I hope for my work to reflect a beauty that can be found in combining the natural and the person-made world. I am aiming to express a delicate strength which resembles a balance I’ve observed on our planet. My inspiration comes from discovering amazing

patterns and textures in nature, urban settings and industrial landscapes,

and repeating those in my collages and make into jewelry. I am also inspired by the past.

I enjoy reading about— and absorbing images of— ancient jewelry,

artifacts, and architecture. This has motivated me to learn old techniques in jewelry making.

For some of my work I make my own Shibuichi, which is a silver and copper

alloy that was used in Japan for making decorative findings on swords.

This combination of metals allows me to do a process called reticulation.

By heating the Shibuichi to a high temperature I can create interesting patterns

and textures on the metal. I also incorporate a process 

called Keum-boo into my work which is an ancient

Korean technique of fusing 24 karat gold onto silver. In the last few years I have been

using encaustic medium to give my collages the transparency and strength

I have always tried to achieve. With collages on one side of my

studio and jewelry on the other I move back and forth while one inspires the other.

Some of my favorite moments in constructing my art come in a form of meditation while creating a mass of shapes to produce one shape.I love the idea of many individual parts

working together to express something bigger and more powerful.

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