Full Transcript for Huib Petersen

butterflies. And I had I think about thirty students in my class Sami: God. Huib Petersen: from beginner to y people who had been the boom beating for a long time. So after that class, there was a whole weekend, I thought now I can teach anyone anything Sami: Yeah. That is daunting. What year would that have been? Huib Petersen: That is so long ago. I'm I'm sixty five now, so that this is I think I was in my early thirties when I started my Albi journey. Yeah. Sami: Wow. And then did you just fall in love with beads or beading or what was it that just kept you going? Huib Petersen: No, so as I said earlier, money is really pleasant for a starving artist. And to be honest, I did so first I learned that diagonal peoda stitch with those little flowers, which I really still do and which I still enjoy. Then that I took the diagonal stitch a little bit further, which became the butterfly wings. And Then I had to make that little butterfly body, and that suddenly was for me. this is this is like the work that my father does. My father is a mason, and Peyota Stitch looks a lot like brickwork. Sami: Yes. Huib Petersen: So then I thought, you know, now I can build anything in miniature, and I don't have to be afraid that it collapses because nobody is gonna live in there. Sami: Ha ha. Huib Petersen: So that that butterfly body. got me the idea, now I can do all kinds of things. And that butterfly body, to be honest, became the sea star. Funny enough. So when Sami: Okay. Huib Petersen: you look at the body of the butterfly, which is you know starts here and then it becomes bigger and bigger and bigger. And then it's I did some decreasing here to to make the butterfly But when you look at my sea stars, where are they now? I had a whole bubble lying here. I'll just pick the big one. When you look at my sea stars, those are just five of the tails of the butterfly stitched together. So this is Sami: Gosh. Okay. Huib Petersen: a this is an a wearable aquarium. Sami: Wow, I love that. I love anything ocean inspired. Wow. Huib Petersen: So there are little fish here. The fish you know, I started Sami: my gosh. Huib Petersen: playing with increasing and decreasing like my father would do masonry, and then they became fish. So and Sami: So you weren't following any patterns for that. You you just knew the stitch and just started going. Huib Petersen: No. Yeah. I just start beating with an idea in my head and you know sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. You know, y everybody knows that who does beadwork. The your material doesn't always do what you have in your hand, so it it becomes an you know you you start talking with your material it becomes an you try something and then the beats say no and it you know I have a whole box of mistakes that that have led to different things again you know the the one thing leads to another leads to another and that's that's that's why I think beatwork is still interesting to me 'cause it still can I still lots of different things are possible. That keeps it Sami: So Huib Petersen: interesting. Sami: tell us a little bit about your process. you said you see it, you have an idea and then you start working with the beads. I mean, for me, when I'm like painting or doing something, I almost have to see the completed thing in my head or kind of know what direction I want to get to before I start. Is that how you work too? Huib Petersen: w it it depends a little bit. So some things when I'm just playing with stitches and I don't want to make something, I just wanna see what stitches do, then I start out of nothing. The butterflies and and a whole bundle of other things, I have for the butterfly I studied butterflies. So I got a whole bundle of dried insects here hanging around my room. and you know I I look at how they are three-dimensional. another wonderful thing to do is I went to toy stores where they have those little rubber animals. And I looked at those little animals, how they work, and and you know that and that is a little bit that's not as fragile as as a dried butterfly. And other dimes, you know, okay. So I've I've done from the butterflies and the Peoda stitch and so on, as we were talking. You go into other stitches and you try different things. So I came I found cubic ride angle weave. a gallery where I worked at that time had an artist who did a cubic ride angle weave and bracelets and things from him, and David's What is his last name now? Sami: Chat. Huib Petersen: David Schatz, exactly. We had some of his work. And I looked at that and I thought, how does that work? How does it work? So I just went home and tried doing it. And then I had at a certain time I came up with something that looked like a brick road, which is this one. Sami: my gosh. Huib Petersen: And you know, I thought, a brick road, yellow brick road. Right? and I thought now I want to make little red shoes from that brick road. So I went, you know, I then I went to a shoe store and I stood in the ladies' aisle with all kinds of shoes that I was looking at and and making little drawings and things like that. The people who work there must have thought I was crazy. And then one day I walked down the hill because I needed to do some shopping. And you know those things stay in the back of my head, that idea of I want to make shoes, I don't want to make them or buy just glass shoes or plastic shoes. I want them out of beads. So I walk down the hill and this thing is in the back of my head. And when I do things I try to be when I walk down a street, I like to look at the houses, I like to look at the gardens, I like to look at the flowers. I I want to be present and not somewhere else with my head. Anyways, I was walking down the hill and I saw this little red thing laying in on the sidewalk. And I bent over, picked it up, and it was a little red barbecue. Yeah. Sami: No. Huib Petersen: And it was exactly the size that I wanted, so I took that little barbecue home and in an hour I had these

