ISGB 2022 Key Note Speaker

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The International Society of Glass Beadmakers (ISGB) is proud to announce Amy Lemaire as keynote speaker at their upcoming annual Gathering conference 30 & Thriving this year from June 9-12, 2022. The virtual conference will bring glass bead artists together from all over the world, and will feature presentations, workshops, vendor events, demonstrations, a Flame Off and social gatherings.  Amy Lemaire is contemporary glass bead maker, educator, and visual artist based in Brooklyn, NY. She is a self-taught beadmaker whose works and philosophy elevates beads to a prominent role as sculpture, performance, and installation.  For six years she worked on her Trade Routes project, where she traveled around the U.S. using her own beads as currency while teaching bead making and history. It was a contemporary take on the role of beads in ancient history, with modern life results.  She recently participated in the 2022 Tucson Bead Symposium with her presentation “Perforated Histories”, where she shared the inspiration, implementation and meaning behind a number of her recent works.  Amy studied at Pratt Institute (MFA) and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (BFA). Lemaire has taught at UrbanGlass (NYC), Pilchuck Glass School (WA), Salem Community College (NJ), and Penland School and Crafts (NC) and shown her work at SOFA New York, SOFA Chicago, Bijoux at the Norton Museum (FL). Lemaire has completed residencies at UrbanGlass (NY), the Brooklyn Navy Yard (NY), the Museum of Arts and Design (NY) and WheatonArts (NJ), and received a Visionary Scholarship from the AACG in 2015.  The ISGB is honored that she will join our conference, and is eager to hear her unique perspective on our favorite art form.