The Queen of Beads, Montana

www.thequeenofbeadsmontana.com

Candy Reedy

P O Box 65

Thompson Falls, MT 59873

Tel# 406-827-7573

Hailing from a small farming town of 100 in central New York, Candy spent many years working high tech jobs in Silicon Valley.  She moved to Montana in 2000 at the end of her Y2K consulting project to Visa International.

Coming from a long line of artists has been a challenge for Candy.  Both her Mother and Grandmother were fine oil painters.  Candy has several of their works hanging in her home. She has found her niche and is sharing it with you at RiverView Arts.

Candy uses only exquisite Imported

Turkish Yarns, Swiss Swarovski Beads, and Indian Trade Beads for her creations

Candy lives in Trout Creek Montana with her husband, Ron, two cats and a step son who occupies their guest cabin.  After retirement and lots of work to get their home in order, Candy assessed what she wanted to do next.  When Candy was a small child her mother designed and made all her clothes.  She also taught Candy how to sew and crochet.  In early 2002 Candy took up her crochet needles deciding to create an unusual work to enter in the Sanders County Fair.  During those difficult times the American Flag was being flown at nearly every location.  In dedication to the USA and acknowledgment to her mother, Candy created an American flag using a very small crochet needle and 100% US cotton thread.  There were over 290 one inch squares, taking four months to finish creating this granny square replica.  It, along with several other projects, including photography, took a blue ribbon at the fair and was placed in a “center stage” location.  Now Candy was on her way!  Candy continues to enter her projects into the fair and continues to bring home ribbons.

As a business major, Candy was not given the opportunity to focus on the artistic side of her life.  Without training Candy worked in areas that she felt would give her the satisfaction an artist receives from her work.  She knew how to crochet, she knew how to shop for exotic beads and she targeted making items that incorporated the two.  Somehow, the Queen of Beads came into being.

Candy has donated her works to the Thompson Falls Library, the Sanders County Historical Society, Sanders County Coalition for Families and others.  She has participated in the Sanders County Fair and made two necklaces for the local sheriff out of Elk teeth.  She regularly sells her “animal friendly” bear necklaces at her Sanders County Mall store on eBay and continues to expand her works to move in different directions.  Every year in the Sanders County Christmas Bazaar Candy creates new gifts.  This year she discovered ICE YARN from Turkey and has incorporated that into scarves, necklaces, chokers, pony and bracelets.

You will find an ever changing world of artwork with Candy as she never stands still.  Now she is creating computer generated original works that she hopes to incorporate into her future works.  She and her husband now run Beaver Creek IT Consulting and have designed over 30 websites in the county.  She has designed and manages the Riverview-arts.com website and is in the process of building a website for the Thompson Falls Chamber of Commerce.  Their website is www.beavercreekconsultants.com.

11/2006