little shoes. Sami: my gosh, it was meant to be those are Huib Petersen: Exactly. Exactly. So now I have the yellow brick roads. Sami: my gosh. Huib Petersen: With the little red shoes on it. Let me see if I can. Thank you. Sami: That is stunning. That is so amazing. Wow. I can't believe all the little bricks are held together. That is so they're held together to make it look like bricks. Wow. That is so awesome. Huib Petersen: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And it is just with right angle weave and cubic right angle weave combined. Sami: Ha ha. Huib Petersen: That's all it is. Sami: That is so awesome. your pieces are so sculptural. Do you also just make sculptural beaded pieces to sit on a counter or do you why adornment? Why sculptural art wearable art? Huib Petersen: it it is it is starting to change a little bit, but when I started I I have always for myself said beads are for necklaces and to wear. So that's why I constantly came back to wearable things constantly. and now lately I have been doing a little bit less wearables. I still do wearables. But I'm also doing pieces that are, you know, I I did a Toho has every year the Toho Challenge. lots of beaters know about this, I'm sure. They send they ask a bundle of artists to make something with you know, you get a a a little kit with a whole bundle of beads in different sizes, in different colors. There are some chat beats in there that have all kinds of shapes. And those are the beats you can use, and nothing else. You can add a focal bead, you can buy more of the same beads, but you cannot add a whole lot of other beats. And I've I've done that challenge now. I've been invited four or five times. And what I try to do every time when I when those challenges come to me is Do something else that I normally do. Try something new. So I've done for them an the theme was let the sh light shine through or let the light shine in. And that that little sentence brought in my head ocean, ocean and and diving and seeing the light through the water. on coral reefs, on on and so on. And I thought, you know, let the light shine through. That has to be a lampshade. So I made for Toho this lampshade. Sami: With ocean themed? Huib Petersen: With a whole ocean theme. So d here is the and it's it's partly, you know, embroidered and partly three dimensional. So this is the octopus, then here there's a little shrimp and Sami: my gosh. Huib Petersen: an snail. And then Sami: my gosh. Huib Petersen: here is a crab and seaweeds, tiny little fish in the top there. Then Sami: my gosh. Huib Petersen: here's all kinds of Stuff that is growing in the ocean and then around here we have how are they jellyfish and and then the last one has a little sea star and then we get to seahorses and Sami: So that is a lampshade. Does it actually go on a lamp? Huib Petersen: It it does go on a lamp. Something happened during transport and it's not attached to the base anymore. I have to find an a way of getting that back to the base. But it's it's a lamp and the beauty of it, and I cannot let you see that because I really need a light on the inside. Let me see if I can do that with my phone. So there are beads in here. Let me see which ones that change Color when the light shines through these. It's Sami: No way. wow. Whoa. Huib Petersen: you you cannot see it very well. Yeah. Yeah. So that is Sami: Yeah. it it comes through, yeah, in some of Yeah. Huib Petersen: so when it's like this, they're just little white beads, and then you put the light behind it, and then some of them become blue and others become pink. It's that was Sami: Wow. Huib Petersen: that was a fun surprise. Sami: Wow, that is beautiful. That is a work Huib Petersen: Thank you. Sami: of art for sure. Huib Petersen: last year I was invited and but never had the chance to finish it because they were a little bit too big and the the theme of that year was let me see. it here. Sonoran sunsets. And that Sonoran sunset is that is again first I study. So I went to online and I looked at Sonoran sunsets and what is so special about the Sonoran desert, which are the cactuses. And then I looked at the tribes that used to live there. And they would go into the desert to hunt and and get food. And the tribes in at their special days wear beaded clothing with tassels hanging from it. And that brought me to the idea to make really big tassels and do the landscape of the Sonoran sunset around the tassel and add the let me see. And add the cacti. So that became this. So here's the testol, and then here are the Sami: That is so beautiful. my God. It's you. Huib Petersen: Thank you. Thank you. I I you've got a pr th this is the first time I show it to anyone, to be honest. So and then you know, I looked a little bit further and there are s a certain kind of flower that is hanging or growing from the so that's here. Sami: the cactus flowers. Wow. Huib Petersen: And I'm gonna it's still not done because there are also birds that I I looked at birds and animals that live there. So I wanna put a little bird on top of this flower still. And I'm thinking about, you know, there are also other creepy crawly things. I might d I have two of them. This is just one. So I wanna put on this one a bird and on the other a one maybe an an insect or whatever I can think of. Sami: So you have two tassels like that. Well okay, Huib Petersen: Yes. Yes. Sami: now can you pull it up again and let me see how long it goes? my gosh, it's so beautiful. That is spectacular. Huib Petersen: And the fun thing is these b so this it has a wooden inside, which is the leg of a table. And but just the right the right shape for this. Yeah, so Sami: Okay, okay. Right. Yes. Now well, I didn't realize you research so much. It's like you're a method actor or something. But Huib Petersen: ha ha. Sami: That is spectacular. Huib Petersen: Thank Sami: Thank you for sharing that. We had the premiere, the premiere of your tassels. Huib Petersen: Exactly, exactly. Sami: am I

