A Work in Progress
Silversmithing isn't my first career, but it's the one that makes my pulse race. It fits perfectly my insuppressible desire to learn, create and share my love and reverence for the natural world. Since taking on this endeavor to build a little business out of my passion, I have been constantly and clearly reminded that I am a perpetual beginner and student. Everyday brings with it new learning opportunities whether the subject has to do with making, marketing or communicating with the incredible people this journey has brought me in contact with. I truly am a work in progress as a silversmith, as an artist, and also as a person.
Until a few years ago, I invested most of my creative energies into my long career as a Montessori teacher. There came a time when I could no longer resist the pull to deliberately cultivate my artistic inclinations, and I resigned my teaching position to travel and dedicate myself to designing and crafting jewelry full time. I received some really important coaching from my husband who, decades ago, studied and practiced silversmithing while in college. Using many of the same tools he used almost 40 years ago (It pays to take care of your tools!), I learned to solder, pierce and saw, and hammer. It came pretty naturally (I had dabbled some), and with time to throw myself into silversmithing, my skills grew quickly, and are now continually being pushed to keep up with my ideas. I progress - every day- from doing, reading and watching (Yay for YouTube!) and picking the brilliant and generous brains of jewelry artists I admire. I'm pretty certain I will never "arrive" at a magical silversmith destination; I hope not, as so much of the joy for me is in the thrilling journey of discovery.
My studio is modest - actually a corner of the dining area in our home in southwest Colorado- but comfortable. Large picture windows face breathtaking, mountainous vistas, and wild turkeys, fox, coyotes, rabbits, a myriad of songbirds, deer, elk and the very occasional bobcat or bear wend their way through our property- sources of endless inspiration. I'm lucky enough to have a supportive, clever and able husband who builds my displays, polishes scratches out of stones when I slip with a file, makes and modifies tools when needed and reminds me to turn up the heat on my torch. He even built me a most excellent new bench; I can now sit up straight while sawing, stand to work, and my tools - no longer strewn about- are efficiently organized in custom-built caddies. The studio cat, Lucy, keeps the jewels closely guarded and my lap sufficiently warmed.
Texture, depth, balance and movement are the qualities I'm most attracted to in other artists' work, and which I strive to imbue in mine. I want each piece to embody the distilled essence of the bit of nature - leaf, root, seed, stone - that inspired it, which means employing tried, as well as innovative ways to create topography from a smooth piece of metal, build depth from a flat silver sheet, hold a stone in place in a way that lets it tell its story and to suggest movement with solid materials. To so so, I stamp, engrave, hammer, form, saw and solder. My favorite tool is my saw. I love the way sawing can create lines and shapes in the solid silver that can give it the illusion of something fluid. I love to add kinetic elements into many pieces, too. A pin here or hinge there provides just the right bit of movement to suggest a quaking leaf or wing in flight. I often layer metal or construct hollow forms to create dimensionality and depth. As my ideas multiply and my inspiration grows, so does my repertoire of tools and skills, but no matter what the techniques or design elements involved in the creation of a work, each is a celebration for my love of life and the natural world.
