It’s been yet another tough week, here on planet Earth. Frankly, I have been grateful to be living indoors with adequate water and, occasionally, heat. Last week our not-very-old-furnace tripped the carbon monoxide detector when I wasn’t in the house, but my son and husband were. Still, there was electricity to power that alarm to…
A smith’s hammer drops a rhythm like a heartbeat. Whether the light tap of a chasing hammer or the heavy ring of a forging hammer, the steady sound syncs, one blow at a time to propel the metal where we want it to move, just as, one beat at a time, our hearts propel our…
I’ve been getting the bug to play with clay ever since we finished building my husband’s pottery last year. Okay, who am I kidding? I’ve always had a thing about clay. It is magic mud with an ability to go from lump to vase with merely the need to spin it fast and touch it…
As artists, we often find ourselves caught in an eternal flip-flop between states of motivation and states of overwhelm. Having lots of ideas is a sign of healthy creativity. Keeping multiple projects in-progress prevents boredom. Unfortunately, there can be a tipping point when that creative motivation spins out into burn-out or paralysis, and our work…
Over the course of my career, there have been a number of pieces that are significant markers of how I’ve been able to pioneer the ancient metalsmithing techniques that are my passion. My Eastern repoussé cuff bracelets stand out among my most favorite and certainly the most talked about of my work. They’re the best…
“What TV shows did you grow up with, and how did they impact your view of the world?” asked the coach in a course I recently took. As the Zoom chat filled with so many women listing Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie, I felt a fond nostalgia for the improbable antics, mishaps, and adventures of the…
When six year old me opened my new box of crayons, I reverently pulled out the one called ‘blue-green’ in awe. I found it to be the perfect color. As I reverently replaced it in its slot, I sighed at the rest of the colors and wondered what they were doing in the box. What…
