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Visiting Artist - Bethany Barry -
2005
BETHANY
BARRY:
Connecting Beads - and Women - with Crochet
by Jeanne Maher
When is the last time someone read you a story? For some CABO members,
it was just this weekend. And it wasn’t at a bookstore or a coffeehouse
poetry reading. It was during bead class. Bead Crochet
classes with Bethany Barry, artist, author and teacher, was not your
typical beading workshop. Sure, we had 15 hours of instruction in
three classes and learned nine new techniques, but it was more than
that. It was a chance to really get to know our sister beaders and talk
about some deep—and not so deep—stuff.
During those quiet periods of tedious bead stringing, Bethany read
stories about Quaker
Friends, past life regression, the power of forgiveness, aging, and
more. Some funny, some serious, and some spiritual, each story sparked a
conversation that was lively and interesting, inspiring each of us to
recall related anecdotes or even head off on a tangent. Either
way, we all connected in a different, much more real way than we would
have had we sat in silence.
The story that had us all nodding in commiseration was a chapter from
Ann Lamott’s Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith. It was called
“The Aunties,” which refers to the author’s butt cheeks. You know:
they’re old, flabby and embarrassing, but you love them all the same.
Lamott tells of her gradual acceptance of her over-40 figure and her
determination to hold her head high while sporting a bathing suit on a
tropical beach. She revels in her fertility-goddess figure, until she
sees four bikini-clad teenage girls giggling in her direction. We all
know that feeling.
Now when I sit down to practice my bead crochet, as I settle into the
quiet relaxation and allow my mind to wander, I remember that somewhere
another woman is beading with me. Perhaps she is also alone,
contemplating forgiveness, global warming and living a more simple life.
Or how to get rid of the dimples on her bum.
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