o-liveland.com

Olive was born just before Christmas 1967 in Gotham City.  The child-like glee and magicalness of the season swirl inside her all throughout the year and emerge into her colorful work.  She spent her childhood rambling around an 1810 farmhouse and several decaying barns; exploring flea markets and antique shops with her artistic parents. On her tenth birthday she was presented with a book on making paper beads and that, indeed, is where it all began.  She loves making jewelry out of unexpected things.  Her eyes are constantly seeking new ways in which some object can be transformed from its originaly intended function into something wearable.

She attended Rutgers University in the late 1980's and received a B.A. in art history, and took post graduate classes in jewelry at University of the Arts, Phila., Peter's Valley, UNM, and most recently, Penland.  Exactly one week after her college graduation she took her first-ever airplane trip and flew to China!  She has traveled to far-away lands ever since including: Egypt, Ethiopia, Thailand, Siberia, Mongolia, Russia, Korea, Hungary as well as Europe.

In early 2007 Olive left her position as "chief tooth-maker" in a dental laboratory to pursue her dream of making jewelry full time.  Her work combines elements of silver, copper, enamel, wood, watercolor, color pencil, paper, textiles, resin, and found objects fabricated and assembled in a collage-like style.  She sees jewelry as wearable art and finds the art vs. craft debate terribly boring and rather silly.  Olive finds inspiration in hardware stores as well as toy shops and flea markets and of course, traveling and seeing old things with new eyes.  She lives and works without electricity, water, or tv in a teeny, tiny studio in her teeny, tiny house surrounded by acres of sagebrush and the magical mountains of Taos, New Mexico.

UPDATE: Nov 09: Olive has fled the shack in the southwest to live another extreme: a Jetson-esue high rise apartment in downtown Chicago! Will keep you posted........