Julie’s specialty is creating jewelry using beach glass that she has collected for many years, scouring the beaches of Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii. After selling these pieces of glass, smoothed by years of wave action into milky brown, green, and white “jewels,” Julie decided to start making jewelry herself, helped by her son, who set her up with a drill press in Seattle, WA. Later, while living in Kauai, Julie sold her pieces at local Saturday markets and as a street vendor. She is now living in an old adobe casita where she creates her enchanting earrings, necklaces, and bracelets.
Tonya likes to work in wood, a desire called forth when a family friend showed her how to use the palm-held wood-carving tools of her grandmother, when she was a teenager. This desire was first acted upon when she needed balance while studying for her Masters in counseling. She created wooden planters for the garden, and later, bookcases and tables, and her own shaving horse. The latter allowed her to branch out into hand-carving small items, such as bas-relief birds, scoops, spatulas, and cutting boards.
Once the old wood shop on the property has been restored, Tonya plans to activate her foot-powered lathe to explore creating bowls, cups, and plates. Like many artists and crafters, Tonya knows about the mental hurdles before people dare to get into creative fields. She holds on to these words from Shane Koyczan:
I accept that today may be imperfect.
I accept that I may be as well.
What I don’t accept is that imperfection should be the crutch I use to excuse myself from participating in joy.
Monique is a visual artist who took up beadwork when she moved to Lama. She watched Julie at work and admired her extensive bead collection since the 1970s; then she started beading, with Julie’s help. She looks upon her danglies or suncatchers as vertical compositions, where she plays with contrast of size, color, opacity, design, and material to make the viewer slow down and appreciate the rhythms, pauses, and repetition that lead up to the focal points of her creations.
She’s made beaded decorations for Tonya’s cutting boards and is also creating necklaces and key chains. She is also a painter.
