NBS Spring Fest 2026 – “Going Places!”
Studio Artists Button Event
March 9-15, 2026
Begins March 9th, 10pm Eastern
Studio Button Artists Biographies
Check out our wonderful Studio Button Artists who will have featured buttons for purchase during Spring Fest 2026!
Note: Click on button photo to see it enlarged.
Diane Almeyda
Diane Almeyda is an enamellist and metalsmith specializing in plique-a-jour enamel and filigree. She learned the elusive technique from a Russian master, Valeri Timofeev. This most difficult of enameling techniques utilizes precious metal that is made into a “skeleton” by either subtraction (the sawing out of individual cells) or addition (forming and soldering fine wires together) to form the design of the piece. Ground glass is then placed in each cell and fired in a kiln. This process is repeated until all cells are filled and, depending on the size of the piece, can require up to 100 firings. The piece, when complete, resembles miniature stained glass. She has won numerous awards, and her pieces are found in museums and private collections.
Joan Bazzel
As button fans, all of us have a button story. Mine began with my Gran’s button tin, and evolved into jewelry designs made with beautiful buttons, and my own studio button designs. I create studio buttons using my various skills in enameling, metal working and various others accumulated over decades of being a self-employed solo artist. Making unusual buttons is FUN!
Marsha Cassada
In 1998 I traveled to my first button show, in Phoenix. I could hardly wait for the doors of the showroom to open; it was so exciting. There I met the Speights, Lucille, Renaissance Buttons, Barbara Johnson, and so many other dealers. Everyone was so nice. I had no idea about Awards and didn’t fully understand the amazing competition cards displayed. I’d never heard of a poke box. It was a wonderland. And I still have all the buttons I bought that day.
Jen Chehovich
When I was readying myself for Spring Fest and sharing my bio, I was teased as I worked by the thought of how buttons bear witness. My buttons are witness to who I am, who I have been and who I might become. Sometimes as I paint, they even spark deep thought and reflection as they did today. If my buttons could talk, they would tell the best story of me. However, most days my buttons tell simpler stories of me stealing quiet morning moments painting at a desk in front of a window, smiling as the sun shines in. It sees as I sit wondering how many more days, I might paint the same color before I might go crazy but always knowing I wouldn’t trade it or my new friends of the button tin for the world.
Karen Cohen
Karen L. Cohen wears multiple hats: retired math teacher and computer scientist, jewelry designer, enamellist (for over 45 years), embroiderer, book author and Studio Button Artist. Her love of color and learning has led her to work in a variety of media, although her main passions are enameling and bead embroidery. She creates studio buttons in enamel (fine silver and copper), fabric (beaded and Temari balls), gourds (with beading, pyrography, painting +), and metal (4 techniques: colored pencil on copper, Kum Boo, Metal Clay, and etched). Ms. Cohen is the author of the book, Enamel Button, An Essential Resource for Collectors (pub in 2024) and The Art of Fine Enameling – 2nd Edition (pub in 2019). Her work and articles on enameling and buttons have been published in books and magazines including The National Button Society Bulletin, Glass on Metal and more. Currently Ms. Cohen teaches enameling and beading in various venues to both adults and children.
Nancy DuBois
Nancy De DuBois, my appreciation for sewing buttons, started in my 20s and has continued to be one of the most inspiring and educational facets of my life. My studio button journey started in 1990 when fellow button collector Eva Evans from Massachusetts, knowing that I did leatherworking, asked if I would make her a leather log cabin button. I did and so began my love of crafting small works with button shanks. My earliest buttons made in the 1990s were primarily sculpted leather buttons, crafted individually using tools made to work small. These early buttons are signed, numbered, dated and will often include a mustard seed embedded in the back.
My favorite subjects/types of buttons to collect are flowers, birds, butterflies, rabbits, diminutives paperweights and glass set in metal. My favorite subjects to use for studio button designs are Fables, fairy tales, flowers, insects, animals, Kate Greenaway, sunbonnet babies, moons and stars and all manner of humorous themes.