right to think that in the heyday when all this was going on that you were outnumbered by women in the industry? Huib Petersen: Absolutely, absolutely. There are very few men. Sami: S what is that like? Is it is it what was it like to be one of I imagine few men in this industry? Huib Petersen: I think it helped my career a lot, to be honest. You know, it's it's a little bit more special when you're a man. I think, but I'm not sure about this, that I approach beatwork differently than women do. I see it as a material, it's just a material. especially seed beads. They're just that. That's and I approach it from but I said my father's sight as a Mason. I approach it as being able to build. And I think by women I think approach it from a from a different angle from from colors, from shape of beads and things like that. And yeah, th I think that is the difference. And in teaching and I don't know if this is totally true, but I think an a class full of a group of women with by themselves has a very different energy than a mixed group. So as a teacher among that that just made a different atmosphere in the classes, I think. Sami: So did you create pieces for men to wear or did you always imagine that women were wear them or w were they unisex? Huib Petersen: that is a f nice question. I think jewelry just like clothing is non binary. Right? Beads are beads. clothing is fabric. we have set on that what is male and female, and in clothing that is the the placing of the buttons. On the left side or the right side, right? In Sami: Yes. Huib Petersen: shirt, it becomes all suddenly female. And I think in the beginning, for sure, I have made always in my head this is for four women to wear. Then the whole non-binary and trans discussion came up, and I started to think more and more about myself. I've always said about myself. That I'm not totally male, that I'm as much female as I am male. And I see myself as a couple of people at the same time. You know, I see myself as a six-year-old girl, an a punk teenager, a daddy, and at the moment I'm I'm also finding my grandpa in myself because I'm getting there, Sami: Awwww. Huib Petersen: right? And I have my whole beating made my teenage teenager boy I had to accept him more and more. Or he had to accept who he is, right? And then I have my little girl who wanted to just make pretty stuff, and so Those two had to get in in com in communication with each other. But first I've mostly made things that I thought would wearable for women. And then then this whole discussion comes up. And I'm now starting more and more trying to make things that are non-binary, that could be worn by as well men as women. Although I think all my jewelry can be worn by both. but that there is this still this little fight of what is male, what is female. you know, so lately I've Sami: Yes. Huib Petersen: been doing things like this, which I think is both wearable by male and female. Thank you. Sami: So beautiful, yes. see that is for any

gender. Huib Petersen: Exactly, exactly. and this is one of my latest pieces. And I think that is also very wearable by both. this side. Sami: my gosh. my gosh. That is so beautiful. Whoa. I c Huib Petersen: Thank you. Thank you. Sami: I definitely see like a man with a shirt that's unbuttoned, you know, having that on. That needs to be like Huib Petersen: Exactly, exactly. Sami: in a movie or something. That is beautiful. Huib Petersen: be honest so another way of of being inspired i i you know we've got facebook and all those kind of things and i'm on Pinterest and Pinterest you know when I save things that I think are interesting they give you more and more and more so this one was based let me see if I can find the picture So that one is based on this picture. Sami: my gosh, the Huib Petersen: So that came by on Pinterest, I saved that for one day and then this one came out and then when you look well these the focal here let's see there it is that is a drop of one of those lamps, you know, for w the crystal lamps. Exactly, exactly. Sami: wow. Crystal. my gosh. I can definitely see how that picture was the inspiration Huib Petersen: Yeah, and then you know, you s you start doing that and this is also, you know, the picture was there and I I liked how things f were flowing around the the centerpiece, but it has been a struggle to get get it, you know, just laying right and that's that's where where you're talking with the beats and your material comes in, right? You try Sami: Ha ha. Huib Petersen: things and you know I work on a mannequin. so that I can see if it lays flat, yes or no, and and you keep on going and going and then s on suddenly on one side things start to sack, so you have to find Sami: Yeah. Huib Petersen: solution soon to make it come up again. That is the interesting thing of of working, I think, yes. Sami: Yes, that is wonderful. Yeah, I saw on your website that you have like s a design like called my father's watch band and Huib Petersen: Yes. Sami: there's one like a Celtic basket weave. And I thought both of those Huib Petersen: Yes. Sami: looked very unisex, like, you know Huib Petersen: Yeah, exactly. So the Celtic basket leaf that is this one. Sami: my gosh, that is stunning. Yes, that is beautiful. Huib Petersen: So the fun of this one is it's two necklaces woven into each other, two different pieces. Yeah, so it Sami: really? No Huib Petersen: it it is not connected. The the brown gold and the rose gold is not connected. It's really just woven through. Let's see. Sami: So you had to create both necklaces