I was first exposed to metalsmithing and jewelry design while I was in high school but I didn’t fall in love with it until college. I majored in biology and began to feel really overwhelmed with the workload that accompanied the major. I realized that I really missed having a creative outlet so I decided to sign up for the introductory metal fabrication class. After that first class I was hooked, I had never found a medium that drew me in like metal and what was meant to be a single class to relieve stress turned into a metalsmithing minor.

I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania and have always been in awe of nature and consequently biology however, most of my adult life has been spent in an urban setting. Much of the inspiration for my work comes from seeing bursts of nature thriving within the city setting. I love that even in the highly manicured city garden the plant forms are still completely organic, unruly and unpredictable. This juxtaposition is mirrored in my work which features plant forms such as flowers and tendrils bursting from clean geometric frames.

I sell handcrafted sterling silver and copper jewelry. I think my work is special because it is completely handcrafted. I begin with sterling wire and sheet metal which I cut out and shape by hand and then carefully build each piece. I also try to make sure that my pieces are truly unique. I try to design art jewelry that is bold enough to make a statement yet elegant enough to be easily worn every day.

Love Manifested Line
The Love Manifested line was created in honor of my amazing mother. In June of 2015 my mom was diagnosed with colon cancer and while I'm very optimistic about her prognosis I struggle with the knowledge that she is about to undergo the difficult journey of chemo and radiation therapy. Compounding my sadness is the fact that I that I live in Tennessee and my mom lives in Pennsylvania so I will not be able to physically be there for much of her treatment. In an effort to show my support and feel like I'm helping her through her therapy I will be designing a new piece of jewelry for her each week. My mom has always been my biggest supporter and it has been a lot of fun discussing with her each week the details of the next piece. All of the items designed will be for sale in my Etsy shop and I will be donating 20% of the profits from each piece to The Colon Cancer Alliance ( http://www.ccalliance.org ).