By Gloria Dahlhamer
Staff Writer

What do beakers, belly dancing, and beads have in common?

In the case of Diana Kirkpatrick, one led to the other … and, finally, to a whole new career.

Kirkpatrick handcrafts beaded jewelry and woven beadwork accessories. She got into beading making costumes for Middle Eastern dancing. And she got into dancing as a recreational outlet when she was stranded at a scientific conference at a New England prep school with “no transportation to get off campus.”

Kirkpatrick is one of about 30 area craftspeople who will be participating in the 18th Annual Christmas Arts & Crafts Fair sponsored by the Hagerstown Artisans Craft Guild on Sunday, November 18. The fair will be held at the Venice Inn Ballroom, 431 Dual Highway, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Kirkpatrick will show and sell beaded jewelry, beaded collars typical of the early 1900s, and other wearable beaded art. During the show, she’ll demonstrate woven beadwork, on and off loom.

The Hagerstown resident has been doing beading “in one form or another” for the past 10 years, but she only recently has been offering her work for sale. What started as a hobby for her own use “just snowballed,” she says.

Kirkpatrick previously pursued a career in chemistry and worked for the federal government for 13 years. It was while attending a scientific conference in her government job that she was stuck in an area with no recreational outlets for women. A conference colleague introduced her to Middle Eastern dance.

When Kirkpatrick returned to Washington, she located a teacher of Middle Eastern dance and began a serious study of the art form. She’s been studying and dancing ever since.

But the dancing, she says, presented another problem – where to find an authentic costume at an affordable price.

“The costumes are hard to find and very expensive,” Kirkpatrick says. “I make my own clothes, so I started making my own costumes. But the beading was something else. I hadn’t strung beads since I was a small child.”

Kirkpatrick taught herself to “stitch with beads,” and her costumes soon were the hit of dance seminars and performances which she regularly attends. She started selling her costume beadwork to fellow dancers “and the rest just followed,” she says.

Although largely self-taught, she has taken classes related to costume construction and beading. She reads books about beading and its use in fashions of a bygone era. She says today’s interest in vintage clothing has also revived an interest in beadwork jewelry.

Today, Kirkpatrick spends a lot of time on the road traveling to both dance seminars and craft shows.

“It’s an interesting way to make a living,” she says, “but I’ve never worked so hard.”

“On the other hand,” she adds, “I like this better than chemistry.”

The Artisans Craft Guild was organized in 1972 to preserve the heritage of traditional crafts and encourage the development of contemporary art forms. Guild members annually showcase their work at the Christmas Fair.



Reprinted from The Hagerstown Morning Herald Horizon Section for Monday, November 12, 1990


 

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