Makers Who Shaped Me: Mary Lee Hu and the Discipline of a Single Line
Mary Lee Hu transformed woven metal wire into a distinctive jewelry language. Her work offers an important lesson for metalsmiths: sometimes growth comes not from learning another technique, but from exploring how much possibility exists inside one you already know.
Makers Who Shaped Me: Kiff Slemmons: When Jewelry Becomes a Language
Kiff Slemmons’ jewelry reminds us that materials can carry ideas just as powerfully as words. In this installment of Makers Who Shaped Me, I explore how her poetic approach to material, imperfection, memory, and meaning has influenced the way I think about jewelry as more than decoration—as a language all its own.
Makers Who Shaped Me: Mark Fenn and the Stories We Make in Metal
Mark Fenn’s work reminds us that jewelry can do more than decorate the body—it can carry memory, emotion, symbolism, and story. In this Makers Who Shaped Me article, I explore how his approach to narrative jewelry helped shape the way I think about meaning, personal expression, and the stories we choose to make in metal.
The Makers Who Shaped Me: Betty Helen Longhi: Learning to Make Metal Feel Alive
Betty Helen Longhi showed me that metal could be more than hard, flat, and structural—it could feel organic, fluid, and alive. Her approach to forming helped shape the way I explored anatomy and natural forms in my own work, while her philosophy of teaching process rather than product continues to influence the mentor I am today.
The Makers Who Shaped Me: Cynthia Eid: The Artist Who Never Stopped Asking "What If?"
Cynthia Eid taught me that metalsmithing is as much about curiosity and problem-solving as it is technique. From her innovative approaches to forming metal to her generosity in sharing knowledge, her work encouraged me to keep asking, “What if there’s another way?” Meeting her at the SNAG conference made that influence even more meaningful.
The Makers Who Shaped Me: Charles Lewton-Brain and the Art of Thinking Like a Metalsmith
Charles Lewton-Brain is celebrated for revolutionizing Foldforming, but his greatest influence on me went far beyond a single technique. In this personal reflection, I share how his philosophy of curiosity and experimentation shaped my work—and what it was like to meet and discuss my MFA thesis with one of my lifelong metalsmithing heroes.
The Makers Who Shaped Me: Bruce Metcalf, The Jeweler Who Taught Me That Objects Can Think
Bruce Metcalf didn't just influence the way I looked at jewelry—he changed the way I thought about it. His work taught me that a piece can be far more than beautiful craftsmanship; it can carry ideas, tell stories, and invite difficult questions. Looking back at my own MFA thesis work, I can now see how his philosophy quietly shaped my approach, encouraging me to create objects that communicated meaning rather than simply adornment. In this article, I explore Metcalf's remarkable body of work and reflect on how his curiosity and intellectual approach to making continue to influence both my art and the way I teach metalsmithing today.