Artist interview with Glenda MacNaughton

Glenda Mac Naughton, who in her own words is a self taught artist and designer who handcrafts all of her own designs. In 1996 her mother gave her some glass beads, and a book about beading, however it was a couple of years later that she came across some fantastic woven glass beadwork in a shop in Austin, Texas (USA). She liked what she saw, bought another book, some needles and beads and on the long haul back to Australia, she set about getting seriously involved in beading.
She lives near the seaside in Drysdale, which is on the Bellarine Peninsula in Victoria's south east where she is enjoying the quiet life of beading. In her day job, she was an academic who "created" with ideas and words, now she enjoys the mysteries of creating with meaning, and with colour, shape and form. She tries to bead with social responsibilty in mind and she publishes about beadwork and beyond, in beading magazines and on her daxdesigns blog. She has a growing list of awards for her art beadwork and sells her work at local markets and on her online shop.
Her business name 'Dax Designs' came from Dax, who was a much loved dog rescued from a local dogs home, but who sadly became the victim of a snake bite. Dax the dog was named after a character on Star Trek; Jadzia Dax.
Glenda is inspired by women in diverse cultures that have long used shape, pattern and colour in beadwork as a language, to talk about things of significance to them and to their culture. She draws on this practice to design and handcraft wearable beadart that can talk about things such as social justice, respect for diversity and also to create a more eco-friendly world. Her messages of hope, possibilities and desire are all crafted by her in her use of shape, pattern and colour to create designs that escape the ordinary and embrace difference.
She hopes to create beadwork that is so pleasing and striking that those who wear it and those that see it, will talk about it, and so the messages of diversity, the environment and social justice will also get talked about.
Glenda says she tends to gravitate towards lime, purple and orange colours, which are fresh, edgy and vibrant. She loves weaving with tiny glass beads using the traditional Peyote stitch.
She is an active member of the Victorian Bead Society, where she teaches, however she is planning to teach locally at the Springdale Neighgourhood Centre in Drysdale, where classes can be customised to individuals and group needs.
For further information on Glenda's beading life go to: http://www.daxdesigns.com.au/