Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Monroe.
Hi Julie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2008, I enrolled in my first jewelry class… a forging class. The 8 hours of hammering sterling silver AWAKENED A PASSION and that passion immediately became a driving force for me to become a trained silversmith. The next year we sold our software company in Asheville, NC and with joyful anticipation… I began the next chapter in my life, which I like to call “From Passion to Production.”
Two hours from my hometown Asheville, NC and nestled even deeper in the Blue Ridge Mountains, from Asheville is the John C Campbell Folk School (JCCFS-@folkschool.org) in Brasstown, NC, which for 95 years, has offered adult year-round weeklong and weekend classes on a wide range of subjects. Their “weeklong” classes are designed with one goal… to “hammer in” (pun intended) the skills to learn a technique to saturation. Over many years I took every silversmith/jewelry class they had, loading up my silversmith toolbox of knowledge and I took some classes that were just good sister classes to silversmithing because I wanted to be back at JCCFS to experience the creative energy that permeates the air for another class with lifelong friends I had made thru the years of classes there.
I became fascinated with the hand forging techniques of ancient jewelers and I now produce my jewelry in the fashion of those traditional silversmiths. Using forging to create even the most basic of components, easily purchased, appealed to my sense of tradition. Each piece of my jewelry is hand-forged as authentically as possible, and I use specific tools to manipulate, shape, and texture the metal. My work encompasses a blend of the old in the sense of fabrication techniques and the new in the sense of modern design. My journey, 13 years (and counting), has taken me down a variety of paths.
Mastering the jeweler’s saw is a technique vital to silversmiths as, without it, the intricacies of many styles of jewelry would not be possible. Luckily for me, the moment I first used a saw it was with ease. I was back at JCCFS taking a cold connection class. We were sawing out a complicated piece and a student down from me was struggling, resulting in breaking blade after blade. The instructor was assisting another student so I asked her if she would let me help her. I did and she was delighted! Later the teacher came up to me and said, “l pay attention to everything and I see everything and I hope you consider teaching one day because I think you would be really good”. I locked that sentence away and didn’t revisit it again until several years later, after we moved from Asheville, North Carolina to Rancho Santa Fe, California, just north of San Diego, 2014.
My style has always stayed true to me. Organic with an occasional little edge. I have joined mainstream designs to stay current, but the occasional edge is still there and appears from time to time. Again at JCCFS, the teacher and now a dear friend told me she loved my quirky style. Thank you, Susan Jones @skjartjewelry, because those simple words told me it was ok to step outside of the lines and to design outside of the box. I am not sure where my style would be today without her telling me having a quirky style was not only ok, it was cool. She added she wished her creative mind would go in that direction. In those early stages of learning and figuring out who I was in this skill, the fact that my jewelry was different caused me to worry if it was worthy… she helped me realize, it was and I am and will be grateful forever for her sharing her words with me. Never underestimate the power of words… good and bad.
I wanted to meet people in the jewelry world in California, and I enrolled in classes at the San Diego Mineral and Gem Society learning lapidary and then entered their silversmith classes. During one class the silversmith instructor asked me if I had ever taught before (what a surprise hearing this again)? He was going to Thailand and was looking for someone to take over the weekly beginning silversmith classes there at the SD Mineral and Gem for three months. I said yes. I fell completely in love with teaching! Additionally, the students suggested I enter jewelry into the San Diego Fair Jewelry Competition. Not being from San Diego, this was new to me. I followed their urging and that year won the first of 3 First Place Blue Ribbons and 1 Second Place Red Ribbon over the next two years.
A couple more years pass and in late 2018, I receive a call from a local silversmith, who I had met several years back. She is opening a jewelry teaching lab in San Diego, and would I consider teaching for her? Holy cow… here we go!😃 Of course, I said yes!
2019 was a year filled with teaching. I taught classes including cabochon setting, casting, enamel art and chain making. It was a fun-filled year of colleague collaboration, meeting incredible adult students all interested in silversmithing and the classes were just incredible to teach, and I enjoyed sharing a lot of tips and tricks I have picked up along my silversmith journey to help ease some of the frustration of the difficult silversmith techniques. AND THEN… in March of 2020, the covid pandemic shut down the Jewelry Lab along with the rest of the world, and sadly, when we began to poke our heads out again, after so many months of total shutdown, the Jewelry Lab had not survived and was unable to reopen.
The giving aspect of teaching was now part of me and important to me. I missed it during the covid months and so now I teach private and group silversmith classes in my personal studio. Life couldn’t be better. My concentration is custom sterling silver jewelry and torch-fired vitreous enamel jewelry. I love working one-on-one with my customer creating exactly the piece of jewelry they want. I accommodate all pricing needs from nominal to expensive. I also enjoy tent vending at festivals and street fairs. This is such a great way of staying in touch with the communities around me, and I enjoy getting to meet and chat with the festival-goers and customers.
My next 2021 events are: October 2nd and 3rd. The Mission Fed Art-walk. Little Italy San Diego, California. I have been juried in, but I am currently on the wait-list, so follow me on Instagram @studiojulessilversmith for updates on my participation.
October 9 and 10th. La Jolla Art and Wine Festival – tent 141. La Jolla, California. November 7th Carlsbad Village Faire -Carlsbad, California. November 20th and 21st. Encinitas Street Faire -Encinitas, California. December 11 or 12 (TBD) Carlsbad Holiday Bizarre- Carlsbad, California.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I ran into some obstacles when we moved to Rancho Santa Fe from Asheville, NC. I had to start all over getting integrated into the art community in Southern California. My first stop was the San Diego Mineral and Gem Society, and it was the exact right place to start.
What were you like growing up?
Always, if I saw something I wanted, I wanted to be able to make it. I am happy wandering around a hardware store. I am bit of a Mcgyver. My college degree is in computer science/programming. Again… building something, in this case, digitally.
Pricing:
- $75.00 – $1,000.00
Contact Info:
- Email: Studiojulessilversmith@gmail.com
- Website: Studiojulessilversmith.com
- Instagram: @studiojulessilversmith
Image Credits:
Polly Lankford Smith Julia Monroe
