Instructor Bio:
My passion for jewelry design was ignited while studying abroad at Lorenzo De’Medici Art School in Florence, Italy during the summer of 2000. During a summer jewelry design class in Florence, I won a jewelry design award from Mikimoto Pearls. Winning the award encouraged me to pursue jewelry design further. In 2002, I completed a double major in Apparel Design (BA) and Fashion Merchandising (BS) from Central Washington University.
I discovered crochet with wire while I was exploring textile techniques in wire for my Master's degree at Washington State University. With a background in fashion design and textiles, and a passion for jewelry design, I was determined to discover a new type of jewelry making using traditional textile techniques using metal wires. I explored many different techniques such as knitting, basketry coiling, braiding, knotting, and netting, in addition to crochet. Crochet quickly became my favorite technique, as it seemed to come naturally with very little effort in planning and minimal tools. I like to work this way as an artist. Traditionally, crochet is done with a single hook and a ball of yarn. In my case I use a spool of wire, whether it be brightly colored or fine silver.
Working as a Textiles Teaching Assistant throughout graduate school taught me the intricacies of fabric structures. I combined classes from the Spokane Art School, the American Jeweler’s Institute, and the Gemological Institute of America into my required graduate courses to create a rich course of study in Jewelry Design. In 2006, I received my Master of Arts degree from Washington State University.
As I began to experiment with crochet in wire, I realized how easy it was to start with an idea in mind and just create. Wire crochet feels more like sculpture, rather than traditional crochet in yarn. As you gently mold your piece it holds it shape. Through experimentation and ultimately "putting the books away", I ended up discovering a new crochet style that was all my own. It is a freeform style crochet, which is basically a chain and slip stitch, building on itself in all directions. I discovered you can either build up a piece three dimensionally into clusters using the freeform technique or keep the piece flat, working in all directions two dimensionally.
Since graduation, I have been experimenting with new textile techniques in wire, selling my work online through my website and galleries, creating commissioned wedding pieces, blogging, selling at fine arts shows, and teaching private lessons, workshops and classes in woven wire jewelry. I currently live in lush Corvallis, Oregon with my husband and two Siamese-mix cats.
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