I was born in the Sangre de Cristo mountains outside Taos, NM. My father was a jeweler

and I have early memories of sitting in his shop, mesmerized by the art of metal smithing. My

mother is a renaissance woman of many crafts, though her focus is mostly illustration. Artists

run rampant on both sides of my family.

​

In an attempt to break the cycle of the starving artist, my family pushed me toward

academics, but I couldn’t deny my need for creative expression. While attending college in

Santa Fe, I was drawn into taking some jewelry classes, where I discovered an immediate

attraction to the art form that had been such a huge part of my early childhood. Shortly

thereafter, I sought out a jewelry apprenticeship, which I found with the artist Noah Pfeffer.

Within six months I left college to work for him full time. I continued to work and learn with him

for nearly 10 years, even moving to Arizona in 2010 when he did. The time I spent working

with Noah laid the foundation for my work- he taught me in the tradition of southwestern

jewelry which one can still see the influence of in my work today. He supplied me with a great

variety of jewelry skills including basic fabrication in gold and silver, lost wax and tufa casting, and even lapidary and bead making.

 

Since returning to Taos in 2015 to be near my family, I have studied and worked with the

jewelers Maria Samora in Taos and Ray Winner in Arizona. I spent four years working with

Maria Samora in traditional gold smithing and fine contemporary jewelry. She is well known

for her cutting edge designs and high fashion style in the Native Arts world. Ray Winner is an

incredible metal smith and jewelry designer of nearly 50 years who I would consider to be a

master jeweler. We’ve only worked together sparingly but he continues to be a mentor and

great friend to me. Working under several artists has given me a large spectrum of skills and

styles to draw my own creative style from. Mentorship has played a huge role on my path in

jewelry making.