JIll Nielsen

Artist Statement

I make stuff. One thing or another, I've been making stuff since I was little. Started out when I was a kid making Christmas tree ornaments and I still make Christmas tree ornaments to this day.
This urge to make things led to to art school where I majored in ceramics and dabbled in woodworking, textiles and glass blowing but not jewelry.
And in the end I gave up ceramics because I didn't like being dirty and became a picture framer and, in time, a jewelry maker.
Ain't life grand?
A visit to a jewelry maker's studio decades ago got me interested in semi-precious stone beads and a visit to the "Jade Market" in Hong Kong set my interest ablaze. I am fascinated by rocks and stones that come out of the earth that, with a bit a grinding and polishing, become the gemstones I use to make jewelry for others to enjoy.
Yeah. Ain't life grand?
Jill Nielsen