***Virginia Jensen***

Virginia Jensen no necesita presentación, es toda una Gurú del mundo de las cuentas y abalorios. Sus libros son famosos en el mundo entero y sus diseños son fuente de inspiración de artistas de los 5 continentes.

Virginia es norteamericana y comenzó a crear con cuentas y abalorios hace solo 10 años.




ENTREVISTA
¿Quieres decirnos tu nombre?
Virginia Jensen

¿Cuántos años tienes?
Soy mayor de lo que aparento.

¿País de nacimiento?
USA

¿País de residencia?
Grand Junction, Colorado, una ciudad de tamaño mediano en la parte occidental de Colorado, a mitad de camino entre Denver y Salt Lake City, Utah.

¿Cuánto hace que empezaste con esta afición?
Hace alrededor de 10 años.

Cuéntanos como empezaste.
Tenía un trabajo de coordinación de clases en una tienda de artesanía y necesitaban una profesora de abalorios. Bueno, me dije, puedo aprender eso. Y seguí adelante.

Dinos 3 artistas que te inspiren.
Aprendí a crear con cuentas y abalorios de muchos artistas, que eran tan maravillosos para compartir sus técnicas y habilidades en libros y revistas. Estoy muy agradecida a todos ellos. Yo vivo lejos de cualquier gran centro de abalorios, así que no tuve otra opción. Ahora que he publicado mis propios libros, siento que esty devolviendo el regalo.
Ahora que me estoy haciendo más bordados de cuentas, me encuentro regresando frecuentemente a dos grandes libros, uno de Sherry Serafini y Kummli Heidi y el otro de Jamie Nube Eakin por sus buenos consejos y la inspiración en el bordado con cuentas.

¿Cuántas horas dedicas a la semana a esta afición?
Algunos días trabajo con cuentas todo el día y hasta días completos durante toda la semana, otros días me dedico a mi primer trabajo, el diseño gráfico. A veces viajo para enseñar o hacer shows. Ahora mismo estoy trabajando en la construcción de mi propio sitio web para poder vender en línea.

¿Te dedicas profesionalmente a esto?
Esto es sin duda más que un hobby, pero estoy semi-retirada, así que tiene tanto de trabajo como quiero. Y me parece que quiero mucho.

¿Qué otras aficiones tienes?
Me gusta leer. La literatura inglesa fue mi primer amor y he estudiado escritura y he escrito muchos cuentos y una novela aún sin publicar. Escribo poesía en alguna ocasión. Soy una gran fan de la ciencia ficción - DE LA BUENA Ciencia Ficción, como Frank Herbert y Kim Stanley Robinson. He hecho todo tipo de artes y manualidades a lo largo de mi vida. Trabajar con cuentas es, sin duda, lo más divertido.

¿Quieres contarnos algo más de tu vida?
Una cosa que contar a los lectores internacionales de este blog es que mi nuevo libro, "Contemporary Cube Bead Designs", está completamente ilustrado. He tratado de hacer las ilustraciones tan claros que cualquier persona puede aprender estos diseños, incluso si no saben Inglés. Me inspiré en el "Libro Blanco" ruso con el que aprendí a hacer la cadena San Petersburgo, a pesar de que no hablo ruso.

SUS PÁGINAS
Web de Virginia Jensen http://www.virjenmettle.com/

SUS CREACIONES

ENTREVISTA ORIGINAL

Would you like to tell us your name?
Virginia Jensen

How old are you?
Older than I look.

What country are you born?
USA

Where do you live now?
Grand Junction, Colorado, a medium sized town in the western part of Colorado, about halfway between Denver and Salt Lake City, Utah.

When did you start with this hobby?
About ten years ago.

How did you start?
I had a job coordinating classes at a craft store and they needed a beading teacher. Okay, I said, I can learn that. And I just kept going.

