Susan Panciera

St. Peter, MN

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

The creation of jewelry and metal art appeals to my attraction to balance. A successful piece comes from a careful relationship between specialized tools, malleable metal, and the hands that bring the two together.

Balance is also crucial in the relationship between the artwork and the wearer. Human adornment with metal jewelry is found in every culture throughout history. It requires a balance between delicacy and strength, movement and comfort, evolving styles and timelessness.

We are all inspired by beauty in nature – here we find endless forms – the line, the circle, any combination of curves. Vines, stems, paths, loops, stones and swirls all present themselves in my recent collections, and tie the work I love to do to the world around us.

I began making jewelry in 1986 as a teenager in my hometown of Chapel Hill, NC. Over the years, I have been fortunate to work for and alongside many talented goldsmiths – in a popular local jewelry store, making handcrafted silver jewelry, for a professional designer and goldsmith creating hand-forged gold earrings, and then in an independent custom jewelry store, working in high-karat gold, platinum and a wide array of gemstones alongside 5 talented and highly skilled goldsmiths.

This hands-on learning and continuous sharing and developing of techniques, along with a variety of intensive workshops and classes, has formed the basis of my decades-long and always-ongoing education in metalworking.

After a move to St. Peter, Minnesota, my studio came to life in 2009, and now my days are spent creating new designs and collections to show at a variety of regional galleries and shops.