An Artful Journey
I am a "maker" and have been since I was a small child. For the past 20 years or so, I have been primarily creating jewelry but I also do collage, doll-making and digital collage.
I use a range of techniques and mediums in creating my jewely - sterling silver fabrication and wirework, stringing and knotting on silk and other fibers, but right now I am mostly working with copper, etching it and forming it into pendants and earrings and then embellishing with a special jewelers grade, silver-bearing solder. I work with it while it is in molten state, working intricate designs into the fluid metal. I love this technique because it gives an impression of "timelessness" - jewelry made from it could be from ancient times, may have been worn by magical folk, has the organic feel of Art Nouveau - but also could come from the distant future.
I have made and sold my jewelry over the years, living in Portland, Oregon, Bloomington, Indiana, Lopez Island and Seattle, WA, Santa Fe NM - and then for a while in Edinburgh and outside of London in the UK -- and or a few months in Sevilla, Spain. I guess you could say I am a bit of a nomad.
For most of the last 7 years I lived in Amman, Jordan where I had founded and operated a charity for Iraqi - and then Syrian - refugees. I managed the aid program and community center. I had no time to make jewelry while I was there. Instead I led a group of refugee women in helping them create a crafts cooperative. I taught them simple jewelry-making skills and crochet.
I have also traveled to Syria and Morocco, Turkey and Japan. Everywhere I've been inspires me now.
But now I am back in the USA and have settled down in a small city in very southern Oregon. I have family in the area and it's good to be close to them again after being so far away for so long.
My studio is a small room, tucked away in the back of the old house I share with a good friend. The studio rarely stays somewhat tidy for more than a day or two. It's usually a wonderful chaos where new ideas leap from the stones and supplies as they are strewn around.
I look out of a large window into the lush backyard and watch the birds at the feeders and hear the chatter of our three very spoiled hens, Emily, Annie and Edna. It's a good life.