Who are three artists who inspire you the most?
I learned to do beadweaving from many, many artists who were so wonderful to share their techniques and skills in books and magazines. I'm so grateful to them. I live far from any large beading center, so I had no choice. Now that I have published books myself, I feel that I'm paying back for their gift.
Now that I'm doing more bead embroidery, I find myself returning frequently to two great books, one by Sherry Serafini and Heidi Kummli and the other by Jamie Cloud Eakin for their great tips and inspiration on bead embroidery.

How many hours a week do you dedicate to this hobby?
Some days I bead all day and even full days all week; other days I do my first job, graphic design, And sometimes I travel to teach or do shows. Right now I'm working on building my own web site so I can sell on line.

Is this more than your hobby? Is it your job?
This is definitely more than a hobby, but I'm semi-retired, so it's as much of a job as I want. And I seem to want it a lot.

What other hobbies do you have?
I love to read. English literature was my first love and I've studied writing and written many short stories and a novel as yet unpublished. I write poetry on occasion. And I'm a big fan of science fiction - GOOD sci fi, like Frank Herbert and Kim Stanley Robinson. I've done all sorts of arts and crafts throughout my life. Beading is definitely the most fun.

Would you like to tell us a little bit more about you?
One thing I do want to say to your many international readers is that my new book, Contemporary Cube Bead Designs, is fully illustrated. I've tried to make the illustrations so clear that anyone can learn these designs, even if they cant' read English. I was inspired by the Russian "White Book" which taught me St. Petersburg Chain, even though I could not speak Russian.


"In 2005 I began playing with cube beads because I thought they were fun and different. As more sizes of cubes came on the market, I developed a large number of designs using these new beads. My creations ultimately developed into a book, Cube Bead Stitching, published by Kalmbach books, and more recently a second book, Contemporary Cube Bead Designs, released in April 2012.
I have developed dozens of my own bead weaving designs as well as my own stitching techniques. I enjoy making all kinds of jewelry, but mostly I like to make and design pieces that people actually wear. I test my pieces by wearing them at least once myself, so the fit, wearability, durability and drape of a piece are subjects that are continually in my mind when I’m designing.
My bead embroidery plays with subtle shades and syncretic concepts, uniting what looks ethnic but is not, and what feels organic, but is very intentionally designed. I usually start with a concept or a focal element and then listen to the materials and the colors as they affect and play with each other. My first process is usually gathering a large number of elements and bead sizes and colors that I think want to “play” together – some blending, some contrasting, some harmonizing, and always way more than I actually use. As I work, I eliminate a lot of elements when they don’t enhance the design as it progresses.
Bead embroidery is the most fun of any kind of beadwork I do – and the most exasperating. Following a creative line of action means you must respond to every change as it come along, and I’ve been surprised at the direction some of my pieces have taken. Sometimes you can get stalled when the right element or action just won’t present itself. You can also stumble over yourself trying to keep up with the ideas before you lose them in some other line of action. But the joy of finished product makes it all very worthwhile.
The most interesting development in my beading career has been learning to trust my own sense of beauty. For so long as a graphic designer, I had to listen to business clients who told me whether my graphic work was “good or not.” The most liberating feeling this craft has brought me is the opportunity to judge my own designs for what I know is beautiful. Fortunately I don’t have to tell someone why, but just making the choice myself is what makes this my art and not just my craft.
My personal sense of beauty is based in sound psychological foundations requiring a piece have a certain amount of focus, repetition, interest, contrast, and unity, I don’t usually think about these, but just trust my eye, knowing that the knowledge is in me and will come out if I give it a place. I don’t care for pieces of jewelry that have every color possible in them. I choose colors very intentionally, to relate to adjacent colors or to connect across space with one another, like those microscopic particles that can’t change without changing the other partner no matter how far away. I love science and I love beauty and I just don’t see why they can’t be great friends and produce great results together.
Beading on the whole has brought a serene and focused place into my life that is very much like meditation. I find I get antsy without it. I also can’t wait for the next design adventure to begin."