I don’t know about you, but to me it seems 2021 had more starts and stops than a city bus during rush hour traffic and equally as frustrating. Sitting alone in the studio, I look to the pieces of this past year to get a feel of what this is all about, this one crazy year. Engaging with my Sweet Bird family through art and stories, I ask myself what this year has meant and where are we going? Each piece made for you has been an exploration in the moment that has accumulated into a full-blown year of 2021. And this is where the popcorn trail of sayings on my pieces have led me… Believe in the power that ART...
Driving to the airport early one morning last week I sat waiting at a stoplight. I looked over and saw a man holding a sign that said, “Jesus died for our sins”. And there on that same corner was a woman unrelated to him brushing her teeth. Sometimes I think in metaphors…cleanliness is next to Godliness, I thought…literally! But another and much deeper thought came to mind. How brave of both of them to begin again early that morning. Or as Lukas Nelson sings “when I wake up, I’ll start over”. Sometimes it is the grueling process of getting back in the saddle again, weary, unsure, scared and depleted…. it’s showing up day after day until what you really want becomes a habit. There is no magic to...
Hi Sweet Birdies, I feel this quarantine time is challenging, stressful and also a time of immeasurable gift. It has allowed us to go deeper, to dream harder, and to see our mortality more clearly. Over the years, I’ve watched the universe rise up to meet the vision inside all of us, and I feel this moment in time right now has never been greater to become more clear of our purpose in our lives, our personal and unique quest in each of us. But like myself, you may be feeling lately that you’re spiritually, mentally and physically exhausted. We have been through so much this past year and a half and now cases are rising again. It has delayed my trip...
Dear Pop Pop, The reason you haven’t heard me in awhile is that I’ve come completely unmoored these past few weeks. You see, someone shot and killed ten people in a grocery store that we shopped at for years here in Boulder, Colorado. It was the kind of store that still had the western mechanical pony ride for a nickel next to the registers that Nathan, your great grandson grew up riding. You would have really liked Nathan, he reminds me of you, straight shooter, yet kind in his words and actions and always has time to talk to a stranger. So, I’ve been doing everything to keep my mind off this horrible event, as you can imagine. That’s when your letter fell...
Somewhere in the middle of my senior year in college while getting a business degree I think I was sleep walking through, I signed up for a little class that I saw as “recess”. I didn’t know it at the time, but it would change my life forever. It was a beginning jewelry making class. I signed up for it to fill an elective…little did I know it would fill my life. You see, this February marks my 33rd year as a full-time artist and business owner. The alchemy of the metals mesmerized me instantly and I was hooked. Sawing, heating, melting, filing and polishing into a piece that hopefully the wearer would cherish forever is STILL magic. I am very proud of having stuck to...
