Jeweler’s Open House

Jeweler’s Open House at Gallery 9 - May 10^th, 2008 (10-6pm)

Have you ever wondered how jewelers create the beautiful things we love to wear and give to each other? The Six Jeweler’s of Gallery 9 are showing a collection of new pieces, demonstrating their various techniques and talking about the different processes that go into creating their jewelry. It is a unique opportunity to talk with the artists about how they design and create each piece of jewelry. Come see fine silver being woven into chain, stones being hand carved, glass jewels created and fine handmade beads designed into jewelry. There is more of course…. please join us on Saturday from 10-6pm.

The Artists:

For more than thirty years Michael Kenney has created unique jewelry designs. Selecting unusual stones, Michael cuts them to bring out their remarkable patterns and color. After polishing the stones, he creates a precious metal setting for each unique stone. The result is one of a kind work that is in harmony with both nature and the wearer. Michael has a deep appreciation for unusual, rare and historic materials. He sometimes incorporates agatized dinosaur bone, meteorites, or fossil mammoth ivory in his creations.

Sharon Shenar, originator of Faerie Hollow Jewelry, designs uniquely feminine pieces of delicate simplicity. Created from precious and semi-precious gems, pearls and Austrian Swarovski crystals she marries together the different attributes of various gemstones. Favorites among the stones she uses are Citrine; Peridot; Sapphire; Ruby; Emerald; Labradorite and Swarovski crystals. Each necklace has an equally beautiful clasp as a finishing touch, either a sterling silver clasp set with a gem stone to match the piece or a Vermeil clasp (gold over sterling silver).

Each clasp, hook, post, and final touch of the jewelry of Carlos Roberto Costa Ribeiro is carefully handcrafted using only pure silver and the artist’s own techniques. Gemstones from his travels through Central and South America accent his work. From his homeland of Brazil comes his latest inspiration, (Biojewelry) featuring nuts from various types of palm trees native to the Amazon Rainforest. These seeds pair beautifully with Roberto’s silverwork, complementing his rustic yet refined style. Roberto also makes lovely (bio - rings) from cross section slices of the seeds, with rich and deep wood tones.

Sarah Leonard's designs in sterling silver and semi-precious stones combine a timeless, archetypal quality with her uniquely uplifting individual style. Using a jeweler’s saw, she hand cuts the images and designs into each piece. Imagery and experiences from her travels in Europe, Central and South American as well as the American West are incorporated into her work.

Glass fusing, a process that originated over 4000 years ago in Egypt and Byzantium is used by Nancy Rody to create unique pendants, earrings and brooches. Fusing uses colored glass heated in a kiln to 1500-1600 degrees. Many of the pieces incorporate dicrohic glass, which has the unusual property of reflecting one color while it transmits another. Nancy also creates distinctive pendants with small pieces of stained glass, set in lead-free solder composed of an alloy of silver, tin and copper.

Before humans painted the caves they adorned themselves with pieces of nature, perhaps first the feather then shell, bone and stone. Vicki Thorne-Ohly revels in the vast bountiful beauty of the earth ancient stones. Their meaning, color, form and texture leave her with endless possibilities of thought and design. She loves to create something not only beautiful but something that can connect the wearer with a deeper meaning. She uses mainly precious and semi precious gemstones, cultured pearls, Hill Tribe silver and Gold vermeil, with sterling silver clasps and chains.

Come see us at Gallery 9 1012 Water Street in Port Townsend, WA 360.379.8881