While working on the Navajo Reservation midway through college I fell in love with the wide open landscape and moved West permanently. Soon I met my first silversmiths who made me want to get my hands on some silver and start making jewelry. I finished my BFA at the University of Colorado, and after 10 years of making jewelry in Boulder, I settled in Nebraska, first on a farm and then in Lincoln. I now work with three assistants and my husband, Craig Roper, who manages the business end of the studio. flower blossom
My design vocabulary derives from a wide range of sources which reflect my personal interests: the natural forms of rocks and seashells that I've collected since childhood, the lines and contours of landscapes where I've lived and traveled, the rich surfaces and intriguing shapes I find in weathered areas of the city. I'm interested in tribal and ancient jewelry that illustrates the human need to arrange found objects in new and meaningful relationships.