Blog

To be juried in – or not to be? A question for all artists.

Since evolving my nearly 25-year artistic journey, I’ve had mixed experiences with juries.  Probably in 75% of the cases, the calls were oversubscribed and my work was measured against a huge number of fabulous artists.  But one truly never knows.  It can be discouraging and yes, it stings – but it’s hard to know what really happened behind the scenes.  You can ask yourself a million questions – was the work not good enough?  Did I miss the mark on the theme?  Did they not really want jewelry? And so on.

I’ve disciplined myself to follow the guidelines which often are meant for a wide range of media.   With the type of work I do, it’s particularly challenging to do so.  I purposely limit myself to using sea glass and have primarily made jewelry, hair accessories, and garden pieces.  I always make NEW work for the entries when required.  The result of this has been to stretch my limits and alas, new collections have been born.  So, this is the SILVER LINING!

One of the first-borns of this process was the Anchor Collection. This evolved out of a local call to artists for the theme H2O.  It’s become one of my favorites and a top seller!  The inspiration came directly from staring at old mushroom anchors we threw in to the garden.  More importantly, it allowed me to use my half-bottlenecks – a really funky sea glass shard that was bothering me.

Most recently I entered the call for “Rhythm and Rhyme” and I’ve been hiding these new pieces which I had hoped to show with a musical score behind them.  Alas, my work was not chosen.  Nonetheless,  I’m particularly proud of this new style of earrings and interpretation with pendants and brooches.   I thought I would share the inspiration for the collection exactly as I submitted it as I am hoping that it will be meaningful to those who know my work.

“The words of Tapestry have always inspired me since I first heard the song in high school.  Indeed, my life’s journey has been full of ‘rich and royal hue, an everlasting vision of the ever-changing view.’  A major transformation was moving to Gloucester and returning to my creative side inspired by the man I met the day I moved here – my husband.  His unabashed piano playing by ear stripped away any psychological barriers I had to try my hand at designing.   At first, it was simply making sea glass hair accessories at the kitchen table while listening to him jam to the stereo.   What unfolded was truly a tapestry of sea glass designs.  Now, with my own studio, I prefer to work in the evenings to all my favorite tunes on the radio. 

The work I am submitting is completely new and designed for this show using exclusively authentic sea glass from my collection. It’s a whimsical fusion of the literal and conceptual ideas behind Rhythm & Rhyme.  The initial piece in the collection, a brooch naturally took on the shape of a treble clef, so then I set out to make its companion bass clef which came to life as a pendant and a few notes in the form of earrings.  Enjoy the Tapestry collection!”

I am hoping that my clients will enjoy this new look so I can expand this into a new collection.  I am going to call them “sea notes” for the time being and see how they fare in the upcoming Open Studios and other planned events.    My pragmatic approach to making jewelry has been to grow with the “people’s choice” and not to overthink rejection from juries clouded in mystery.   Let’s hope that sea notes find a home in your jewelry collection!  Take a look and let me know what you think!

After a brief hiatus after the closing of London Ventures and a fun year with Gallery Number One – I am now pleased to announce a new location to find Cape Ann Designs in Rockport.  Many thanks to Pat and Lisa for giving the sea glass hair accessories and jewelry a new home up front and center at Alexander’s Pottery!

It’s was a great way to kick off the season in Portsmouth.  We had art lovers walking in all day and many interested in sea glass jewelry!  Thanks so much to the team at Maine Pottery Company and hope to see everyone again soon!

Surprising Sea Glass – A theme for 2026

The longer I create with sea glass, the more interesting it becomes!  I’ve been inspired by the incredible pieces of glass themselves, the new ways I am finding to use them, and the fact that more and more people are realizing this is a DIMINISHING resource and there’s a clear distinction between authentic glass and tumbled.    That’s nothing new to the original group of sea glass makers but hearing that out on the streets is a pleasant surprise!

Design Surprises

First, it’s about the size of the pieces. Chunky, funky pieces have puzzled me for years.  But now I am getting more comfortable with different drill bits and finding I can create a new series of pendants.  I’ve even gone back into jars that I had given up for “too thick to conquer” and re-imagined some of the pieces.

Equally challenging are the pieces too small to use in jewelry.  Late last fall, I also decided to play with two-part resin and attempt to create something functional with the really tiny pieces of glass.   I made a series of coasters with some success and some that fall into the category of science experiments!  My dearest friends received them as gifts with the caveat of being guinea pigs for the new designs.  I hope to evolve this further and will likely have some “seconds” in my studio looking for a home!

Then it’s about color.  I have SO much brown and brown glass is truly under-appreciated.   So, this year will be about finding new ways to visualize brown.   It’s a wonderful complement to lavender and light blue or deep blue.   Look for more of these combinations and also a showcase of brown pieces that will stand on their own!

Surprising and Delighting Customers

Nothing makes me happier than a happy client.   Over the holidays, I was able to make some custom pieces and will continue to do so using either my collection or that of a fellow sea glass collector.

One of the other ways that I’ve truly enjoyed working with clients, mostly women, is solving hair accessory challenges.    Many women come into my studio sharing that they love barrettes, but can no longer wear them due to thinning hair.  I have a solution or that – attaching a piece of leather on the inside to “grip” the hair and eliminate that feeling of the barrette falling off.   Feel free to come and try something on and we’ll make it work!

Surprising Interest in Hair Accessories

All fashion has its moments.   Long hair comes and goes, but I keep hearing that it’s back.   Along with long hair, interest in accessories like hair forks and combs.  I started this creative journey when short hair was “in” so you can only imagine how happy this makes me!   My studio if FULL of new pieces.   Come on down!