cheatham, Cherokee. “It’s very satisfying to me to help others grow in their gifts and talents.”
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Pat Keran
Pat has a Masters's degree in Art Education and taught Jr. High and High School art for 12 years and has been beading for 15 years mixed in with a multitude of fiber arts. She is at the shop fairly frequently and comes to Open Bead night on a regular basis. She is very accomplished in many stitches and specializes in color coordination.
Classes: beginner kumihimo, intermediate flat braid kumihimo (with beads)
Brick Stitch Butterfly
Pearl Knotting
