How I invigorate my creativity outside of work.

As a driven, success-oriented professional, it’s easy to get swept up in your career aspirations and lose sight of much else. Before you know it, your job consumes you. But while that might put you on the fast track to professional advancement, you’ll also head straight for burnout – not a place anyone wants to be, no matter what career success might precede it. Before you land in that position, or if you’re already there, take a step back and remember your passions outside of work. Maybe discover a new outlet to create a much healthier work-life balance.

For me, that outlet is the art and jewelry business I started when burnout reared its head in my professional life.

My Art
I work with fire to shape glass and metal and to create jewelry that reflects plasticity and radiance. The practice of yoga, swimming in cold, open water and hiking in nature evoke a sense of openness, fluidity, and vibrancy that nurture my spirit and invigorate my creativity.

In my artistic endeavors as a jeweler, I pursue balance through asymmetry and contrast. Each one-of-a-kind piece constitutes a whole, while simultaneously being part of a continuum in my exploration of form, color and content.

In addition to jewelry, I create sculptural objects drawn from subjects that stimulate my thoughts. In contrast to the peaceful meditations that inform my jewelry designs, my sculptural art motives represent concerns for environmental and social issues that afflict our world.

We find that where there is “serenity” in one of my jewelry designs, there is “unrest” in a sculpture. Also, while we encounter “flow” and “landscapes” in my necklaces, we experience “resource depletion” in another one of my sculptural objects. In essence, asymmetry and contrast are at the core of my abstract artistic work, and in my ongoing examination of harmony and balance.

I draw from ancient flameworking traditions used in Venice, Italy, to create my contemporary abstract glass jewelry and sculptural objects. I have studied at the renowned Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Wash.; The Crucible in Oakland, Calif.; and Public Glass in San Francisco. I use borosilicate glass (Pyrex) and various metals and gems in my creations. I see myself as a multimedia artist. I also work on oil paintings, focusing mainly on the topic of climate change and the environment.