Artist Statement

"I believe that beauty in all its forms is a gift of God to man. This gift is given by God in His creation and also as gifts of vision to women and men throughout the ages who struggle to manifest the things of beauty they imagine in this world, and this world is better for it. All the art, music, poetry, storytelling, cuisine, architecture, dance, fashion, technology, and culture that is in this world has been birthed by a creative person, an artist somewhere, in some time. All this beauty enriches our lives in ways that we too often take for granted. I cannot and do not want to imagine a world without these wonders of achievement, but possibly the only way to know how precious a gift is may be to experience the lack of that gift so imagine a world of pure utility without passion or arts.

The world has problems, I know, but it is so much fuller than it was in the past, so much freedom for so many, so much beauty, so much potential to create. We need to fight to give as many people as we can the ability to live life full of beauty and creativity. We fight by giving what gifts we have and helping others to find their gifts, valuing them, and enabling everyone to give their gifts to this world. Everyone does not have the opportunities that I have had I know and I am humbly thankful, but everyone does have the choice of what they will leave here when they move on, I choose beauty and peace and love."

"I have been interested in art all my life. As a small child I wished to be an artist. I saw many talented people all around me, in my family and in my community. I was amazed by their creativity and talent to draw or paint or play a musical instrument. I was not one of the child geniuses that seem to create so effortlessly. I was pretty clumsy at most of the things I tried at first, so I thought I was not born an artist. As I aged I learned, and I learned that talent is not always a natural gift but talent must have passion and passion can enable determination, and determination can build a talent in anyone.

I began to make jewelry at 16 years of age. I thought of it as a substitute for my true passion to be an artist and particularly a sculptor. At the age of 33 I had worked in jewelry for 17 years and I realized that I was sculpting rings and other jewelry. I began to study sculpture first in bronze, then other metals and mediums. After nearly 25 years of sculpture I returned to jewelry. As much as I loved sculpture, I missed the materials and gems that give so much energy to the art of jewelry. I began to study jewelry again with all the new tools like computer aided design and many other wonderful new technologies. I found that many of the visions I had of jewelry, that were impossible in the 1980’s, can now be realized with these new tools. All the years of sculpture and jewelry study have come together for me now so that almost anything I can imagine, I can create. This is a rare and precious gift that I wish I could give to everyone."