Emily DuBois
Emily DuBois is an interdisciplinary artist, her mediums include hand-faceted stones, flame-worked glass, and fine metals. Following a collaboration with her mother and fellow New Jersey studio button artist Nancy DuBois for Spring Fest 2025, Emily has begun creating limited runs of her own studio buttons, taking inspiration from her experiences as a production jeweler and incorporating them into her life-long love of button collecting. A theme that has followed her art since her senior thesis at Rowan University has been the celebration of nature’s beauty. A recent example of her button work was an entomological piece with a movable, working magnifying glass. This button was highlighted in the National Button Bulletin after winning a blue ribbon in the National Button Convention’s Make-a-Button competition
Laurie Hanson
Personally, I describe my button collecting style as ‘an eclectic mix’ favoring all types/materials, stashed in an ever-growing sprawl of drawers and boxes of mounted and yet-to-be- mounted beauties, along with the 1,000’s of photos, and art supplies, waiting to co-mingle them together.’ And I very much find joy spending time with like-minded button enthusiasts, hearing their stories and sharing in each other’s delights when discovering little pieces of happiness together!
I have combined two of my favorite things – a lifelong hobby of photography, and buttons. So, my art is mostly a fusion of original photography ‘as-shot’ (or morphed into kaleidoscopic motifs) set in varying materials and often encased in resin. Thus, the art of ‘Buttonography’ was born – capturing both the inspiration and the inspired artworks, mounted together for display. I’ve incorporated 3D printing in many of my mountings as well, and while not all pieces are photography based, I remain focused on creating buttonographic displays as eye-candy for all to enjoy.
Paula Horne
Having inherited beads from my sister, I wanted to put them to use. Since I’m a button collector, naturally beaded buttons came to mind. After teaching myself the different stitches in beading, I’ve come up with some designs that I think work great. Some of my button designs include a cabochon or Rivoli as a base. Others are ball shaped. To keep consistent with beads, in leu of a shank and signature, I sometimes make a shank with beads using 1 odd colored bead to indicate I’m the studio artist. Other buttons have my initials: ph.
Ann Howe
Ann Howe earned a BFA from Kent State University in Graphic Design and Illustration. She began making buttons in 2008. Each button form is covered with an interesting fabric, topped with a vintage button and further embellished with 8/0, 11/0, or 15/0 seed beads. Ann is drawn to a variety of fabrics, including antique linens and old quilt cottons, Japanese silks, 1900s cigarette silk tokens, jacquard ribbons, and silk velvets. She has used glass, casein, Bakelite, shell, china and metal buttons which coordinate with the chosen fabric. Each finished button seems to tell a story!
Nancy Miller
I am a self-taught textile artist. I enjoy creating with beads, buttons, yarn, fabric, etc. etc. etc. I have co-authored a quilting book. My buttons are featured in “Extraordinary Buttons & the Artists Who Made Them” by Helen Timlin. Combining beading and fabric buttons was a natural progression for me. Most times I just let the material “speak” to me and my buttons are one of a kind. Spring Fest is an excuse to focus on a specific topic.
Shiho Murota
Born in 1975 and raised in Kagoshima, Japan, Shiho majored in art in college. In 1995, she joined a traditional Satsuma kiln where she went through disciplined training and honed her skills as a painting artist. In 2005, after a decade at the Satsuma kiln, she established her own studio in Ōnohara, Osumi Peninsula (often referred to as the “Florida of Japan”), in Kagoshima. In 2010, she won the Special Excellence Award at the Japan Button Grand Prix design contest. In 2015, she was featured in Pen magazine as one of Japan’s most notable individuals. That same year, she attended the annual NBS Convention and demonstrated her painting skills at the Anderson Japanese Garden’s Summer Festival in Rockford, Illinois. She has exhibited at “Satsuma Week in Paris,” celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Paris Exposition, had her work was accepted by the museum shop of the prestigious Chicago Art Institute, and her annual donation to the NBS auction achieved a record high.
