CAROL SWOYER JEWELRY ARTIST

I grew up in Michigan, graduated college from University of Massachusetts with double majors in Biology and Psychology. After graduation I worked as a marine ecologist sampling inter-tidal zones and writing environmental impact statements for the EPA.

Part of the job involved SCUBA diving in shallow marine environments. I’ve become an avid diver and spend as many vacations as possible exploring coral reefs. In addition, traveling in our western States, I discovered the awesome beauty of desert landscapes, and have spent many months camping in the wilds of Utah.

I’ve been interested in crafts since childhood, although I have no formal training. While in school, I sold gemstone and macramé bracelets of my designs in Harvard Square. Now a recent retiree, I work mainly with seed beads and stained glass. I try to capture nature’s beauty by weaving intricate patterns with these miniature glass beads, a time consuming process. A simple bracelet may take 4 to 6 hours to complete. A recent miniature took 40 hours!

Carol Swoyer’s Jewelry Inspiration

The inspiration for my jewelry comes from nature; an orange, apple, and mango in a fruit bowl; the tail of a parrot fish off the coast of Bonaire; the woven leaves of a climbing vine! The purple, green, blue, and turquoise of shallow seas and the red, rust, and orange of desert canyons are colors I am most drawn to. You’ll see these colors repeated in my work as I try to imitate the splendor of this beautiful planet.

MARTHA SEELY JEWELRY ARTIST

Martha Seely was born in Syracuse New York, but has been a New England resident since early childhood living outside of Boston for the last 25 years. She lived abroad for a number of years and travels whenever possible – bringing back ideas to use in her life and art.

For much of her career life, Ms Seely was a costume designer and a stylist in the television and film business. A graduate of the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University, Seely has now applied her talents to jewelry making and fiber art. “Making art and creating beauty have been my life and they continue to move me forward,” Seely said. Color, light, energy, and subtle grace mark the quality of her creations.

Martha Seely Artist Statement

Art comes not from my brain, but from my heart.

And much of my heart and soul is filled with color, texture, style and beauty.

Creating jewelry allows me to play and experiment. It makes me happy. I use the style and fashion sense I developed over the many years I spent as a costume designer and stylist to create jewelry that is feminine and wearable.

In creating jewelry, there is a wonderful combination of design and process.

With each new piece I begin with metal and gemstones. The colors and energy of the gemstones are what capture me initially. They can be intense or soft; they are made by nature, but like flowers, many of their colors seem not to be from the earth at all.

I confess, what really inspires me is their sparkle. It is the sparkle that brings out the girly-girl inside me. When I was in graduate school we had a saying – “in the heart of every (costume) designer, there is a sequin.” I don’t use sequins in my jewelry, but I think that the underlying feeling still holds true for me and is what keeps me enthralled with my chosen materials.

NOELLE HARRIGAN JEWELRY ARTIST

I wear a lot of black. To me, it is the ultimate neutral. Black has provided a wonderful backdrop for some of the bold and inspiring neckwear that I have collected. Over the years, I began to wish to see something different.

Styles, stones, color, and I began to have a clear vision of what I wanted to have at my fingertips. So, that coupled with my passion for fashion accoutrement led me to the art of jewelry design. Creating jewelry has provided a means to showcase my style and aesthetic. As I collected beads and stones from amazing places and manipulated them into one-of-a-kind pieces. I had the realization that stones and the many tactile sensations they evoked had a truly profound effect on me.

Noelle Harrigan Philosophy

Surrounding myself in the magical, mystical world of beads and bead venues changed the way I looked at the world and it’s colors and textures. I work with stones that can evoke the memory of a sultry breeze on a warm night with someone you love.

Stones can feel like an electrical current in the air that energize your spirit. Some stones paired with the right counterpart look and feel like the beach when dawn breaks and again designed differently, like when the sun is setting. If I’m feeling particularly inspired, I can see a finished piece in my mind before I’ve put one stone or bead on the form. That’s when my love for what I do is at it’s most powerful.