Filigree, if done well, is so gorgeously ephemeral looking, yet is deceptively strong. Perhaps that’s why so much of it from the past has survived. My drive to preserve the process is inextricably linked to my desire to push its boundaries without compromising its beauty. Students often ask questions about making the tiny, twisted filler…
I still remember forking over half my paycheck at Borders Books in 1996 to purchase Elyse Karlin’s book Jewelry and Metalwork in the Arts & Crafts Tradition with my staff discount. I’ve blanked out much of my final, sh*t, part-time job – Borders was quite corporate by then – but no regrets! I still pull…
The first time I taught at Metalwerx in Waltham, Massachusetts, Cynthia Eid volunteered to be my teaching assistant, so she could test my techniques with Argentium® silver. As I said to the students in that workshop, having Cynthia TA was like having the Beatles as my backup band. Cynthia had long before discovered the educational value…
In late 2021, I had no idea how exponentially my life in and out of the studio would soon change when professional development instructor Jessica Abel said to Rauni Higson and me in a Zoom call, “How do you two not know each other?” It was a fair question. When Rauni and I recognized the…
My artwork took on a new focus around 2010 when I learned of Dame Helen Mirren’s performance as Prospera in Julie Taymor’s film production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
Mindbogglingly quickly, the Earth has made yet another trip around the sun, and so this month marks 36 years since I began my journey as a metalsmith. Somehow 16 months have flown by since I began work on my exhibition and monograph Radiant Echoes to coincide with my 35th anniversary. Radiant Echoes evolved largely due…
I’m opening the digital doors behind the scenes to highlight the Eastern repoussé Turtle Doors, another piece from my retrospective Radiant Echoes that was hugely significant, partially because of the scale but mostly because I successfully pulled off something I’d never seen done before. It’s difficult for me to believe that it’s been eight years…
