Local Artist

Dana Driver - Jewelry

For the past decade I have used beach stones as the foundation for my jewelry. Not any stones, but only ones from a particular beach four hours north of Albion, California, where I live. I would sort these by size, color, possibility, then select the best stones to tumble polish, carve, drill, and inlay with fine silver and 22k. gold.

When I first began working with rocks, it took me three months just to figure out that I could inlay precious metal into the surface of the stone. I would try something, then set it aside when it did not work. Then I would try something else until the problem found its solution.

At some point I realized that my obsession with jewelry was as much about solving cultural problems as it was about solving technical ones. Extracting metals is so destructive to the environment, so it seemed a good idea to lessen my carbon footprint by creating jewelry from found bottle caps, tin cans, bits of rusty metal and other intriguing debris.

My interest in jewelry started at age ten, when I made jewelry from fishing swivels, brass and copper fittings, and other odd bits from the hardware store.

By the time I was 14, much to my mother's horror, I was ready to take up a soldering torch. In short measure she found someone who would teach me the basics of jewelry fabrication. Eventually, in 1974, I earned a BFA in metal arts at the California College of Arts and Crafts, where I learned the rules of fabricating precious metals. I have been trying to break those rules ever since.

Contact Information: Dana Driver PO Box 219 Albion, CA 95410 Email: drocks@mcn.org Phone: 707-937-4062 Website: www.danarocks.com

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