Art Bead Scene Editors Take the Challenge

                     

Every morning for the past, at least 10 years, I have woken to this painting which hangs on a wall in our bedroom. I was fortunate to see it in the original when I traveled to The National Gallery in Ottawa, Canada for a major exhibition called Sol Y Vida Modern Mexican Art  1900-1950. That was in the Spring 2000.  We bought this giant poster at that time and sometime later my husband framed it.

                             When I think of Frida Kahlo, I think of big beads, big jewelry and flowers.

                
                                 Photograph of Frida Kahlo wearing some of her big bead jewelry




                  
                      Photograph of Frida Kahlo wearing a necklace of big beads and large earrings


                         Photograph of Frida Kahlo with her jewelry and flowers in  her hair

Today the Art Bead Scene Editors are taking the Challenge and sharing with you some of their work inspired by Friday Kahlo and her paining Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird. First I am going to  some very large beads I  made at least 10 years ago

      Frida Kahlo inspired beads by Mary Harding--each bead is a least 1 -1 1/2 inches long

              A necklace I made at about the same time using some of these very big beads

Slipping back into the present, I made a few very big flowers for this post:

                                         bisque fired ceramic big flower beads

     Large flower beads glazed and the final firing.  The two white ones have been tumbled to smooth out some of the edges .

When I thought very specifically about the painting, I  focused on the butterflies resting on Frida's hair and made several butterfly toggle clasps reflecting her use of  black and white -- in the painting they are made to look like lace.  I used some lace netting that I had to create the background for the black and white butterfly toggle clasps:

Butterfly Toggle Clasp inspired by Frida Kahlo's painting Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird

I choose to combine the delicacy of the lacy butterfly with the rigid  toggle bar as a reference to her early bus accident that cause her life long pain and confined her to a metal corset for much of her life.

Now let's see what the others have made:

Humblebeads