Heidi Kummli's free-form beadwork speaks to a spirit of unity.

Heidi considers the owl one of hertotems, and owls appear in severalof her pieces.she explains. “When I need to fill inbetween two stones to connect them,I draw in flowing lines with little swirlsto add some movement. Adding anotherrow of twisted beads on top of thebeaded lines gives the piece a bit moredimension and helps direct the eyewhere I want it to go.”When she first began beading morethan 35 years ago, Heidi’s pieces lackeddepth, and her artistic voice wasn’t asevident as it is today. As she perfectedher techniques and designs through trialand error and research into the NativeAmerican beadwork of her ancestry,she decided that she could speak abouther vision of life with beads and stones.“Why not try to make a statement thatcan bring peace and happiness intothe world — or a piece that will makepeople become aware of the imperfectionsin the world and possible change,”she says.Heidi earned her first of more than20 awards 14 years ago, just as beadingbegan to be acknowledged as a meritworthyart form. Her work has beenrecognized 13 times in Bead&Button’sannual Bead Dreams competition, andshe won first place in the coveted SaulBell Awards competition for her fringedNature’s Jewels collar in 2003.Among her favorite award-winningpieces are the stunning Shape Shifterowl collar with dagger beads evokingfeathers that took first place in its categoryin the 2010 Bead Dreams, and thebracelet Wolf Tracks, the Bead Dreamsfirst-place category winner in 2009 thatincorporates silverware handles.“Both Owl and Wolf are among mytotems,” Heidi says. “I see Owl quiteoften on my walks in the daytime, whichis unusual as owls are nocturnal — theyrepresent the spirit world. And I usedto raise wolf hybrids. Such beautifuland loving animals, they are the teachersof the Earth.”An interconnected careerHeidi practices the same awareness thatshe utilizes in observing nature to findingobjects she can use in her work. Besidessearching for trinkets at flea marketsand online at Etsy.com and eBay, sheis partial to Laura Mears’ porcelainanimals and Gary Wilson’s naturalstones. “Laura brings animals to lifein an honorable way, and Gary bringsout the true essence of the stone in itsshape and cut,” Heidi says.She also credits other groundbreakingbead artists with the developmentof her work. “The woman that reallychanged my way of thinking aboutbeads was Virginia Blakelock,” shesays. “I had been beading for manyyears in a normal way when I sawan article by her in Threads magazinein 1989. Her amazing collars changedmy bead world. I did my first collarand was hooked. No longer was mywork normal, it became art.” Heidi alsoappreciates Susan Anniskett’s pictorialbead embroidery, which she calls “closeto home” with its images of butterflies,flowers, and animals.Now Heidi shares her knowledgewith students who attend workshops inher home studio; at The Bead Lounge inLongmont, Colo.; the Rocky MountainBead Society bead bazaar in Denver;and extracurricular programs at localschools. She underwent treatment forbreast cancer in 2004, and for nearlythree years has been teaching beadingto a cancer support group for women.“Beadwork is a very meditative andhealing practice,” she says. “I wanted toshare the healing that beadwork canbring.” Heidi also created a colorfulbead-embroidered panel for CelestialSeasonings Tea as part of a fund-raisingpromotion for breast cancer awareness.She titled the piece Celebrate Life.Never out of touchEven with her family’s lifestyle of livingoff the public-utility grid, Heidi is quiteup to date technologically. She maintainsa website and sells her jewelry,corresponds with people, and writes herbooks online — including the upcomingThe Spirit of Bead Embroidery and thepopular The Art of Bead Embroidery,which she coauthored with SherrySerafini. Her beadwork is appropriatelytitled the Free Spirit Collection.Heidi and her husband, Gregg, builttheir timber frame home on 12 acres in1998. “We lived in a yurt while building,until a bear broke in one weekend whenwe were gone. We came home to beadsand food and everything all over theplace,” she says. “We still have beadson the ground there to this day.”Solar panels and a backup generatorprovide all the power the couple andtheir teenage son, Benjamin, need,including conveniences like a television,clothes washer and dryer, and evenan Xbox. They do not have landlinephone service and have found life easierwith cell phones.Today, Heidi is beading as she listensto a CD by Eckhart Tolle. “The sun iscoming through the clouds, fillingthe room with warmth and a feelingof contentment and peace,” she says.“As I look below to the east, I can seethe cloud cover. To the south, clouds arealso moving down from the mountains.My north window shows me the wonderfulpine trees of my neighbors. I hear thebirds, and I can also hear the silence.”Let it bead. wAnn Dee Allen isthe former editor ofBead&Button magazine.You can reach her atanndeeallen@sbcglobal.net.64 Bead&Button | www.BeadAndButton.com

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