I have been surrounded by art all my life. My father is a potter and sculptor, and my mother was an avid if not obsessive gardener and writer. Both have been important influences for me and have taught me the importance of creative expression in one’s art, work, and life. The jewelry and sculpture I create are nurtured by that creative expression and inspired by the seen and unseen aspects of life.
Personal experiences of the supernatural influence my work greatly. I am a very spiritual person and use my art practice to foster enlightenment, much as a Buddhist uses meditation. It connects me with the magical and the unknown — qualities that are ever-present in my work.
For the last 30 years, I have cultivated the traditional metal working skills I gained in art school, but I also enjoy breaking the rules by melting, fusing, piercing, and burning materials to bring out their natural beauty. I am continually experimenting and combining precious gems, pearls, and metals with found objects. That combination of traditional and creative — of left brain and right brain — is truly how I see and experience the world around me.
Ultimately, my work is about transformation — my own, ongoing spiritual transformation, and that of the work itself. I love the process of taking diverse materials and creating something new and different, revealing the obvious as well as the mysterious.
