"Why is your shop called 'Margaret Drive'?"
Behind the name:
I get asked the above question every time I mention my shop to anybody. 'Margaret Drive' is the name of the street that I grew up on. I know it's pretty cliché to name my shop after the street I grew up on but, when I started thinking about all of my artwork, jewelry, crafts etc. I grew up in a house where both parents were teachers. T
o help compensate their salaries, they built things out of wood and sold them. They traveled to different craft and vendor shows to sell their treasures. They would work on their wood crafts in the garage of our house on Margaret Drive. I have vivid memories of practicing for my piano lessons and being able to hear my Dad through the wall that was shared with the garage where all of his power tools were at. My mom was also quite the self taught seamstress. She would pull out her sewing machine and make me and my siblings halloween costumes or small alterations on clothing. I can remember begging her to teach me how to use a sewing machine at a young age. I would make little purses out of old jeans when I was in 5th and 6th grade on our kitchen counter in our little ranch house on Margaret Drive. Since a young age, my whole perception of life has been, "I want to learn how to make that." Cool info about my merchandise:
Everything is handmade. I hand roll beads out of polymer clay, I thrift and find old necklaces, take them apart, and repurpose them, I draw out my designs before I put them together, I study different color combinations and designs before I settle on anything. About the artist:
My name is Julie Blessman. I have a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Eastern Illinois University. My concentration in college was painting and drawing. I have a teaching certificate and I am currently a high school art teacher in the midwest. I live in Springfield Illinois with my tall, handsome, boyfriend. I am known for making everything by hand. I am sure people get tired of hearing me say "I could make that!" every time I see something awesome. I sit for hours upon hours putting jewelry together or cutting lino to make prints. I recently was trying to explain to my boyfriend what my mind looks like and the only way I could describe it was, "Its like I have 10,000 computer tabs open at once."
