Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Walton.
Hi Elizabeth, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I feel so grateful to have found a passion in life that connects me to strong community and meaningful work. I am a metalsmith and jeweler, who has followed a path from making small beaded earrings on my childhood bedroom floor, to graduate research and study of studio art metalsmithing. From my first experience making jewelry as a kid, to interning with a metalsmith as a high school student, earning my BFA from Appalachian State University, building a business around my jewelry collection, and now as an MFA Candidate at UW – Madison, I’m constantly working to engage my creativity and contribute to the community. Mentorship and a passion for learning and experimentation have inspired me to keep building a career in the arts one step at a time.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Like most meaningful opportunities, it has not come without challenges. One of my favorite podcasts, Creative Pep Talk by Andy J Pizza, has helped me find new perspective when challenges arise. As a metalsmith and jeweler, part of the joy of working in the studio is engaging with the physical challenges of the material and in that process finding surprises and unexpected connections and solutions. Creative problem solving in the studio directly impacts my problem solving skills and capacity to face challenges in my business and personal life.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a metalsmith and jeweler which means a day in life involves using hand tools to manipulate sheet metal and wire into art jewelry. I use a hand saw to cut out each individual shape, or fabricate with wire using pliers and hammers to move the wire before soldering it together for a unified look with structural integrity. As a graduate student in the MFA Studio Art program at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, I am afforded the time, resources, and professional feedback to push my creative work further by experimentation. As I begin the three year program, I look forward to seeing how my research will shift and strengthen my work, and connect me more broadly to the community.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Enjoy the process! From the outside, it’s easy for it to seem like my path has been a predictable linear journey. It looks like I found my passion, and I did my passion. In some sense this is very true and I feel deeply grateful for that. However, my experience of this journey has felt, in many ways, non linear and unpredictable. My path, in the simplest sense, is an accumulation of me saying yes to art and metalsmithing at each cross roads that I could. I wish I could tell my past self that making peace with the unpredictability will create more space to enjoy the highs and not take the low’s personally. I have experienced an ebb and flow to this type of work, and in some ways I want to see that as a feature not a bug. And ultimately, community connections and mentorship have played a critical role in the path that is unfolding before me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://redrenjewelry.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redrenjewelry/
