Boline Strand Jewelry

Meet the Artist

• About This Artist

  Many of my jewelry designs originate in an urge to work with form and colors. With a background in painting and mosaic work, I am delighted to explore the creative possibilities found in working with precious metals and natural gemstones. As gemstone colors mingle on my work tables, new shape- and color compositions propose themselves to me. It is entirely satisfying to create a sculptural piece, expressive in color and sensual in form, that will eventually become significant to a future wearer.

• Q&A With This Artist

  Q:  Can you tell us about how your work is made?

  A: I create my work using traditional gold- and silversmithing techniques, hand fabricating each element from recycled silver, 18K and 22K gold. Starting with sheet and wire of precious metals I saw, raise, solder, file, sand and surface finish to achieve the intended form. To add color, I adorn my pieces with bezel set gemstones or bead them with gemstone beads. The metal surfaces are oxidized, burnished and polished in order to bring out sculptural effects and the natural beauty of the materials.

  Q:  What makes you passionate about the medium and materials you work with?

  A: Colorful beads from a multitude of cultures have fascinated me since I was very young; I have memories of beads I owned, or coveted, in early childhood. Over decades, I have amassed an eclectic collection of beads and stones, some destined to sit on studio shelves and inspire me, where others will find their place among the stories I tell with my jeweled compositions. This collection is both my guilty pleasure and my inspiration, a jewelry story started in my childhood that is now my daily work.

  Q:  What is something unique or unexpected about you or your work?

  A: Painting in oil and watercolors was always my greatest passion, however, I became a jeweler by serendipity. The tool-filled metalsmithing studio at my art school had an oddly magnetic effect on me. After basic metalsmithing classes and jobs as a jeweler's assistant, I was elated to find a jeweler's bench in a thrift store. Continuously collecting tools and skills, I find that creating sculptural, wearable pieces is closely connected to other forms of creative expression, not least, painting.

  Q:  Is there a movie, book, magazine, website, artist, album, or a place that you go to for inspiration or that has shaped who you are as an artist?

  A: Music is a natural, daily companion in my home. For years, my work has been created in an atmosphere of sounds of the cello, winding their way to my studio from my son's room, where he would practice chamber music and orchestra pieces each day. My son's music journey, through college and ongoing, is a strong source of inspiration that continuously leads to exciting musical and creative discoveries, concerts and chamber music performances, filling our family's lives with boundless beauty.

  Q:  The 80th anniversary issue of American Craft focuses on kinship—from an artist’s deep connection to materials to the networks of people within the larger craft ecosystem. Please share any stories on collaboration, how craft expands community, or how craft creates stronger bonds between people across cultures.

  A: Working with color~ and form compositions has for me been an important way of remaining connected to my father, whom I lost at an early age. He was a gifted painter, sculptor and mosaic artist whose work can be found in public spaces and private collections throughout our native Denmark. My father instilled in me a strong feeling of confidence in a creative life, the immense importance for humans to create art and the ways in which artistic expression transcend culture and history.