The Artist as a Jewelry Designer: Barbara Sucherman Designs, Ltd.: "I have been making art for as long as I can remember. In a space in my attic, I still keep the artwork I created in grade school. It is all a part of me.
Saturday mornings, I would go downtown to the Art Institute of Chicago. I always wanted to be an artist. I grew up drawing and painting. I read biographies. Van Gogh. Picasso. Paul Klee.
I started college at a great art school, Carnegie Mellon University. Then, missing Chicago, I transferred to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. There, painting, drawing, and printmaking, 8-10 hours a day, with great instructors, I learned how to create - how to be an artist.
I used acrylics, pastels, and watercolors; made prints from etched copper plates, relief plates, and lithographic stones. I experimented with photography. Soon after graduation, I discovered jewelry. I had a great time with the new materials and new tools. I signed up for my first art show. I sold my work! I was hooked.
I worked hard to perfect my techniques. My jewelry is predominantly sterling silver with gold fill accents. The magic I felt in my painting began to show itself in my jewelry. My fused glass stone is hand cut from many pieces of colored glass, which I fire in a kiln at 1700 degrees. The sterling silver shapes are individually formed, textured and polished to fit each glass cabochon. No two are alike. Fused glass became my palette.
My new series of work is called the 'Treasures Collection.' The pieces are intended to remind us of things that are precious, private and personal; that touch memories from our past; things that we keep tucked away in boxes, drawers or envelopes. Art is what you make of it. What you imagine it to be. A thing of beauty, thought provoking.
Barbara Sucherman"