Beadist Bio
Kim Miles has been working and playing as a glass beadmaker since 1996.
Her adventurous style and voice have become internationally known and respected.
She is best known for her encased floral bead designs, including the Lotus Blossom,
and others that incorporate the diamond sparkle of cubic zirconias.
While botanicals have been the main focus of her work for years, she often experiments with new innovations, such as the Bangle Bead, with free-floating glass rings, the small blown vessel,
done on a hollow steel tube, tiny teapots, ancient goddess forms, and most recently,
a deep and continuing exploration of the symbolism of the deceptively simple heart form.
Kim’s work has been featured in Lapidary Journal, Bead & Button Magazine,
Beadwork Magazine, Step By Step Beads, the Flow, American Style,
the ISGB Obsession Catalog, Cindy Jenkin's Beads Of Glass, 1000 Glass Beads,
Corina Tettinger's Spotlight on Hollow Beads and Vessels, Trajectories: An Exhibition Exploring Contemporary Glass Beadmaking, sponsored by the ISGB and the Bead Museum, and Links, by Jean Yates.
She was awarded first place in the glass bead category, and tied for best of show in the
Lapidary Journal 2006 Bead Arts Awards.
Kim shares her home in Taos, New Mexico with her husband and an ever-shifting family
of grown children, friends, and pets. Each day furthers a journey toward grace in a small life,
creative inspiration, artistic integrity... and the perfect breakfast burrito.
Her adventurous style and voice have become internationally known and respected.
She is best known for her encased floral bead designs, including the Lotus Blossom,
and others that incorporate the diamond sparkle of cubic zirconias.
While botanicals have been the main focus of her work for years, she often experiments with new innovations, such as the Bangle Bead, with free-floating glass rings, the small blown vessel,
done on a hollow steel tube, tiny teapots, ancient goddess forms, and most recently,
a deep and continuing exploration of the symbolism of the deceptively simple heart form.
Kim’s work has been featured in Lapidary Journal, Bead & Button Magazine,
Beadwork Magazine, Step By Step Beads, the Flow, American Style,
the ISGB Obsession Catalog, Cindy Jenkin's Beads Of Glass, 1000 Glass Beads,
Corina Tettinger's Spotlight on Hollow Beads and Vessels, Trajectories: An Exhibition Exploring Contemporary Glass Beadmaking, sponsored by the ISGB and the Bead Museum, and Links, by Jean Yates.
She was awarded first place in the glass bead category, and tied for best of show in the
Lapidary Journal 2006 Bead Arts Awards.
Kim shares her home in Taos, New Mexico with her husband and an ever-shifting family
of grown children, friends, and pets. Each day furthers a journey toward grace in a small life,
creative inspiration, artistic integrity... and the perfect breakfast burrito.
But really...
...whenever I'm asked for an Artist Bio, the first thing to pop into my head is Bio Hazard.
I hate writing them, and usually don't enjoy reading anyone else's. It's part of the gig though,
so I play along, but the truth is, I'm no big deal. I'm an Aging Girl who makes beads
for a living and, after all these years, still can't walk very well in heels.
I grew up in California, a teenager in the 70's. What can I say? I'm not a particularly wild thing,
but I do tend to go my own way. I traditionally change something, or everything, in my life
about every seven or eight years. Rick does too, so the fact that we've been together
over 15 years is astonishing and wonderful to both of us. We live in Taos, New Mexico now,
but it's been almost seven years, and it's time to move on. Southern Oregon calls to us now,
and it feels like time to get back closer to family. Home is such a funny word.
I'm not sure it's a place on the planet. When I say "I'm home", I really mean I'm home.
I am my home, and all the rest are nice places to stay. Taos is great in many ways. Oregon will be too.
I've made art of some kind as long as I can remember, and stumbled into beadmaking sort of serendipitously when Rick fired me from the family pizza shop back in Seattle.
I feel both blessed and cursed to be making a living selling my beads.
It's amazing that I can, to be sure. But when we take something we love and turn it into a job...
well, it becomes work. There's still some balance to be gained in all this.
And so I fine tune to a point where some people think I'm just a nut case and wander off.
Those who can keep up with me have been with me for years, and I love them beyond measure.
And so... the life of a Beadist is about more than making and selling beads.
Beads have become my way to connect with the world, and also to give back to it.
No telling what the next years will bring, but it's likely that beads will remain in the trail mix.
If you want to know more about me and my day-to-day Beadist Life, tune into my BLOG.
For more about beads, try the ISGB, The Bead Site, or my About Lampwork Beads page.
More about the mysteries of Life? Go outside and play. You're sure to learn something.
...whenever I'm asked for an Artist Bio, the first thing to pop into my head is Bio Hazard.
I hate writing them, and usually don't enjoy reading anyone else's. It's part of the gig though,
so I play along, but the truth is, I'm no big deal. I'm an Aging Girl who makes beads
for a living and, after all these years, still can't walk very well in heels.
I grew up in California, a teenager in the 70's. What can I say? I'm not a particularly wild thing,
but I do tend to go my own way. I traditionally change something, or everything, in my life
about every seven or eight years. Rick does too, so the fact that we've been together
over 15 years is astonishing and wonderful to both of us. We live in Taos, New Mexico now,
but it's been almost seven years, and it's time to move on. Southern Oregon calls to us now,
and it feels like time to get back closer to family. Home is such a funny word.
I'm not sure it's a place on the planet. When I say "I'm home", I really mean I'm home.
I am my home, and all the rest are nice places to stay. Taos is great in many ways. Oregon will be too.
I've made art of some kind as long as I can remember, and stumbled into beadmaking sort of serendipitously when Rick fired me from the family pizza shop back in Seattle.
I feel both blessed and cursed to be making a living selling my beads.
It's amazing that I can, to be sure. But when we take something we love and turn it into a job...
well, it becomes work. There's still some balance to be gained in all this.
And so I fine tune to a point where some people think I'm just a nut case and wander off.
Those who can keep up with me have been with me for years, and I love them beyond measure.
And so... the life of a Beadist is about more than making and selling beads.
Beads have become my way to connect with the world, and also to give back to it.
No telling what the next years will bring, but it's likely that beads will remain in the trail mix.
If you want to know more about me and my day-to-day Beadist Life, tune into my BLOG.
For more about beads, try the ISGB, The Bead Site, or my About Lampwork Beads page.
More about the mysteries of Life? Go outside and play. You're sure to learn something.