and then we'll weave them together. Huib Petersen: Yeah, so you start with one and then you do the di the next one and while you're doing it you weave it through. And then you add a couple of stitches and then you weave it through again and then that's how how you work it up slowly. Sami: Well now I know that Celtic basket weave can be like a crochet thing, but did you figure this out for beads or did somebody else have a pattern or is this a well known pattern? Huib Petersen: No, no, this this was my idea. Sami: Wow. That is incredible. That Huib Petersen: the idea comes from a chair that has that woven ratan that weaves into each other. That's where this idea came from. I was looking for how does that go? How does that work? What do I have to do? And that's how that one came from. Sami: That is stunning. you've mentioned your dad a couple times. He was a Mason. And then I know that pattern, like I said, is called my father's watch band. Was Huib Petersen: My father's watch band. Absolutely came from him. You know, he he wore a watch with metal that would slip in and out of each other. And I remember that I often played with that watch to see just to see how that worked, and that's where the idea came from to do that in beats. That's why I'm call it my father's watch band. Sami: And has he seen has he ever seen your work? Huib Petersen: yes, yes, yes, yes. you know, it it was for my father also an an adventure, right? I'm I'm one of seven. I am the youngest son, I have one sister under me. My father is a mason. Two of my brothers are carpenters. And then there's me, who like to crochet and knit. You know, as as a child already. That and and I grew up in a small farmer's town in Holland that was not accepted. That was not something that a boy should do. but my parents never told me that I couldn't. Yeah, exactly. I I I learned when I went to school that if I would show things like that that they would make fun of me. So I never showed in public, I always kept it at home. I would sit at home crocheting, knitting. I made my mom a couple of lace tablecloths. and you know that that must have been for my father also something like this boy is not what I thought he would be. And and then I came out as gay, which was another step on top of it. and my father has really worked hard. to accept me and love me for for for who I am and and he he is proud of me. Sami: Well, that's wonderful. That's Huib Petersen: Yeah. Sami: that's what we need. Huib Petersen: Exactly. Exactly. Sami: So thank you for sharing that. Do you have other pieces you want to show us? Huib Petersen: Sure, another Toho challenge was nothing gold can stay. And as I said earlier, one of my places where I get I I inspiration is Pinterest. And this photo stop by from At least the picture said that it was a Rene Lalique piece of jewelry. people have told me that it wa isn't, but from an similar artist, and I took that picture and then translated it in beats and that became her. Sami: Gosh. Huib Petersen: Mm-hmm. Sami: my gosh. That is beautiful. Huib Petersen: So this is a wing to lady. Her arms are behind the wings on both sides. Sami: yeah, yeah. Huib Petersen: And and again, I've tr I tried here. So these are all techniques that I pretty much knew the how to wings. And so you know, there's some cubic right angle weave, there is some herringbone stitch, but I had never done quilling. Do you know?

Quilling in beats. So Sami: I don't know quilling and beads only in paper. Huib Petersen: So when you look close, you see how the beads lay? Sami: Yes. Huib Petersen: So they're stitched together that way. Sami: So that you can see the hole at the top. Huib Petersen: Exactly, exactly. So they're laying next to each other and they're stitched next to each other. I did that here in the body and in the dress. Sami: That's amazing. my Huib Petersen: Turn that around. In the whole dress. There is that same. Sami: Is the quilling technique. Huib Petersen: Yes. And I did that with an metallic embroidery thread. So you I don't know if I can get that over. Sami: so that's giving that extra little sparkle? Huib Petersen: Exactly all over. Exactly. It's it's it was horrible to work with because it breaks very easily. But I did it. And and it's held up, yes, yes. All Sami: Yes. Huib Petersen: this is also a beautiful piece to show. what was an inspiration for me was you know the little red shoes. I thought I'm gonna do a whole bundle of s fairy tales. So I did Alice in Wonderland piece, a really big one. I cannot show that because I sold that, that is in Japan. and in and the same came up Moby Dick. So I did a piece based on Moby Dick, where there's the Sami: my gosh. Huib Petersen: boat on one side, and then when you go up down, there's the anchor and And so on, and then on this side is Sami: my god. Huib Petersen: the whale and then the whalers around it and lots of waves. So that is also a fabulous Sami: That is amazing. Huib Petersen: piece. Yeah. Sami: So tell me about, for example, that piece. Where did you start with that piece? Did you create the wave under structure first and then create the things Huib Petersen: that started with the the ship. Sami: With the ship. Huib Petersen: Yeah. you know, besides my beadwork we were able to buy a house here in the city. So we moved from one neighborhood to another neighborhood. And we had a president that I didn't really like. As I told my younger girl, she inside of me was d getting a little bit afraid to be outside. You know, it I it felt threatening to and it still does. It feels threatening to be gay. It feels threatening to you and I wanted to make the outside world friendlier. So what I started to do in this neighborhood is doing yarn bombs. I don't know if you know what a yarn bomb is. Most of the time they're crocheted pieces wrapped around trees or poles, or in the UK they do