About

“Wabi-Sabi” … beauty in everyday things.

Art Jewelry  … for a reason,  and that reason is YOU.  I come to  small scale metal work from a lifetime of mixed media collage and painting.  Making things out of silver, copper  and gold for you with a sene of imagination, humor and occasionally an important message, is what I do.

Design is a passion for me, and art jewelry has come to mean
that the piece is more about design than just high quality gemstones or  precious metals.  Art Jewelry is created from all conceivable materials: metal, plastic, feathers, whatever!  I chose materials that are not going to be  hazardous to you or to me.  That’s about the only reason not to try a new material.

I do quite a bit of custom work and would be glad to make you something or make a special gift. The turnaround time for this sort of project would be six weeks.  We would discuss this by email, with me sending you sketches and we’d agree on a price before starting.  One half of the eventual price would be paid before I start.

I studied Science Education in college, then went back to Nursing School, and went on to Graduate School in Public Health, ended up being a Registered Nurse for a long, long time.  Part of experience  involved running a large computer system for a hospital, so I guess I paid a lot of attention to my friends and family telling me that ART wasn’t a real job.

Well in a long process, I’ve studied print making,  painting and photography, sewed clothes, dyed a whole lot of cloth, made a bunch of assemblage boxes ( still one of my favorite things), and spent two years in college studying metals.

A metalsmith, that what I am.  This term relates to using all of the  non-ferrous ( iron) metals such as copper, silver, brass, bronze, etc.  A blacksmith works with iron.  My jewelry features etched, textured and  polished surfaces in combination with a bunch of experimental materials such as faux bone, jeweler’s grade resin, enameled metal surfaces.  After my MIM ( Mysterious Imperfect Metabolism, I  newly invented this name!) disease  of the last two years, I’ve begun to work primarily in metal clay.

I’ve won  awards both for my paintings and for my jewelry.  While a student, one of my pieces won First Place in Metals. Recently, one of my jewelry pieces is displayed in the Cameron Art Museum for “State Of The Art; Art Of The State show.”  As you might guess, this may be the only time that my art is shown a large museum.  Oh, and the show is now finished, so you’ve missed it.

Stories, that what I like to tell in metal.  Amulets and Talismans are a central focus.  I heard one of my collectors saying recently that the small pendant necklace that I made for her,  was in the words of one of her friends: “so you”.  It jumped from my hand to something expressed HER personality just perfectly.  Made me very happy.

I’m currently doing craft shows in North Carolina, so come to one of the shows for your own unique piece that will become “so you”.  It’s silver jewelry for the most part, although I use copper, bronze as well.   We art jewelers like to come up with a different look than “mall jewelry…. .

I welcome custom orders, as long as what I make for you I can believe in.  For example, my style is my style;  I can’t pretend to make you the latest fad Goth skull and crossbones earrings…. just wouldn’t fit!!, but write me with  your ideas, and we’ll see what happens.