Bristol, Vermont

Artist's Statement:

A native of Ghana, West Africa, Rita Agyemang (Ah-ga-ma) comes by her love of beads naturally, having a childhood surrounded by African trade beads in the markets of Accra. Mostly self-taught, she has also studied jewelry making here in New England. Her inspiration comes from the variety of textures of beads and colors available. When creating her jewelry, Rita mixes beads that she buys at the markets in Ghana with the semi-precious stone beads and pearls from all over the world.

As a jeweler she has brought into her contemporary designs a combination of tradiitional glass waist beads, used in Ghanaian society for women's rites of passage while adding silver and precious stones to create a unique line of jewelry.

Rita splits her time between Vermont and Ghana.