it on top of mailboxes. And I like to make they call it amagurumi. There's their crochet animals. And I've been doing those for outside in the trees here everywhere. I have all kinds of animals, beavers, birds, parrots, all kinds of animals are sitting in the trees, so that the going outside for my little girl was was more pleasant. and another thing that I did was out of cardboard create little houses. And I made out of cardboard a ship that I put on a bush here in the front. That bush looks like coral. And I crocheted all little mermaids and fish that were hanging in that bush with the ship on top. And so that was my study to get it into beats. That's that's how that one started. And then the waves started around it, just you know, it's it's it's all right angle weave, and with lots of increasing and decreasing to get really that shapes in there. and yeah that that's that's how it slowly build up. just Sami: Ha ha Huib Petersen: the idea. I have another one that I'm I'm still thinking about is the a hundred leagues under the sea. I I have in my head an an idea I read that as a child and I can very much remember the the front page of that one with the drawing of a big octopus and one of those underwater boats and and so that is still in my head. I still wanna make that but I've I haven't gotten to it yet. so I have been scuba diving. there was a period of time I took classes and it's the same in churches, the silence, hearing yourself breathe, the peacefulness of it all. And then again seeing all this beauty on the ocean floor, which is just amazing. I've been a couple of times to the aquarium just to sit and listen and and watch. That is that is what attracts me. You know, nature is is it's so such a wonder. Sami: Yes. Huib Petersen: Every time, you take the time to be present, nature will always shook you right back into your body. Yeah. Yeah. Sami: Yes, yes, it will. I live in Alaska, so there's a lot of those moments here. Huib Petersen: I'm sure. I'm sure. Sami: Yeah, Huib Petersen: here's another one that also from a picture that I found, but not a picture of jewelry, a picture of I saw a picture of these little purple mushrooms growing on on the side of a tree trunk with the green on the other side and I thought it was such a marvelous combination of them both. So I Sami: Yes. Huib Petersen: this one. Sami: I love it. I love how asymmetrical your pieces are. A lot of people like the symmetry I love that Huib Petersen: Yeah. Sami: you're not afraid to, be asymmetrical. You'll put a grasshopper on one side and something else on the Huib Petersen: Exactly. Sami: other. Huib Petersen: Exactly. Yeah, that that is yeah, I do it both. the symmetrical and the asymmetrical. I do a lot of that nature based stuff. and then I do some that is are just funny. You know, I I have a little series of birds that are just funny. This is Panthes. Sami: What my gosh. Huib Petersen: a little bird that sits on the hand here. There's the ring part. Sami: He's like a r that's amazing. Huib Petersen: And then his tail hangs on the and that closes around your wrist. Sami: Do you wear him out? Huib Petersen: Every now and again. Yeah, he becomes very animated, very puppet like. So that is one. And then and then I did Sami: I love it. Wow. I've never seen anything like that. That's amazing. Huib Petersen: another one that I called the early bird, and that started with the two big plastic eyes. So it's got a worm in its beak. That's why I call it the early bird. Sami: I love it. Huib

Petersen: And then it goes down, down, down into his feet. Sami: I love that. I love how whimsical that is. I and the col I love the eyelashes, of course. You know, your eyelashes are amazing. Huib Petersen: Yeah. Sami: That's incredible. I love that. Huib Petersen: Thank you. Sami: Okay, so you you know, I you mentioned that Alice in Wonderland piece. I did see that on your website. It's beautiful. And you said it sold. Have you ever regretted selling some of your pieces? Huib Petersen: No, to be honest, I I would like to sell more. I have an awful Sami: really? Huib Petersen: lot here at home. and you know, for me, the pleasure is in in the making. And when it's done, it's done. That is that is That's it? Then then it's time for it to go into the world. I I Sami: Right, right. And Huib Petersen: have I have absolutely no problem with letting my pieces go. Sami: So do you have a gallery or something that you showcase in or do you have shows? Huib Petersen: I used that is one of the things that I'm very bad in. I don't like to sell myself. I don't like to go to galleries and say this is this is my work, are you interested? but I used to. I have my work on my website. I sell through there. I'm really not good at PR. Sami: Yes, it's the hustle. It's the, you know, talking about yourself and this is what I have by my stuff, you know. Huib Petersen: Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Sami: But I definitely think your work is so special. there's a piece on your website. my gosh. The piano, I think it's a bracelet, the piano keys. Huib Petersen: this one. Sami: my god. Now that is a bracelet or it's a bracelet? We Huib Petersen: That is a very scary yeah. Sami: need to sell that to Taylor Swift. I mean Taylor Swift needs that, doesn't she? Huib Petersen: Absolutely. I gave one to I can't remember her name. Mary Ann Faithful. There it is. She Sami: Marion Faithful, okay. Huib Petersen: she was playing in the silver bullet here in the city and I waited for her at the entrance till she came out afterwards and I gave her one of these bracelets. Sami: Wow, what was her what was her reaction? Huib Petersen: she was a little bit flabbergasted, I think. Yeah. Sami: It's so special. I know. We Taylor Swift needs to wear that for sure. Taylor Swift, if Huib Petersen: to her. Sami: you're out there, please, please