Julie Glassman ~ Fine Art Jewelry

                                              Artist Statement

As far back as I can remember, I was disassembling jewelry, playing with fishing swivels, and making my own inventions from these parts. As a child, art was my strength. It came naturally to me. When I was fourteen, I took my first metal-smithing class, and with one ignition of a blowtorch I had found my path in life. For the next four years, I poured my heart and soul into metal-smithing in high school art classes. I went on to Fashion Institute of Technology in N.Y.C. and graduated in 1993 with a degree in jewelry and gems. Realizing that there weren't many jewelers doing enamel, I decided to learn the ancient technique of Byzantine enameling. I took one class and taught myself from then on, always experimenting with new  ideas. By the time I was 20, I had started my own business doing custom jewelry orders and selling my work in galleries and at art shows. In 2004, I was awarded best in jewelry at the Tempe Festival of the Arts.

I design and fabricate all my jewelry from my home studio on the Western Slope in Colorado. To maintain the integrity of my work, I am the sole creator of each piece from start to finish. I make all my designs from enamel, semi-precious stones, silver and gold. There are so many wonderful colors, which I strive to infuse into my art. When I am not creating at my workbench or painting on canvas you can find me fly-fishing on one of Colorado's many fine rivers, hiking in the mountains and deserts of the southwest or spending time with the people whom I cherish the most. These are the main sources of my inspiration, which I infuse into my jewelry and paintings.

I use the ancient technique of Byzantine enameling to create miniature enamel paintings set in silver and gold. My work is a merging of powdered glass and precious metal into fine jewelry. I hand fabricate sheet metal into ornate frames that showcase the brilliant colors of the enamel jewels. Rarely do I sketch out my designs before infusing my ideas into metal or glass unless the design is extremely intricate. I prefer to start with the raw materials themselves since I understand how they will respond. Each piece is one of a kind. Colors and shapes may vary slightly from the samples.

*Due to the outrageous increase in gold prices the gold accents in my jewelry will be made out of copper or brass. This is a temporary adjustment until gold prices hopefully decline.*