NORAH PIERSON 

Some of the jewelry is fairly simple, some outrageously ornate. It draws on everything from ancient Rome to "Lost in Space". It is the work of Norah Pierson, who makes her magical jewelry in a cliff top studio she designed outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. There is a delightful sense of humor in Norah's work, but never at at the expense of beauty. It's the result of her years in Italy, and on the California coast, and hours spent hiking in the mountians and deserts of New Mexico. 

Raised in New England by her sculptress / painter mother and historian father, Norah spent her childhood in museums, studied at the Bostom Museum of Fine Arts and later apprenticed with goldsmith Joseph Nolen of Laguna Beach, CA. Most of her forms are cast from wax, a medium that allows her to play with surface textures. Look closely at her work and you'll find the textures of fish scales, sea urchins, a broken tail light, bones and wood. "I believe in tactility," she says, "I love the curves and swirls of nouveau and the geometry of art deco." 

Her imaginitive forms and varied textures are cast or fabricated in high karat gold and set with the finest pearls and colored stones from around the world, often custom cut to Norah's specifications. The result is sometimes Byzantine, sometimes space age, but always luxurious and always essentially Norah.

JULIE RAUSCHENBERGER 

Clearly playing both sides against the middle. Julie Rauschenberger consciously faces the challenges of bridging old and new. Her work often includes cast shapes as a body for granulation, unlike most of her peers, who fabricate from sheet and wire. A study in opposites, her style often includes such contrasting materials as 22K gold and diamonds with fossilized mastodon bone or 22K gold with opals and fossilized walrus tusk.

When stoking her creative fires, Rauschenberger looks at ancient Native American work (particularly from the Mimbres, who lived in what is today New Mexico ) as well as a variety of craft art ( handmade paper, glass, pottery - anything, that is, but jewelry ).

Then there is her subconscious: "Without at all being aware of it, I have always moved towards triangular shapes," she says. These are softened until they recall flower petals more than geometrics. Working with 22K gold demands that she use high quality stones. But since clients find comfort in the familiar, she has to keep a check on her love for "the funkier, the better" gemstones. As a result, she often uses boulder opals, rubies and not-too-unusual tourmalines, and finds in them the perfect balance between her passion and the acceptance among her patrons.

LIZA GENE SANCHEZ 

Although I was born and raised in northern Illinois, it was the mountians of New Mexico where I finally found my home. The unique landscapes and special auraof the region give me inspiration and serenity. 


I have always been intrigued by natural forms and textures, especially close-up. Flowers, pods, even rocks facinate me. My cholla-wood designs were inspired by the spikey shrub-like cholla cactus that grows abundantly in our high deserts. When it dries, the wood forms a tube like stick with many elongated holes. It's lines are quite beautiful. I started with a small piece of a stick, which I filed and molded. By using this basic component, either in wax or in metal, in different combinations, I can create endless and varied jewelry pieces. I don't try to duplicate nature, I try to capture my impressions of it's essence." 


Ms. Sanchez has a BFA in Art Education with a minor in painting and a MA with emphasis in metals, both from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. She lives and works in her studio just north of Española, NM with her husband and their two large dogs