We were lucky to catch up with Christine Peters recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Christine, thanks for joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I am living as a full time artist and have been for over 10 years. I never thought that would be my reality, but my life opened up to it and I’m so grateful. I was trained formally in sculpture and have a BFA from Boston University in sculpture and art history. I moved to maine after graduation as I had started to summer here while still in school. However, my space was getting smaller to work and I had always loved jewelry and thought, hmm I will look into making it. I took a continuing studies night class at Maine College of Art and it all clicked. Kind of like the big ah ha moment and I haven’t stopped since. That was 1996. I worked at an art gallery full time and made jewelry in my time off. and there were all of life’s ups and downs through it. But creating jewelry and my studio time was my happy place. my world to escape to and live in. truly where the magic happens. I realized as years passed, that my creating was how I wanted to live. And I finally had the moment to say if not now, then when! I can always get another job, but I have to try. And that’s how I got to where I am now.

finding my community of like minded people was soooo important!!! It took some time, but the friends and connections with like minded people have made such difference. I made friends that I can’t imagine living without and feeling the support and encouragement from them and my collectors are life sustaining. With age, comes more wisdom and believing in myself and having confidence and self worth could have helped me more early on. Finding my community in my twenties and thirties have have made a difference, but I believe things happen for a reason and now I wouldn’t trade a thing. .

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was raised in a very creative family. My mom is an oil painter and my father could build or fix anything. Arts were important and encouraged, so I knew I wanted to go to art school. After a high school drawing class at BU, I decided thats where I wanted to go. I learned the foundation of all the arts and declared my major as sculpture heading into junior year. Creating with my hands filled my soul and dimensionality my preference. I found jewelry filled those desires after college and moving to maine. .

I am so proud to have found my voice in my work. I hear from people they can recognize it a mile away. And people often stop them to compliment it and the wearer. It’s important for me to create original and one of a kind pieces–following more in a fine art rather than production process. I work in series and am always thinking up new designs. I like the work have a balance, but not symmetry–strong and soft at the same time. And I want people to feel great wearing it.

I love making commission pieces–working with people and their stones or jewelry to bring a new life for them to wear. A connection to my work gets things started and then we move from there. A visit to my studio is always welcome and offered because the energy and connection we make is palpable.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I have experienced many things on my journey and sometimes I forget all the challenges. But two of the biggest changes for me was first, taking the leap. This came at a major intersection of my life–I was 40 and getting divorced (a good thing), moved to a new town, and quit my part-time job to be a full time maker. I just knew I could do it and I needed to. I believed in myself and my work and felt the overwhelming yes. And to be honest, with all these huge changes, I actually stopped worrying.

The second major story was surviving cancer, but not just that, but as a single, self employed maker. I was thrown intro an unimaginable year full of surgeries, chemo, radiation, and all that entails. This is where my amazing friends and my community held me high. I was and am still so grateful and thankful for them. I really couldn’t work–my brain fog, my lack of strength, my exhaustion, was like nothing I had ever felt. But my honesty and true self had been shared for years, and they all reached back to me to support. Shops didn’t take a commission for sales, benefits were held, and the outpouring of love gave me all I needed to get back on my feet and back to my love of creating–for them and for me.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

my friends and I have this conversation often and really what society can do is support us. Understand how important handmade is, slow made, no machines or cheap labor. But truly a labor of love that shines through to all the handmade things. Coffee tastes better out of a handmade mug. There’s a swing to your head as your beautiful art earrings dance while you walk. There’s energy being shared between the maker and the recipient or user. We need to show and encourage and educate society so artists will always be here bringing beauty to a pretty challenging world. (and the art doesn’t have to be pretty for there to be beauty)

Contact Info:

• Website: www.christinepetersjewelry.com
• Instagram: @christinepetersjewelry
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/christinepetersjewelry
• Other: email: info@christinepetersjewelry