About

Beyond the ornamental, a jewel can hold a deeper meaning. Adornment is ancient, symbolic, and tribal. Talismans protect us and bring luck, totems proclaim our belonging to a clan. A precious miniature is a reminder or connecting element to an idea, emotion, a sense of place, a person loved. We communicate our beliefs, our love and belonging, or our alienation with universally understood symbols. We display our wealth, status and power, or, our simplicity.
 

Creating an object, produces a meditative and reflective state that I love. It allows an unconscious thought or memory to rise to the surface and take material form. Many of my pieces begin and end in my own hand. They are sculpted in clay or wax. Some begin as a drawing on paper. I also use traditional goldsmithing techniques to directly shape the metal. Other pieces are collaborations between myself and the stone carver, the stone setter and the caster.. The final collaboration is with the person who ultimately will wear the finished piece and present their own interpretation of the meaning it has for them.
 

I am awed by the beauty of the natural world and the history the earth reveals about ancestral cultures, the objects people have created with their own hands, as well as the Earths own geological formation and the treasure it yields. My Collections reflect different aspects of this inspiration.