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Jes MaHarry’s SunHorse ranch is in the Ojai valley, a couple of miles outside town. Room to roam for the herd of animals the artist has been collecting - the horses, dogs, cats. The aged parrot. The pair of wild burros, just rescued from starvation in the Nevada desert. MaHarry and her partner, metalsmith Patrick Henderson, have only been on this land for a few months. They’ve already built a house filled with light, a hay barn, and an expanded Sun Horse workshop - not to mention corrals, paths and the beginnings of a semi-desert garden. She wanted to make jewelry before she knew how to. MaHarry comes from a family of artists in New York State. “Family tradition gave me the freedom to experiment, to take risks and create the life and art I wanted.” Her earliest pieces used found objects: earrings made with feathers, creek stones and rusty bottle caps; old washers pounded into rings. She taught herself the fine art of silversmithing, then worked drudge jobs after college to finance her jewelry-making equipment, purchasing one piece at a time. Now her palette includes authentic African trade beads, gaspeite, Tibetan turquoise, oxblood coral, sterling silver and 14k gold. “People say my pieces make them feel good; some people wear my jewelry as a personal amulet”. If the pieces bring good luck, I think maybe it comes from my absolute love of doing it. Of designing every piece. “Maybe the good luck comes out from what goes into the work - passion, hope, and some feeling for risk, for adventure, for overcoming any challenge.” |
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