BARBARA M. BERK

In a sense, I owe it all to Arline:  It began with a chance meeting at her Ancient Jewelry Symposium lecture, discovering over lunch common threads that ran through New York and competing consumer jewelry magazines, and an invitation to attend her “Textile Techniques in Metal” class at San Diego State University. 

 

That  Fall (1991), I learned to weave, knit, crochet and make lace with sheet and wire.  I learned about rolling mills and space age metals.  With copper and silver, magnet wire and silk, I created brooches, large 4-1/2” diameter brooches, that I wore to the Tucson gem shows the following February.  It was at the gem shows that I discovered there was serious interest in my work beyond the classroom.  I founded my company six months later.

 

All together, I took three classes with Arline over three semesters.  She introduced me to a broad range of techniques, she taught me design vocabulary and concepts, and she passed on her sense of scale.  Most important to me though, was that she encouraged me to play.  No expectations, no grades, just exploration.  So it was, after a Master’s Degree in Russian History and 15 years in magazine publishing, that I found my voice in Arline’s classroom.

​

Click here to purchase this book.