ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Nature is the ultimate designer. I feel that all my design choices eventually lead me back to this simple truth. I try to create beautiful objects that mimic the repetition of shapes in nature, and the deep, earthy color palette I find there. By using organic materials like vintage sequins, leather and semi-precious stones, found objects and machine stitching, my jewelry is a way for me to synthesize my diverse interests of nature, textiles and indigenous craft traditions into objects that reflect the energy that is alive in all things handmade.

As a young girl growing up in Texas, my love for nature was born on family trips to the countryside, a rocky landscape of mesquite and cactus. Although I now make my home in San Francisco, far from my Texas roots, I remain deeply influenced by the beauty of those vast, rough vistas.

The daughter of a weaver and opera director, I was always encouraged to make and experiment with the world at my hands. After my mother taught me how to sew at the age of 11, I started to make my own clothes and quickly decided I wanted to become a clothing designer. I went on to study fashion and costume at university and it was there that I fell in love with the textile arts.

Fascinated by the culture of Japan, I took a job in Hokkaido as a teacher in 1997 and lived the next three years exploring the Japanese aesthetic, language and countryside. This led me to even further travels in Asia, where I found myself absorbing haunting and poetic images and stories of culture, and where I ended up teaching art in Nepal.

Upon returning to the US in 2002, I made my home in San Francisco and began to work as an assistant to local clothing designers. It was at this time that I started to learn the craft of natural dyeing, bringing my love of nature and appreciation for handmade textiles together. With the dyed fabric scraps I began to experiment with jewelry, and have been doing so ever since!

Whether it is using the sewing machine to 'draw' a bracelet, or dyeing leather for a necklace, I create pieces that invite the wearer to get lost in their details, their imperfection. My jewelry is a hybrid textiles/metals approach to adornment that resonates as something unique, handcrafted and yet completely modern.

COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE

USA

EDUCATION

BFA, Fashion Design, University of North Texas, 1996

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

American Craft Council, San Francisco, 2008

Mixed Plates and Metal, Venus Gallery, San Francisco, 2008

Yayoi, Aki Studio, Hokkaido, Japan, 2005

TEACHING

Art Curriculum Director and Teacher, Rhododendron School, Katmandu, Nepal, 2001

Japanese Exchange Teacher, Hokkaido, Japan, 1997 to 2000

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

"It's All In The Wrist," Fiber Arts Magazine, December 2008

Stella Design Gallery blog, November 2008

Inhabitat.com Design blog, October 2008