Meisha
Meisha Barbee studied fine art at Palomar College in San Marcos, California. She then studied sculpture with Italo Scanga at the University of California in San Diego.
She went on to work as an art and production coordinator for a fashion accessories company, and then traveled all the way to Saudia Arabia, where she taught courses in printmaking and ceramics. She successfully coordinated two art exhibits before moving back to San Diego, California where she now resides.
In 2005 Meisha began working professionally with polymer clay. Although the clay is her primary focus, she has worked in other mediums throughout her career such as; printmaking, papermaking, ceramics and glass.
Barbee was the winner of the Niche Award in 2008 and a finalist in 2011. She’s been recognized as a leader in her field. She is a member of the International Polymer Clay Association, as well as her local San Diego Guild.
Meisha was inspired by textiles. The beautiful colored stripes and modern motifs influenced her designs. With this inspiration, she began creating simple colored stripes in polymer clay. She combined them with textured sheets and thin strips of colored clay to design one-of-a-kind pieces.
She uses a technique called “cane” making which is used in millefiori glassmaking, only instead of glass canes, she’s using clay canes. The canes are made by rolling and stacking different colored clay and then cutting the cane into slices which creates beautiful floral, striped or concentric circle designs. She has become an expert in this technique and says she tends to mix large varieties of color one at a time and then create several patterned canes…this allows her to pick and choose from the array and combine them in very spontaneous ways! Mica is added to the clay for texture and its ability to bring depth and a lovely pearlescent quality.
Barbee feels she is able to express her creativity best through clay. Her love of color and design is played out perfectly through this jewelry. You can tell she has a lot of fun with what she does!
“My work is continually evolving, and I expect my excitement about polymer clay to continue to renew itself for years to come”.
They’re bright, colorful, classy and sassy. Perfect to wear with jeans and a t-shirt or maybe to spice up that black dress a bit!
Whether for yourself or a gift for someone, these pieces have an amazing amount of creativity and love infused in them…sure to bring joy for years to come!