I guess everyone has noticed; there are a lot of artists who make jewelry. Why you ask? Or as my mother once said, “Oh Kathryn, all the work, the cost, the time, is it really worth it? Well I can’t speak for other jewelry artists but I think I can explain why I make jewelry. There is real magic in making a person feel beautiful. When a client gazes into my full-length mirror and smiles and I know they fell good about themselves, I feel good about myself and my place in this community. And that, mom, makes it all worthwhile.
Here in Austin, I’ve found my community in the Downtown Artist’s Market and my sense of place as an artist. I came to the city of music in 2003 to write about music. But I discovered that in spite of the fact that I had just spent several years of my life getting a journalism degree in my hometown of Milwaukee that I no longer wanted to spend the majority of my time in nightclubs and that my sense community was changing. So I changed my art from the audio and the word to the physical and visual.
Actually I’ve been making jewelry since 1988 when I lived in a small town in Indiana. I was working in a wonderful little shop called The Studio. The owners, Mike and Judy Brown, started their business in the 60’s making candles and macramé and graduated to diamonds, as they grew older. Mike had a lot of great beads left over from the 60’s and sold them to me. There my love affair with beads began. I sold my jewelry on consignment at The Studio and made some extra cash.
But it wasn’t until I moved to Austin that I got started doing art fairs. I started with First Thursdays. At first it was tough going but as I improved my displays, my sales improved. When I found my place at The Downtown Artist’s Market I knew I was home.
I give my art a local feel by using local mountain laurel seeds and I make some of it personal by making evil eye jewelry to reflect my Armenian heritage. I try to make something for everyone. There are petite girls and big girls, conservative girls and hippy girls. I don’t make art for the majority because there is tyranny in the majority. If I made jewelry only for what sold the fastest I would leave out a lot of men and women who deserve something just for them. I believe that each piece I make has its owner and it is waiting to be picked up, worn, loved and cherished. It is waiting to make someone special feel beautiful.
