Bead&Button Show Day One...

Ava Motherwell from The Whole Bead Show, Leslie Pope from Twisted Sistah with Anne Gardanne, and Diane Hawkey.

Kristal Wick from Artbeads.com, Becky Choi with Lynn Daley and Anne Choi, and Eva Sherman.

Diane Fitzgerald, Lindsay Burke and Katie Wall of Fusion Beads, and Marti Brown of Odyssey & Bead Expression.

Jill MacKay, Cathy and Aly Sly from LimaBeads, and Beth Botak of Kabela Design.

Patti Cahill (with Cynthia photobombing), Julie Young of TierraCast, and Ashley Bunting of Xuron.

Stephanie Dixon, Julie Gerlach who is the editor of Bead&Button magazine, Jean Baruch of Beads of Courage, and Rashan Omari Jones.

Maureen Henriques of Pumpkin Hill Beads, Sara Oelher of Soft Flex Company, and Marsha Neal Minutella.

Here's a little scene from outside the show in Milwaukee – the moon and seagulls over the Hilton.  When I think about the show, I think about a gathering of tribes.  It's a merging of creative energies.  The thing that I love and appreciate about most artists is the sense of what could be.  There's such a strong feeling of possibility and potential.  It's a palatable forward momentum.