Slide Presentations

Travel to exotic places! Enjoy and share in bead adventures!
See beaded creations by hundreds of bead artists! Learn how beads are made!

Bead artist, Robin Atkins, is available for your meeting or conference!

During the 1980’s and 90’s, I owned a bead shop in Seattle, WA called Beads Indeed. During that time, I traveled abroad at least once a year to buy beads and buttons, and to learn as much as possible about the beading traditions of other countries. Photography, a long-time hobby of mine, and slide lectures are a natural consequence of these travels.

Most of the following are approximately 1½ hour programs, although I can easily extend with question/answer time, or shorten by telling fewer of my stories. If circumstances permit, I have "show and tell" to go with any of the presentations. Charges for these presentations are flexible, and depend on distance, timing, and whether they are in conjunction with teaching workshops. Please contact me for more information.

The following slide presentation titles are included on this page:

Beadwork Around the World
Glass Buttons and Beads
Hidden Treasurers
Living Traditions
Beauty, Bread, and Beads

Beadwork Around the World: Ancient to Contemporary

I’ve divided beadwork into three groups according to the techniques used: bead weaving, bead embellishment, and bead stringing. These logical categories help you to understand the complexity of beadwork. Within each group, you will see a few examples of ancient and ethnic pieces, and over 200 delightful examples of work by contemporary bead artists. Enjoy the variety and ubiquitous nature of beadwork.

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Glass Buttons and Beads: The Work of Many Hands

Visit a small button factory in Northeastern Czech Republic and take a look at the technology of pressed glass button making. You will also visit two other small factories in the same area (one where pressed glass beads are made; the other where cut glass or faceted beads are produced), and watch a woman who has been making beads all of her life wind molten glass on a rod to create lampworked beads. Meet the people who do the work, and see them in action.

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Hidden Treasures: Beads and Beadwork of Eastern Europe

Travel with me to several countries in Eastern Europe (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Lithuania, and Croatia) to look at ancient beads and bead making of Bohemia, the technologies of current glass bead and button making, living traditions of ethnic beadwork, and contemporary bead artists. You'll come away with a new appreciation for the amazing and ubiquitous history of beads!

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Living Traditions: Beadwork, Embroidery, and Folk Arts of Three Small Transylvanian Villages

Vibrant colors, rich embellishment, and strong ties to the past characterize the folk arts and beadwork of the Hungarian villages of Kolataszeg, located in the Transylvanian hills of Romania. Meet Kati, my 72 year old teacher, whose reputation as a beader extends well beyond her own village. Visit a place where the life style hasn’t changed with modern times, where people live as they have for centuries.

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Beauty, Bread and Beads: Rituals of Traditional Village Weddings in Transylvania

Return to the villages of the above presentation and attend two traditional weddings, one Gypsy, one Hungarian. Be a part of the vast preparations, colorful costumes, and enriching customs which have prevailed for centuries in this isolated part of the world.

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