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In 2002, four creative, energetic and caring jewelry-makersMarti Brown, Annie Glaser, Karen Lutz and Arlene Muzykafounded the Delaware Valley Bead Society. They saw a need for an organization that would encourage individual creativity, provide learning opportunities, offer a forum for the exchange of ideas and information, sponsor activities such as group shows and member booths at craft fairs, and
be fun as well as worthwhile for its members.
Since then, the organization has become a thriving arts community that includes beaders, stringers, wire-workers, metalsmiths, glass bead lampworkers, fiber artists, polymer and Precious Metal clay artists, and others who incorporate both novel and traditional materials and techniques in their work.
While the original group was based in Hunterdon County, NJ and Bucks County, PA, its membership has grown to include people from counties all along the Delaware River. It includes members with a variety of skill levels, from beginner to advanced.
Monthly meetings feature guest speakers, demonstrations by outstanding artists, occasional hands-on activities, show-and-tell where members celebrate their successes and get help with their technical problems, bead challenges (design competitions) and more. The Society has half-day and full-day workshops in the planning stage.
The Society has sponsored group sales activities in Flemington, Clinton, and Frenchtown, NJ and Bethlehem and New Hope, PA.
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