A.R.T. Precious Collectible Jewelry

Fashion – New Orleans

Born with a passion and love for jewelry. I took the plastic rings off my crib blanket and decorated my arms and ankles at the age of three months I was called “The Baby Who Cried for Diamonds”, by the jewelry store that used to re-string my mother\'s pearls and replace the batteries in my father\'s watch. Our family\'s German landlady came to America after narrowly escaping the Nazis. Mrs. Kaplan had rescued her personal collection of antique Venetian glass and African trade beads kept in several small trunks that looked just like a pirate\'s treasure chest, sharing her knowledge of bead designs and the history of beads. She passed her love of these exquisite works of art to me. I knot each bead into place, by hand. I do not employ any of the bead-stringing devices that are available, because it does not allow me to place the knot closely by the holes on each side of the bead. This is of particular importance when using beads of differing sizes, shapes or material (metal, glass, gemstone). I create my jewelry the time-honored traditional way, one bead at a time, and one knot at a time. Antique and contemporary beads link the past to the future through work that becomes tomorrow\'s heirlooms. Beads and jewelry reflect where we are today, what we were, and who we will become. One can neither break nor ignore the thread of history, for like a strand of beads, the result would be chaos.