A note from Nan:
One recent morning, my husband and I sat in our study - me in the big chair by the window, Tom at his worktable reading an article was about a gentleman trying to decide what to do with all the many paintings his deceased father had left behind. The family needed a means for people anywhere to view the paintings and to read about his father, the artist. After finishing the article, Tom looked at me and said, “We have to begin working on a way to share your legacy.”
So we hired a good friend and his agency, pivotol.com to do just that. We asked Ben to create a web site that would initially describe me and my journey as an artist. It would be done through several interviews and by working with their web designer and photographer. As a beginning step to presenting my beadwork, we selected several of the larger pieces and a five-piece installation:
A Shawl of Advice
I Am I - from 71 to 74
The Story Boas:
Beauty Boa
Paris to Barcelona
Ornithology
One Suitcase: An Installation Representing the Global Refugee Crisis
Dropped on a Beach
Strands and Symbols
Trafficking
Liberty
A Suitcase
Now that Pivotol has laid the foundation for this website, I will be adding photos and descriptions of many more examples of my creative work. My goal is to share a significant amount of my designs, in many mediums, in order to represent the entire body of my art. This will take some time, as I continue to create more designs in my riverside studio. (Not to mention that, now age 78, I am a little a LOT slower at learning new tech programs.)
I hope you will return occasionally to see what has been added on these pages. There will be knitwear, embroidery, quilting, needlepoint on silk gauze, canvas, and linen. Of course, all are my own original designs. Beadwork is my current passion. Over the past years I have concentrated on presenting the written word through bead weaving. Hence the name, “Beads that Speak.”
I want to thank Ben, Emily, Danny and the entire pivotol.com team for their excellent listening, writing, photography and web designing skills. I’m also very grateful for the help of Sophie Kastelic, who is helping me learn to do all the upcoming additions to the website. And, of course, I thank my husband, Tom, for his constant and encouraging support.
Thanks for visiting. Come back soon.
Nan Heldenbrand Morrissette
NOTE: Much of the writing on this website is the result of the Pivotol team’s interviews. The interviewers’ words and overall design are on the peach-colored and the dark gray backgrounds. My own notes and information will be on a white or turquoise background… as soon as I figure out how to do that.