buy this bracelet. Huib Petersen: Exactly. Exactly. Sami: So do you collect other people's work or do you have a bead collection? Huib Petersen: I have some beaded animals. th those were made by an group of women in Kenya. There's a a woman who travels there with her beads and her designs and then these women in Kenya make them and then she brings them back to the US and she sells them here on arts and crafts affairs and I have a couple of those. that I really Sami: Funny. Huib Petersen: like. What I really like about it is that it this group of women are all women that are HIV positive or have AIDS and are not able to get a job because of it in Kenya. So this way they make a living. And that is what this woman is all about. She d that is what Sami: wow. Huib Petersen: she wanted to do. Sami: What advice Huib Petersen: Could be. Sami: would you give a beginner beater like me? I've never done anything sculptural. I've I have never done anything Well, my Celine spirals, that's about it. Huib Petersen: I see a lot of st things hanging behind you. There's something cultural there. Uh-huh. Exactly. That's cultural. Sami: But yours are but This is like one stitch over and over and over, whereas I've never varied my stitches to create something else. I'm it makes me a little nervous. I mean I wanna do it, but I'm afraid I'm not gonna know how. I think I need some patterns or something first. Huib Petersen: I I would what would I advise you? you know we are all so afraid of playing because we want immediately have a good result. I would say look at beats as if you're in a sandbox. And you we try build something out of the sand, you know, you make it wet and you can start making some Building with it. And that's how I look at beats. It's just a material. Start with a little circle of beats and place increases and decreases where you want. And see, you know, there are rapid increases, there are slow increases. by looking at you know small sculptures or dolls or and you know t if you wanna start very simple with just a ball with five sir beats in a circle and then increasing around and around and around and see how that ha what happens when you do it with five beats or with four to start with. And don't don't wanna make something. Just play with what you have. Yeah. Sami: That's excellent advice. do you have anything else you want to show us before we move on to the final segments of the show? Huib Petersen: let me see what else do I have? This is an piece that I call wallflower. Sami: Wow, it's so beautiful. my god. Huib Petersen: And those are all, you know, their variations on that Russian leaf that I started with. Sami: I need to learn this Russian leaf stitch. I Huib Petersen: Absolutely, this is that same Russian leaf, but in the original Russian leaf, there is that open seam in the middle, right? But Sami: Right, right. Yeah. Huib Petersen: and and these I figured out how to close them immediately. The Russian leaf, you start from the point and you work one side, you come back to the point, you work the other side. And here I found out you know you can work. one side to the bottom, but you can also go back up again and you get a zigzag. Sami: wow. That's so Huib Petersen: So and even these flowers are again that Russian leaf. Sami: So the Russian leaf kinda cups like that. The leaf forms a natural Huib Petersen: when you close this the center seam immediately it starts cupping. Yeah, it's it's like the fabric that is cut on the bias. So it has a Sami: Mm, uh-huh. Huib Petersen: whole bundle of stretch in all kinds of ways. So there's another thing that I would advise: play with what you have. You know, when you do

a little strand of beadwork, see what it does when you fold it over. Or when you attach the beginning to the end or work on the side and work up That those are all th fun things to play with, just to to see what happens. Yeah, Sami: Wow. Wow. Great. Huib Petersen: let me see. I got a whole bundle of things here. This one Sami: I love it. Keep showing me. Huib Petersen: Has butterflies and roses. Sami: I love it. I love it. So beautiful. Huib Petersen: And the roses are just flat Peyota stitch with increasing and decreasing on the edges that makes them so wrinkled. Sami: okay. All right. it's like a mathematical puzzle for me almost. like how did he come up with that? I can do math, but I don't Huib Petersen: Yeah, and so Sami: think I can solve the puzzle. Huib Petersen: So this is again the same principle as the Russian leaf. Started from the middle, but I started increasing and decreasing. And then I folded it double. So this is one piece that is just folded double and attached on the side. And Sami: Wow. Huib Petersen: that became these little sweepies. Sami: it's so beautiful. And then has a dragonfly on that same piece. it's a supper necklace. wow. Huib Petersen: Yeah, that is a a separate necklace, the dragonfly. And that is the same principle as the butterfly, just just, you know, a little bit different. Sami: Yes, the nature inspiration in your work really comes through. I love that. Huib Petersen: The egg you. this is a nice one on flowers on netting. Sami: Gosh, that is stunning. It's like a it's like a collar with a flowers offset. Wow. Huib Petersen: Thank you. Exactly, exactly. here's your my father's watch bands, and then the variations on the same stitching done a little bit differently. Sami: wow, wow, what is that green, that light green bracelet at the bottom? That's a bracelet? Wow. my goodness. That's crazy. You're it's Huib Petersen: Yeah, that's a bracelet. Yeah. yeah, X's and O's, you know. So those are are separate links that that are stitched together immediately. Sami: So beautiful. It's like Huib Petersen: Yeah. this is an fancy. Sami: It looks just like a pansy. I knew that. Huib Petersen: Thank you, thank you, and then there's the top Sami: It's so incre Huib Petersen: butterfly with the sweet peas. Sami: Well it this is definitely wearable art. I love it. Huib Petersen: Thank you. this one the inspiration were the the stones. Sami: Wow. Huib Petersen: that became a set. Sami: Wow, that's incredible. Huib Petersen: That's mother of pearl and just regular pearls. Sami: my goodness, that is stunning. Your work is so beautiful. Huib Petersen: And I really think, you know, the the one thing leads to another. You start playing with something and you make a mistake and that mistake becomes a new design. Sami: So like with the pansy one, how do you know when that's finished? Do you know, you you do a pansy, you do some vines, some leaves. How do you know when a piece is finished? do the beads tell you Huib Petersen: I think