Susan Pippin
I have a shared love of antique buttons and scale miniatures. I grew up in a household full of ongoing full scale ceramic projects, so it was natural to take that exposure and apply it to miniature pottery. I have vintage molds for small things, and I also throw pottery on small wheels in a variety of different clays. I have learned unique techniques at the annual Guild School of the International Guild of Miniature Artisans. I have been applying the techniques to studio buttons. I enjoy my annual trek to the school and consider it my happy place.
Paulie Rollins
I’ve always been fascinated with the micro miniature artwork of the portrait masters who created incredible works of art inside of jewelry lockets, brooches, time pieces, etc., for the royalty back before cameras were invented. Years of trying my best to come near that kind of perfection have evolved into my own version of that miniature art that I love so much. I still can’t hold a candle to those masters, but the resulting (extremely loose, comparatively), new artwork now fits great on buttons… which are ginormous compared to the quail eggshells that I did all my years of practicing on! Hmmm…I dearly miss the eggshells for drawing and painting and carving on. If I filled the backs, I could possibly cut out some extraordinary buttons for all of us to enjoy….
Karen Smock
My involvement with button making began in 2010 during research on early American textiles. Through this process, I observed that thread buttons were intricate works of craftsmanship, prompting further investigation. At that time, resources on thread buttons were scarce, but fortunately, access to information has significantly improved since then. With the assistance of the internet, I have had the good fortune to meet and collaborate with button making experts from around the world. Thanks to excellent books, online classes and many emails, I have been able to learn a wide variety of button techniques, many dating back to the 1600’s.
I began making buttons out of necessity, but now I do it for my love of threads, colors, textures, and the creative process. I’m inspired by historical buttons and enjoy recreating them as miniature works of art. I love crafting buttons that meet the unique challenges set by button clubs
Justin Thompson
Justin Thompson, a Fresno-based artist and 11-year Apple Inc. employee, was first introduced to the hobby in 2020 by California legend Jane Johnson. His transition into a studio artist began as a pastime while recovering from surgeries in 2024, where he fashioned his first studio buttons by creating miniature book designs using Scrabble tiles and other unique materials. This creative spark evolved into a sophisticated practice of “painting with words,” where Justin uses highly descriptive AI prompts—often refining a single image 30 or 40 times—to achieve his final vision. These high-quality studio buttons are crafted specifically for exhibition and collection, featuring natural seashells, wood blanks, and authentic US postage stamps.
The artisan process behind each button is defined by meticulous hand-finishing, including three hand-painted coats of acrylic paint, high-quality metal shanks, and a professional-grade decoupage seal for a solid, protective finish. To authenticate his work, Justin attaches a signature label to every piece. A dedicated family man, Justin finds inspiration in the imagination of his daughters. His 10-year-old daughter, Tesla, has even joined the local Wild About Buttons club and will be assisting him at the California State Button Society (CSBS) show this May.
Susan Vincenzes
I retired from the Air Force in 2000, am married with one son. We moved to Cheyenne upon retirement where I attended college and earned a BS in business then spent a few years as a Contract Specialist with the Air Force. I’ve been collecting buttons for about nine years. Art came late to me and after 9/11 I began painting and doing other crafts. Button making started with the Colorado State “Do No Harm – Make A Button” award in 2019. My first button was a needle felted mountain scene which won First Place. Each year I made a special button for this award and finally after several first-place ribbons started making buttons to sell in 2022. For the 2024 Colorado favor button I made a scrapbook which opened. I enjoy making buttons using a variety of materials.
Janet White
Janet is a longtime button collector and more recently a studio button artist who has challenged herself to combine movement with color and design.
She often relies on a metal rivet holding two or more pieces together. Riveting requires exerting just the right amount of pressure: too much and the enamel shatters, too little and the join is unstable. She has also used jump rings, fine chain and wire to create movable buttons. She signs the buttons with a spiral: a pattern common to several ethnic groups and eras, most often signifying a journey.
