I've been making jewelry since 1994, when I wandered into Pearl Art & Craft in Cambridge, Massachusetts, looking for something I could do so I could call myself an artist. In the midst of all kinds of paper, paints, pencils and pens, I found myself in the aisle that sold beads and stringing supplies.
As a lifelong appreciator of jewelry (with an addiction to silver), I was stunned at that moment to realize that jewelry didn't simply appear....it was made by people. And...so could I.
I bought some beads, thread and wire. The bead stringing was easy enough to figure out, but ultimately I was able to use wire to my advantage. I don't remember which came first though, the beadwork or the wirework. It all seemed to support each other.
At the end of 2000, I moved to Nashville and discovered art. I hadn't thought of what I did as art; I still thought of "art" as other things and people, sculpture, paintings, drawing, things I couldn't do or didn't know how to do.
In the summer of 2007, I left my day job as a waitress to figure it all out. It was then that I began making my own beads....and began to realize that art is each person's individual take on things that affect them in life.
Today, I call myself an artist. I always was, I just couldn't see it. Better late than never, huh?
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