Jewelry Designer

I learned the love of stone and fossils from my parents. Growing up in central Iowa meant Sunday afternoons would find us on some creek bed looking for fossils and other beautiful rocks in Madison County. Coming from a long line of artists means it’s no surprise that in my early adult years I would find different ways to express my artistic side including cooking, sewing, stained glass and various challenging arts and crafts.

Sometime later I became a health and physical education teacher because of my love for exercise and health. I taught for 24 years and retired a few years ago in June 2014. Along the way, I ran 22 marathons, including the Boston Marathon. Twice I finished Borderto Border where a team of 3 women ran, biked and canoed from the Southern to the Northern border of Minnesota in 4 days.

These days, I am happy to run, bike occasionally and take boot camp classes four to five times per week.

Teaching didn’t provide the artistic fulfilment that I needed. In the late 1990’s, I asked a jeweler who had fabricated a ring for me if I could clean his store in exchange for learning metal-smithing. While he didn’t have a position, he sent me to a friend who did. There, I was hired on as a part-time salesperson in a store that not only made custom jewelry, but gave classes on a variety of methods.

This is a unique store that sells faceted stones, cabochons, jewelry supplies and books. At last, a place where I could fuel my creative side! 18 years later I am still at the store part-time and still taking classes to further develop my skills in the art of jewelry making.

Actually, while taking a class in the winter of 2015, I learned a technique that led me to the development of my Pastiche Collection. I am still finding ways to express this line with new elements and pushing the technique to bring out all the artistic dimensions hiding in the metal and stones. View my creations