I am a born and bred New Yorker. I grew up in Greenwich Village, the daughter of a makeup artist and playwright turned English professor and an actress turned elementary school music teacher. My sister is a singer/songwriter and a painter, and my half brother is a neuroscientist and a dabbler in both music and painting. I went to Boston University for a degree in Theater, but I soon realized that I didn’t have the ego to be an actress. I spent the next 30 years of my life as an accountant/CFO (trained while working at my grandfather’s accounting firm after classes in high school) in the television post-production industry.
Making jewelry has been a constant in my life since I was a little girl. My mother had a “rainy day” closet from which she would pull gifts when we were stuck inside due to weather or illness. Frequently they were little beading kits. I then moved on to children’s ceramic jewelry making kits. I also learned to crochet from my mother.
While working fulI-time as a CFO I studied everything from bead stringing, pearl knotting, bead crochet and macrame. I also studied wire-working which led to learning silversmithing. About 12 years ago I found out about silver clay and became obsessed with that medium. Silver clay has led me to study polymer clay – plastic clay which can be “cured” in a toaster or home oven in half an hour instead of a kiln heated to 1650°.
I began studying at bead stores, moved to the the 92nd St Y’s well-known Jewelry Program, and branched out into taking classes at institutions like The William Holland School of Lapidary Arts in Young Harris, Georgia, The International Gem Show in Tucson, Jewelry Arts Inc. here in NYC and online during the pandemic.
I am certified to teach Art Clay and PMC (both brands of silver precious metal clay) and am combining my passion for jewelry with my love of children and lifelong affinity for teaching in a 3rd career that is the most fulfilling one I have undertaken.