Beauty.  Connection.

Gained from experience and sometimes struggle, beauty can wear wrinkles and bumps, scars and streaks.  It is strong and persistent, but can certainly make room for softness and whimsy.  

In making jewelry, I hope to convey the wonderful feelings I get when I am in the presence of beauty and connection.  I push the silver to the edge of melting, but it comes out of the experience with marks that make it far more beautiful and interesting than before.  Sometimes it is hammered, marked, or wrought --- signs of a path that might twist and turn but finds a sort of grace.  A reminder to each of us that beauty lives within the “imperfections” we gain from our experiences.  

A stone in my studio often starts rough -- it’s hard to see what lies under the dull surface.  A little love and attention reveal the true lovely color and complexity of patterns.  

Sometimes the stones are fossilized coral or dinosaur bone --- a sudden flash of the centuries and the contrast of our own brevity.  A piece of Lapis Lazuli connects us with the master painters of the Renaissance, the pigment ground of this brilliant blue stone as valuable as gold.  Turquoise and coral connect us to the First Nations of the American Southwest, and the traditions of jewelry passed from master to student for generations.  

Feel your own connections, hear the music, know your unique and wonderful beauty.