Kathleen Carricaburu

My jewelry translates through the art of my craft, a lifetime love of the natural world and its nuances into one-of-a-kind art jewelry referencing the beauty of nature through the lenses of culture and history. The intention of the art pieces is to engage the wearer with the environment, to inspire personal meaning, decorate the body as a reflection of health and beauty, increase the wearer’s strength and vitality, to help, to heal and to entertain. My jewelry supplies the wearer with energy for their own delight. I hope that my love of the material translates in my metal work.  I love the fact that I am working with elements such as minerals and fire and that it moves and bends and transforms sometimes from solid to liquid and that there is always an element of risk. My art is medium specific, identified with metal and metal smithing and made substantially by hand. I received a master’s degree in metal smithing/jewelry from New Mexico State University in December 2010 where I studied with Julia Barello. My studies in metal also  include three years of advanced small metals with Clay Furchess at the University of Utah.  I received a scholarship in 2007 to attend the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, where I studied with Angela Bubash. I also received the Janet Swenson graduate scholarship at New Mexico State University in 2009.  I also have undergraduate degrees in painting and graphic design from the University of Utah.   I have exhibited my metal work and painting with the Trove Gallery, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake Art Center, Finch Lane Gallery and Las Cruces Museum of Fine Arts in New Mexico.