In 1994, Bonnie met her husband Parke at the Emerson Cultural Center in Bozeman, where he painted upstairs and she worked in the bead shop below. Bonnie was paid in beads, and sold her jewelry at Farmer’s Markets to make ends meet.

In an effort to make her creations more unique -
Bonnie (Old Tech Alert):
went to a LIBRARY
and checked out a BOOK about glass.
In the back of the book were addresses you could WRITE to for CATALOGS.
When the catalog from Albuquerque arrived,
she ordered a VHS TAPE about glass beads
and watched it over and over and over.
With Parke’s encouragement, Bonnie got the equipment and overcame her fear of fire-
though he did have to light the torch at first!

After months of trial and error, Bonnie attended a workshop with cane expert Loren Stump and learned the skills required to create the murrinis that add more detail to her flower garden, ocean, and Yellowstone beads.

For many years, Bonnie was a community volunteer and animal advocate. She created the Fixer Upper Free Spay / Neuter Clinics to help pet guardians in need, and also founded “Live and Let Livingston” -the monthly vegan potlucks attracted 30-50 people and are still held today, every second Sunday of the month in Livingston, MT.

Bonnie loves Palomacy, Star Trek, silly movies, vintage TV lamps and colorful electric stoves from the 50’s and 60’s.
(ask to see her collection in the studio!)

Of course, she adores animals.
Favorite breed? Rescued!
Favorite creed? Adopt, Don’t Shop.