For fifty years and counting, I have been enchanted by ancient gold and silversmithing techniques. My exploration began in 1970 with a high-school jewelry class and continued into early adulthood with a mix of self-taught explorations and informal instruction. Everything shifted in my late twenties while on a bike-trip through Europe. A series of serendipitous events unfolded, and my planned two-month trip became a two-year quest when I landed a guest-student spot at a German trade school. It was there that the ancient gold granulation technique I’d been attempting finally clicked. Upon returning to California, I immersed myself in the technique and eventually fascination matured into mastery.
Goldsmithing presents challenges and triumphs possible only in a material that can be perpetually transformed: melted by fire, formed by the human hand, over and over. In my practice, process, material, and concept are intertwined in a generative loop that evolves as I work. Sometimes it all starts with a stone that stirs my mind, and the design unfolds around it. Other times, I work around a concept or an exciting idea from which my artwork emerges—like in the Cosmic Clam Ring. The repetition of placing thousands of gold granules into intricate, symmetrical patterns or weaving scintillating mesh-like chains creates a meditative flow-state from which visions of complex, otherworldly and fantastical gem-encrusted architectures emerge, such as in the Floating City necklace. The essence of my masterpieces is often distilled into the limited edition works for The Studio Collection, which brings iconic elements of my one-of-a-kind works to a broader audience.
My jewelry is included in the permanent collections of the Oakland Museum of Art and in 1996 my one-of-a-kind work Floating City (shown above) was purchased by the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery. My works have been featured in exhibitions, including The Art of Gold and the American Jewelry Design Council’s exhibition Variations on a Theme: 25 Years of Design from the AJDC, and published in books such as 1,000 Rings (Lark Books 2004) and magazines including Lapidary Journal, American Craft, and Ornament. In 2015, I was awarded first place in two categories of the Saul Bell Design Awards for my jewelry and objet d’art.