Meet Eleanor Pigman

Nationally award-winning beading and bead embroidery artist Eleanor Pigman started off primarily as a watercolorist. A jewelry apprenticeship re-introduced the her to the world of beading that had been a childhood pastime. When the jewelry shop closed, Eleanor inherited thousands of seed beads. She learned of the Manifest Hope competition calling for inspirational art. Intrigued and excited, Eleanor created a bead portrait of Barack Obama. She was one of 31 finalists, chosen from over 1,000 pieces of art submitted. Eleanor uses unusual and creative techniques in her kits and also teaches her contemporary bead embroidery across the nation. Eleanor is a certified art therapist with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1998, and Master of Arts in Art Therapy from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2002. She lived in London, England, Chicago, Cape Cod, Key Largo and Seattle before moving to St. Petersburg, Florida in 2010.