I consider myself very fortunate to have grown up with creative parents in a

household with a painting studio and a sewing room, a workshop full of tools, art,

music and books.  There was no way that I could not be an artist. Of course one of

my first drawings was on the living room wall but in a couple of years, I never went

anywhere without pencils, pastels and a sketchpad. Later, formalized art class

offered opportunities to explore new mediums like watercolor, clay, sculpture,

murals, printmaking and weaving. It was in high school where I made a cloisonné

pendant and began restringing broken necklaces to make new ones.

Every artist is on a creative journey, and mine encompasses a lot of different

mediums, especially 3-dimensional art forms.  After cold forging copper

birdbaths, I enrolled in a semester of welding at our local community college and

absolutely loved it!  Who would have thought that there is a Zen aspect to moving molten steel?  The

                                original idea was to weld large sculptural pieces, and a couple were created like

                                the 6-foot tall Medicine Man that was made out of scrap from the junk yard and

                                a lot of help from fellow artist Dick Sinclair.  But it wasn't until taking a basic

                                jewelry fabrication class from Patricia Rhodes that I dove head first into

                                metalsmithing.  Other than that initial class, I am self-taught, learning from

                                books, magazines, online forums and of course, other craftspeople.

                                While most work is made of copper, other metals are used. 

                                They are cut, forged and sometimes are soldered, riveted

                                and patinated.  My skills continually improve and techniques

                                are constantly added to the creative tool box.  With the

                                exception of using commercial findings for the Junk Drawer

Karma line, pieces are completely handmade including jump rings, toggles, hooks

hooks, eyes, and earring wires.  The result is the evolution of collections that

include chains, brass neck wires, pendants, earrings, bracelets and cuffs.

Although jewelry is my main focus, creativity in most everything I do from writing

and cooking to parenting and problem solving.  As jazz great Miles Davis once

said, "I would just wanna be dead if I couldn't create."  For me, it is as intrinsically

necessary to being as breathing.  I cannot imagine life without it.

I hope you enjoy my work.  If you have questions or comments, email me.  Also click to sign up for the studio newsletter or for Facebook.

peace,

Ellen Ball

Hickory, North Carolina

the first necklace

Medicine Man

Ellen Ball Studios  ~  Hickory, North Carolina

ellen@ellenballstudios.com

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