NaturalEarthCraft

Childhood summers spent playing with my cousins at beach gave me wonderful memories and a life-long love of playing with sand! I spent many happy days building sand sculptures and experimenting with sand crafts. My mother, LaRue Snyder Scheirer, was a talented artist and she often gave my sibs and me impromptu art lessons. We sat on the beach, all lined up, with our boards and our pastels or watercolors.

Hours spent beach combing also imbued me with a love of collecting shells and rocks. Because of this interest, I eventually became a geologist and I taught earth science at the University of Dayton for many years.. In my art, I enjoy working with earth materials and both my sand paintings and stone jewelry are designed to highlight their natural beauty.

I continue to relish “playing with sand” when I create my original sand paintings which use natural un-dyed sand collected from my international travels and those of my friends and family. I was recently appointed to the position of Sand Art Advisor to the International Sand Collectors’ Society (www.sandcollectors.org). I have been fortunate enough to receive commissions for my sand paintings from as far away as Italy and New Zealand.

As a child, rock collecting led me into jewelry-making and also to train as a geologist. For the past 17 years, I taught earth science at the University of Dayton. About five years ago, I began to make jewelry again because I really love handling the minerals and rocks. First I made jewelry for family and friends but, after giving jewelry to everyone I knew, I started to sell it. My jewelry is designed to feature the natural beauty of the stones. Most of my work features semi-precious stones and I often find myself using varieties of quartz (agate, jasper, etc.) ...which is also the main ingredient of most sands!

As a geologist, I appreciate the fact that rocks (and sand) have often experienced long and varied histories. I like the idea that we can investigate rocks to tease out clues about the geologic past. When I work with both rocks and sand, I try to incorporate the amazing history of these materials by using it to inspire my work.