Biography
Born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, Heather’s family arrived with the Oklahoma Land Run around 1890. Her maternal grandparents and great-grandparents owned jewelry stores, and Heather uses some of their tools in her own studio in Benton Harbor. She studied silversmithing with Bill Derrevere in Tulsa and at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico and worked for a custom goldsmith in Tulsa. After moving to southwest Michigan, she finished her Associate Degree in Art at Lake Michigan College and was a member of Chartreuse Artist’s Co-Op for several years.
Her work, which has been shown in Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Southwest Michigan, is primarily in jewelry and often highlights her interest in nature and found objects or images. Exhibitions include the Dogwood Fine Arts Festival in Dowagiac, MI, Michiana Annual Arts Competition in St. Joseph, MI, Madron Lake Invitational Buchanan, MI, and the Lemon Creek Art Fair Baroda, MI. Heather also won 2nd place in a jewelry scholarship competition hosted by Kesslers Diamonds in 2025. Heather is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Art in Metals/Jewelry at the Gwen Frostic School of Art, where she plans to graduate in May of 2026.
Artist Statement
I’m a borderline hoarder. I collect ideas, images, impressions, and actual objects – usually imperfect, sometimes just fragments. I turn them around in my mind or my hand to find the angle that speaks to me, and ponder what it might want to be…Jewelry? Sculpture? Or…?
When I have the fuzzy outline of an idea, I gather my tools and materials and try to make sense of it all as the work evolves, sometimes in surprising ways. My love of provenance and history is charmed by the tools I inherited from my grandparents and great-grandparents jewelry stores and now use on my own bench to explore textures, forms, and concepts.
My work is about connection, affinity, and challenge – the building blocks of relationships. It is my way of seeking that spark in myself and others, a pipeline to understanding and shared experiences.
Graffiti Series
Artist Statement
On a trip to Athens in 2025 I was awed by the depth and richness of this ancient setting that has endured and evolved over thousands of years even as it functions as a vibrant, modern city. I am always looking at my surroundings, especially when I travel - noticing similarities and differences in culture, history, architecture, and the elements of daily life. I was particularly struck by the graffiti and street art, a direct descendant of prehistoric practices stemming from the basic human drives to communicate and create. Some of the most compelling images were the graffiti ‘tags’, the hallmark of each artist’s work.
Reinterpreting those tags using the ancient techniques of chasing and repoussé is my way of anchoring my creative work to my own time and place. The works act as a bridge that connects to other times, places, and other artists. Juxtaposing precious metal with bright, colorful acrylic, I have used traditional tools and processes to work fine silver sheet and then riveted these dimensional images to acrylic backing to create a contemporary, wearable version that references the collective memory of our shared experience.
