Liza Lou

Liza Lou was born in 1969 in New York. She does breathtaking beadwork. Using beads to cover each piece of a surface. She created the kitchen which started a lot of her fame.The suburban kitchen was life size and as stated before...breathtaking. She was shunned for using beads rather than a more "normal" medium.
     She ended up recieving the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. She had a studio in Los Angeles but she mostly lives and works in South Africa. Beadwork is still highly regarded there and community is poor and often homeless. She went down there with the idea of making a political statement and a work with Zulu artisians, giving the work with good wages to them and going back home; but ended up falling in love with the community. She stated in http://www.wmagazine.com/artdesign/2008/09/liza_lou that the community would begin there day singing. Her visits became longer each time she visited and enjoyed the atmosphere and she now has a studio here as well.
The websites with good information about her are http://www.lmgallery.com/artists/liza-lou/ as well as the one stated above.
I find her to be fascinating and giving with her work and artisty. She is unique and creative in a way that makes you percieve crafts at first...beautiful crafts but at a deeper look you see the deeper meaning and the heart felt thought that follows behind it.