Laura Christensen
Designer and Artist
As a long time artist and nature lover I enjoy hiking the local trails taking endless photos finding inspiration in natural surroundings, from roaming our amazing San Diego coast in awe of every shell or picking up broken glass in the street, just because it has so much potential. My first passion has always been creating jewlery, but recently I've enjoyed lino printing and gelli printing. The possibility for techniques are endless and are a great vehicle to express my mind's eye.
I have a BA in Environmental Design and have worked as designer in Architecture Firms over the past 30 years. I can remember drawing R2D2 schematics and running blue prints at a very young age in my father's office. He is an Architect who taught me the lessons of good design, my mother taught me to craft for life. She was an Alaska native (Unangax) from Unalaska on the Aleutian Chain. My insatiable need to work with my hands comes from my Alaska family. I find making jewelry and lino prints are a great medium for Unangan themes. My hertitage speaks loudly to me when I create, and my work tends to be tribal flavored in nature with a Californian feel for where I live.
I aspire to live my life artfully. It's very important to me to be true to the making of what I create, and continue to explore and tell my story through my art.
***ARTFUL LIVING ***
As a breast cancer survivor my direction in life became more focused and made me aware of what's most important to me. When going through chemo I always kept my clay nearby to keep my mind and hands busy as I recovered. The simple act of creating made me feel empowered. I wear a lotus shaped ring on my right thumb to remind myself of this everyday, and stamp each of the polymer clay pieces with it as my signature. It represents self regeneration and rebirth. I love to make lotus themed jewelry whenever possible.
The Meaning of the Lotus
Jewelry Materials
A variety of materials including leather, metals, polymer clay, wire, resin, glass and enamel are used. All mediums are chosen thoughtfully for their structural qualities and accentuate their artistic qualities whenever possible. Capturing the moment of what a material does best is when a piece is most beautiful!
All selection of components used are also chosen with great conscience. Made in USA whenever possible as well as lead and nickel free.
