Wearable Shrines of Intention: Crafting a Life of Meaning Through The Art of Making
June 15th - 19th 2026
10am to 4:30pm, we will end early on Friday at 12pm
At our new flagship Studio in Beautiful Downtown Boulder Colorado.
Register before March 1st and receive a $200 early bird discount!
This is the workshop you’ve been asking for!
Welcome to the world of making from meaning! Not just your artwork, but making your life from meaning. In this in depth retreat, I will share with you all of my many tried and true techniques to making work and a life of authentic meaning. We will have an uninterrupted sweet (Bird!) week of not only making and learning jewelry techniques, but o’ so much more! From writing, collage, painting, story telling, collaborating with each other, found object art and of course, metal smithing. My mission and passion is in the sharing of the art of designing your life through making in this time of taking back a handmade life.
What is included in Wearable Shrines of Intention 5 Day Retreat:
-5 Uninterrupted days of writing, creating and telling our stories through making wearable shrines of intention in my brand spankin' new flagship gallery and studio on the beautiful Pearl Street Mall.
-Materials and tools for making projects at the retreat
-Sharing of my 38 years of knowledge of the fundamentals of metal smithing and mixed media
-Experience and work in my own personal studio
-Access to many found objects, stones and castings
-Receive my personal tricks of the trade for those of you interested in expanding or creating your own art jewelry business
-Experience a spiritual way of designing your life and artwork
-Each participant will receive a one-on-one session at the end of our week. This is a time to ask away with your own personal questions
-At the end of the week you will take away many techniques but also your own personal shrines of intention including your own design journal. Please note that lodging and travel are not included. I will provide all tools and many materials with sterling components available for purchase. Upon registration I will be sending out lodging ideas and a materials list of objects and tools to bring if you so desire!
If you have any further questions, please contact us at info@sweetbirdstudio.com
I am so excited to be sharing the art of making your life with meaning with you!
The truth is that I didn’t find art. Art found me. Somewhere out in the forgotten fields lies my muse. I am a modern day hunter-gatherer. I am in love with other people’s
trash.
From the rubble, I find treasure to create my wares combining another era. Self taught artist, craftswoman and teacher, Nancy founded Sweet Bird Studio in 1988 in her basement next to the furnace of her home.
Nancy’s art and jewelry have been exhibited and collected internationally, including many celebrities and musicians, the most recent being the jewelry for the movie, Rock of Ages with Tom Cruise. Her designs have been featured in many books and
magazines, including Found Object Art, 1001 Jewelry Inspirations, Mixed Media Art, Art Making and Studio Spaces, Cowboys and Indians, Lapidary Journal, and Belle Amour to name a few.
In addition to design and creation, Anderson also teaches her creative process to kids on up to adults nationally in her own workshops as well as universities such as Montana State, Univ. of Kansas, Naropa University and the Taos Institute of The Arts, to name a few. Nancy also is a co-facilitator and peer mentor for a sober teens group called Natural Highs in Boulder, Colorado.
This obsession with sun-aged purpose. discards from another era traces back to when she was seven, fascinated by museum exhibits and going to Turkish bazaars in Germany buying beads by the time she was nine. “I prefer alleys, salvage yards and fields to storefronts.
In that search, I am most touched and amazed by the people I meet in those “chance” encounters along the way. “This has compelled me to become a social artist as well as a visual artist, I am passionate about helping people that make their lives from a place of meaning and creativity.
That is why they are affectionately called, “Wearable Shrines of
Intention”.