that is the eye of the artist. That is what makes your work your work. what for me is important that there's a balance and and I cannot I don't know how to explain how you see that. Sami: Yeah. Huib Petersen: but I know for sure That for example, when you look at paintings, that are are paintings that are clearly finished, and then there are paintings that make you a little bit uncomfortable because there's something wrong and you cannot figure out what it is. And so I I've been working on this one. I'm doing some wedding jewelry. I've been working on this one. It has all kinds of flowers and leaves, it's all white, and I thought I was finished here. Sami: Right. Huib Petersen: This is where I thought. And that still felt out of balance. It just st didn't feel good. So what I did, I added another branch here, and then it suddenly was balanced. So Sami: Yes, yes. Huib Petersen: and that is just as I said, I I wanted to become a a famous painter. with that, it's the same thing with my jewelry. especially when I don't start with an an set idea of you know I never s do that to be honest. But you work on it and then you step away and you let it rest. And that can sometimes be a week, sometimes a couple of hours, and then suddenly you see, this is it. And I think Sami: Yeah. Huib Petersen: that is for everyone different. Sami: Yeah. Well I paint too and I understand what you mean. Sometimes it's just like this needs a little bit more, needs yeah, you continue working and then you yeah, you come to a place where you're like, Okay, it's done. So no Huib Petersen: And it can also be the other way around, huh? There can also be pieces that I've been making and then still something is off, and then I have to take something off of it instead of adding something to make that balance. Sami: Wow. Is it hard to remove something from a piece? Okay. Huib Petersen: No, not really. As as long as you know, you know, most of my pieces are separate, smaller pieces. it's a little bit harder with the the cubic right angle weave where things are woven through each other. But you know, it's just thread and you can just cut it and when Sami: Right. Yeah. Huib Petersen: it falls apart then you know what you've done before so you can stitch it again. Sami: did you study painting? Huib Petersen: no. I started painting because of a friend of mine who asked me to be his model and I thought it was kind of interesting to do. as I said before, when I was very young, I did all this th stuff, and then I at school that was not accepted, I was teased and so on. So in school I found another outlet of creativity which became drawing. And I was the best in class. Sami: wow. Huib Petersen: and that was accepted, right? I could draw and my teacher would be very enthusiastic about it and always give me the best things to make. And so that just came back when I met the this man that was painting and asked me as a model and I thought, that is interesting. Let me try you know, you you gotta try

things to find you know, to find what what's what is your art or what fits the best, And I still do that, as I said, this is just a material. And maybe I find another material that I find very interesting and wanna play with, then I'll do that for a while. But beat work has taken me f the longest, you know, it's been so many years that I've been doing this and I'm still doing it. Yeah. Sami: I think that drawing probably really helps you in creating how accurate your pieces are, like how accurate Huib Petersen: for sure. Sami: the butterflies are or the grasshoppers or the sea stars. So yeah. Huib Petersen: For sure. And I tried to get into the art academy and I had clothing, I had a whole different kinds of art with me. And they ref they they told me no, we're not gonna take you because you're doing too many different things. Yeah. So that was d so in that way I've never studied art. I've always done art. And in that way I've studied art. Sami: thank you so much. Okay, we're gonna move on to the we're gonna move on to the next segment of the show, which is called the bead jar. And the and in the Huib Petersen: Okay. Sami: bead jar, I have set aside some beads for us to talk about and surprise you with. Ready? Huib Petersen: Okay. Sami: Okay, here we go. The first thing I wanna show you is this is the only free form piece I've ever done. It's just a freeform Peyote's jet. Huib Petersen: nice. Sami: And it's my bracelet. And I just have to show you because it's the only thing I've ever done that is sort of freeform. So Huib Petersen: Well how d how do you like freeform? Sami: it was okay. I you know, it's hard to know when it's done kind of thing, It's like, Where do I go? But it was interesting. Huib Petersen: That that is for me that is the hardest thing to do, freeform. That ocean Sami: Yeah. Huib Petersen: on the and the ship and so on, that that is as far as I do freeform, and then still I'm manipulating it, and still I'm you know, I y I I can mix up s sixteen different beats and I will s not I will not just pick up, I will still find that beat that