Thanks to everyone who sent well wishes for my Retreat Week in June! I’m happy to report that I managed mostly to stick to creative work and not to doomscroll news. Each one of these Retreat Weeks I learn more about what I need to support myself in the studio. You might think after 36…
As I’ve worked on more art objects than jewelry this year, I’ve been paying closer attention to the varied ways I accomplish creative projects. 2024 was an entire year of hyperfocus as I worked on both the exhibition Radiant Echoes and its monograph. I fully admit it, sitting at my desk, clicking my Mac mouse…
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…
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…
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…
