I found my way to Touchstones so I could get back in touch with my hands.
After creating digital media art and social-justice documentary films for many years, my hands longed to be back to work making art you can touch, personal art that is hand-crafted and tactile,
one-of-a-kind designs that reflect the radiance of life.
I think of my jewelry as a path winding through nature.
I wander and weave what I find.
It begins and grows and becomes itself.
Like a good conversation, there is no pre-ordained pattern.
The moods of colors and textures start first in my mind, primal, tangled, and full of surprise.
Then I go on a treasure hunt for just the right ingredients. I seek unusual combinations: polished tourmaline with raw ambers; the blue-flash of labradorite with fine baroque pearls; sultry obsidian with fiery carnelian; opals set next to pure chunks of turquoise. The beads and pearls and gemstones are playmates strung along the most sturdy wires and threads. We have serious fun together.
As unforeseen combinations take shape, I often take my pieces apart again and again – until a poetic path finds its way. Until the right rhythm and balance becomes an organic design.
The jewelry I make must feel alive, new-born, earthen, and asking to be touched.
My favorite elements have translucent, pale palates, or rich, earthy hues, rather than stark primary colors.
They are kinder to the eye. They are gentler to our souls.
And they sit softly against the skin.
I love working with stones and pearls that become a kind of a thought.
The unique interplay between the fine metals, the gemstones and pearls turn into a conversation -
full of ideas that have visible meaning.
They remind me, the most enduring designs emerge from the earth and the sea.
I pay close attention to choosing the right connectors to join my raw ingredients together. These transitions quietly matter most in each design. Take a look.
The tiny knot or metal disk between the primary stones is the connective tissue. Each detail is as significant to the artistry as the quality of the materials.
All of my art (either films or installations or jewelry) depends on the transitions I choose. With my films and video art, the secret is how you get from one shot to the next, from one idea to the next, or whether the next scene followed a slow dissolve or a quick cut. That's where energy happens.
I hope my Touchstones speak to you about the beauty and bounty of what the earth gives us. They are the main characters in the story. I transform them from raw materials into personal art you can wear.
What happens between them and behind the scenes keeps it exciting for me.
My family plays a huge role in Touchstones. My son and daughter-in-law created my first website. My grandchildren, god-children, and former students are some of my models. And my husband, a Philosophy Professor, is my photographer as well as my invincible Sherpa in shopping sprees. They are my Touchstones.
That's not the end of the story though. It's YOUR beginning with a one-of-a-kind treasure.
I hope you see how Touchstones are designed to show off your natural beauty.
You can touch Touchstones for yourself when you join me at house-parties, trunk-shows, and jewlery parties like these - or schedule a time to come by my studio where my designs are all waiting for you.
Trunkshow in Singapore
Savories at a NYC Jewelry Party
Jewelry party in St. Louis, MO
And now there is always this website, where, I hope you can find what touches your heart's desire.