Artist Bio:

Mary has always had an interest in the wearable arts.   As a teenager, she designed and created clothing and jewelry for herself, family and friends.   Another interest, educating children, consumed most of her adult life.   Her creativity was channeled into many areas as a classroom teacher and later school administrator.   

When time allowed, she continued to design clothing, jewelry and home items for family, friends and herself.   She attended gem and mineral shows to look at semi-precious stones and was enthralled by their beauty.   She dreamed of a day when she would be able to create pieces with those stones.

Upon Mary’s retirement as a school administrator in 2006, she was again able to focus on her interest in design and jewelry making.   She started with beaded pieces, began including wirework and then added precious metal clay.   She researched jewelry design, metalsmithing, semi-precious stones and precious metal clay work.   She began taking classes to develop her technical skills so that she could make her design ideas come to life.   Her new technical skills together with her eye for design and color have produced the variety of jewelry that she now displays.  

Mary’s travels through the Pacific Northwest, Canada, Southwest, Mexico, and Europe have provided many opportunities to observe nature, color and design.   Her love of nature, the ocean and underwater world has taken her to Hawaii, Australia, Fiji, Cook Islands and the Mexican Caribbean.   These travels have inspired many of her pieces.  

 “I have always been attracted to designs that focus on line and color and I develop that style in my pieces.  In working with silver and gold, I incorporate many of the lines and textures found in nature.   I strive to bring out the natural color and beauty of the semi precious stone to create pieces that will enhance my customer’s appreciation of semi precious stones.   I love the challenge of developing pieces for special events that will endure and transcend fads.” 
  
Mary has continued to develop her skills, creating jewelry designs in wire and fused glass.   She has incorporated glass pieces in her jewelry designs as well as creating a variety of glassware in fused class.