We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amy Wilderson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Amy, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I am incredibly happy being an artist. When the youngest of my five children headed off to college, I contemplated getting a ‘regular’ job working for someone else. But I realized that it would mean keeping my art practice on the back burner, which I had done while homeschooling my kids. Considering the level of regret I know I’d have in doing some kind of work other than art, combined with wondering “What if I just put myself out there as a full-time artist” was too great to ignore.

A lot of people think being an artist or creative means you have all this time to do fun stuff. The truth is that we – just like any other entrepreneur – have to put in a lot of behind-the-scenes work in order to get the work. I am just now at the place where I’m being sought out for opportunities beyond creating custom pieces: I’ve been asked to give artist talks, moderate talks for other artists, and lead workshops. And I apply for projects, grants, and exhibits.

I love being able to take a concept that I didn’t have the skills to make the way I conjured it in my mind and finally do it by learning new techniques and honing the ones I already have.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a visual artist and a teaching artist. I got my start in 1995 when I took an Intro to WireWork class as a gift to myself after the birth of my third child. I had also opened up a metaphysical book and gift shop in Northeast Minneapolis and would make jewelry while the baby slept and customer traffic was low. Soon people began requesting custom pieces using the gemstones I sold in the shop. Eventually, I created a jewelry sideline that I marketed as part of the shop. When we moved shop and family to South Carolina, I continued to make jewelry for my shop and also sold pieces wholesale to boutiques around the country. When I moved back to Minneapolis in 2012, I was met with a challenge to my work that allowed me to get comfortable in identifying as an artist rather than a jewelry designer.

In my own practice, I am primarily a metalsmith jewelry artist who creates pieces using treasures that I call revived treasures – elements that were broken in their previous life (necklaces, missing earrings) or just got tucked away in the back of the collection. Revived treasures also include unlikely elements such as bra underwires and fried computer or tablet motherboards. I connect these elements with mostly reclaimed metals and use gemstones that are associated with myth, power, and healing.
My pieces hold meaning to both myself and the ultimate wearer. They become conversation starters and frequently double as personal talismans for my clients. Gemstone energy is as integral of an element in my pieces as overall color schemes, but it’s also a subtle, personal element that doesn’t necessarily announce to the world what energetic aspects the wearer is focusing on.
I am developing a new jewelry collection consisting of larger statement pieces and wall-sized installation pieces for a future exhibition.

I am also a teaching artist. I am a 2022 awardee of the Visual Art Fund grant through Midway Contemporary Art via the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and am using the grant to lead a group of Black and brown women as we uncover the cultural, spiritual, and legacy aspects of our forgotten jewelry treasures while creating new pieces out of them.

As a teaching artist on the COMPAS roster, I lead introductory wirework jewelry-making workshops and residencies. I started out in the Artful Aging sector which focuses on people who are 55+ years young. I have since expanded my curriculum to include younger participants. I also provide experiences to participants who have varied physical, developmental, and emotional challenges. I recently spent two weeks at the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind where I taught students whose ages ranged from 9 to 21. The students completed several different pieces of jewelry using many techniques, and I learned so much more about using descriptive language in all of my classes. It was an amazing experience for us all.

I have had so many unexpected and proud moments in my career, especially in the last three years: I’ll say that both teaching and learning are what I’m most proud of: I absolutely love teaching!! My courses so far have been introductory level, for those who have never touched tools and might not even know what wire work jewelry making is. I have a few groups who are ready to move into more challenging/advanced jewelry making. So developing new courses is another form of creating that I enjoy. I am also a lifelong learner. I am currently taking an advanced metalsmith class that just excites me at every session! I am moving my skills up notches and love learning how to create the ideas I’ve had in my head and in my journal.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect is being able to constantly evolve and expand my creativity through experimentation and learning. Every time I hone a skill or learn a new technique with the intention of applying it to something that I’m already familiar with, other ideas begin to unfold – I love it!

I am never bored by art. I even participate in other art forms for the experience of trying something new. And then it usually sparks another way for me to approach my own art.

Metalsmithing encompasses art, science, and math in ways that continue to make me smile. I entered Tulane University as an engineering major but eventually decided it wasn’t the path for me. But metalsmithing employs physics, chemistry, and math in ways that satisfy my appreciation of science.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Pivots, so many pivots… I’ll keep it to the key pivots that ultimately brought me to this interview. So, earlier I mentioned that my art career began when I took the intro to wirework class after child number three of 5 was born.
That’s not entirely accurate: one of my earliest jobs after graduating from Tulane University was at Zales. I was on the management track but I was drawn to hanging out in the back room, “assisting” Sam, the bench jeweler, whenever there was a lull in customer traffic. At first, I would just sit there and watch Sam work, asking him a ton of questions like a little kid until he’d send me back on the floor. Eventually, Sam started giving me tools and allowing me to repair jewelry. Sam realized how much I loved it and he encouraged me to become his part-time apprentice. I was also in a relationship but when it ended, I decided to leave New Orleans and start life anew. Sam begged me to stay and work with him full-time, with the intent of me taking over his business since he was just about ready to retire. But my young, broken heart couldn’t fathom the idea of staying in town, so I moved to Washington, DC. Le sigh.

I did a complete pivot and took a job with a small tech and development company where I taught the entire staff of the United States Department of Labor how to use computers. This was 1987-ish, so yeah, that was my job. I discovered that I really enjoyed teaching.

Many many years later, shortly after taking that intro to wirework class and opening my book and gift shop, it was clear that my two oldest children – a first grader and a kindergartener – losing their enthusiasm for school and something should be done about it sooner than later. The ‘solution’ was that I homeschool them since all I was doing was running a new business and caring for a newborn. I was not the singular decision-maker in the household and didn’t have many other options that wouldn’t involve sacrificing the children’s future, so I pivoted to becoming their teacher. In the shop. I stayed in that mode until our fifth and youngest child joined his siblings in college.
My latest pivot brings me here to being a full-time artist and teaching artist.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://amyajewelry.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amyajewelry/
• Facebook: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amywilderson/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amywilderson/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@amyajewelry
• Facebook Business page: https://www.facebook.com/AmyAJewelry

Image Credits
Laeti Photography Lorraine Cousin Amy Wilderson