I want in the sixteenth. Sami: Yeah. Huib Petersen: At a certain moment. I always try to do just lose and let it happen, but halfway I'm taking control again. Sami: Right, right. Okay, then the next thing I want to show you is scarabs. My a sc Huib Petersen: yeah. Sami: and I'm wondering if you ever had a scarab phase or a beetle phase, because I know you have butterflies and seas ocean things. Have you ever been inspired by beetles? Huib Petersen: I I've done cicadas. I've done an whole bundle of beetles. you know, I do a crasshopper I I would love to that is another one that Sami: Ha ha ha. Huib Petersen: I still have in my head is that beetle with the the big antennae, those big black beetles, those are Sami: yeah, the stack. Yeah. Huib Petersen: ones that I still would like to try. Yeah. Sami: Wait, I forgot, I gotta get something. Huib Petersen: Okay. Sami: Are you ready for Are you ready for

this? Okay, I forgot. Huib Petersen: Sure. Sami: I know I wanted to talk about beetles, but I forgot I even had this. This is all my Beatles. Huib Petersen: fantastic, fantastic. Sami: I Huib Petersen: I I have an a vest that I wear myself. I cannot pick it up f very quickly. Those are fantastic. Sami: I went through Huib Petersen: It is all embroidery. Sami: Yes, I went through a beetle phase and I tried to do bead bead embroidery during the same phase and I made the little Huib Petersen: Uh-huh. Sami: legs that move. Most of their legs move. my it's Huib Petersen: That is fantastic. I I have also a vest with a whole bundle of beetles embroidered on top of the vest. Sami: I love that vest, it's fun to wear it out. Okay, one last thing in the bead jar. These are glow-in-the-dark beads. Have you ever played with glow in the dark beads? Huib Petersen: All right. I have them. I have not played with them yet. What what I think Sami: Okay. Huib Petersen: would be really fun to do with them is hidden messengers. So find the same color bead that isn't a glow in the dark and make a whole thing that looks like it's just you know. a white bracelet or whatever, and then when you get it in the dark it comes up as a message. Sami: that would be so cool. Huib Petersen: Exactly. Sami: That's so clever. I didn't think about that. I know I saw these one's like glows blue and the other glows green and I got one one tuba each, but I haven't experimented with them. Huib Petersen: Played with him yet. Sami: Okay, the the final segment of our show is called the lightning round, where I'm just gonna Huib Petersen: Mm-hmm. Sami: ask you this or that questions, just a fun way to Huib Petersen: Okay. Sami: for people to get to know you. No wrong answers here. Okay, you ready? Shiny Huib Petersen: All right. Sami: or matte? Huib Petersen: Depends on what I'm using them for. I I like them both. Sami: Eleven's or fifteens? Huib Petersen: Also both. and again that depends on on what I'm making. If I want more detail in things or you know, and I d do with the flowers and things like that, and d do the flowers in elevenths and then the insect in fifteens because of the scale. Yeah. Sami: Never works best. I know you live in San Francisco, Napa Sonoma. Huib Petersen: I like Napa better, I think. Sami: Yeah. Huib Petersen: The wine Sami: Exactly. I know you've also traveled a lot to Japan. So Japan or Holland? Huib Petersen: Japan. Sami: Japan. Amsterdam or San Francisco? Huib Petersen: San Francisco. Sami: And last one, starfish or butterflies? Huib Petersen: Butterflies. Sami: I love it. I love it. Okay, well where can people learn more about you and see your work and see the Taylor Swift bracelet? Huib Petersen: I have a website. I have a website. Peterson Arts is called www.petersonarts.com. There are a whole bundle of pictures on there. I do commission work, which I really like. you know, just as with the Toho challenges. I I find it interesting when somebody tells me. This is the idea, and now you come up with something that I love doing. I've had a customer who would come in with vintage dresses, and she would ask me to make a piece that would go well with the dress she bought. so if if anyone is interested in that, I do that. I would love to teach again. It's been, you know, COVID came along and my husband became the SFMTA director, which was a really, really very very hard job, especially combined with COVID. he did all the public transportation and you cannot imagine how hard it must have been his job became very involved, which made me a little bit more of the housewife. I did co cooking, cleaning, shopping, and so on for a couple of years, and my beadwork. became a little bit on the side. that has changed now. And COVID also stopped a little bit my teaching because I I I cannot teach over over Zoom. I have to see my students. I have to feel the energy in the class. I have to feel the energy of my student. and I can play with that energy So COVID stopped a little bit my teaching career. and I would love to pick that up again. And in the future is a book coming. I'm ri working on a book. it's not gonna be a book with projects, it's gonna be a book with how and where I get my inspiration. how and how I translate things in in beats. That is the what the book is about. I wanted to put a lot of pictures in there of the work I've done. that is coming, that I'm working on that. Can take a while. It's it's harder than I thought. Yeah. Sami: Yes. Yes. The inspirational book, it sounds like. Well, I'm excited for that. Well, thank Huib Petersen: Cool. Sami: you so much, Hyde Peterson, for being here today. I really appreciate your time. And gosh, Huib Petersen: Thank you, thank you for having me. Sami: I thank you so much. I appreciate it. It was so nice to meet you and see your work and Huib Petersen: The same. Sami: We'll talk soon. Okay, thank you. Okay, I'm Huib Petersen: We will. I thank you for doing this.