I am a jewelry artist and mother of two amazing little boys, Tomasito and Mateo. I studied art at the College of St. Catherine hoping to pursue a future as a painter. Life's journey, as it often does, led me down a different path. It all started with a gift from an amazing artist, mother, and friend-Leanne Stremcha, whom I call, "Madrina" (which means God Mother in Spanish). The gift was a bag of tools, silver wire, beautiful stone beads, and a promise to teach me a treasured craft. Soon I began to drive to Northfield to meet with Leanne for private lessons. She taught me so much, not only about wire work and design, but about life as well. It wasn't long after that she introduced me to a group of her very talented friends all of which worked in different media and had different expertise. A few of them also took me under their wing, teaching me how to make glass beads, silversmithing, and how to use everything around me as inspriration.(Thank you Jennifer, Cathy and Sue!) What a gift!
Currently I work with glass, silver, semi-precious stones, and ancient findings to create collages of wearable art. I create many of the lampworked glass beads with moretti glass on a mini cc torch and many of the silver finding I use are hand forged by myself as well. I love color, cultural history, and making art. Creating unique pieces of jewelry provides me the perfect opportunity to combine all three elements.
