Pages

Thursday, May 3, 2012

101010 Project: Jean Simrose



Jean Simrose – Jewelry artist, wife, mother, grandmother

Etsy shop: www.jeansimrose.etsy.com

I was born and raised in Canada in a very creative family. We were encouraged to work with our hands and pursue creative hobbies. My sisters and I were taught to sew, knit and crochet at a young age. I liked to design clothes and jewelry to go with them.

My careers were varied and diverse. I was a hairdresser. I worked as an administrative assistant for an oil company while my two sons were growing up. After they moved out on their own I went back to university and became a social worker. I worked with people with disabilities and mental illnesses for many years. Art and crafts became therapy and a way to connect with my clients. I facilitated support groups and encouraged my clients’ creativity and skills as well as developing my own.

In 2005 I remarried and moved to the Seattle area. I took a Silversmithing course offered at a local college. I made jewelry as gifts for family and friends and as I learned new techniques my inventory increased. I started my blog and an on-line Etsy shop in 2009. Since then I have enjoyed participating in art and craft fairs in the U.S. and Canada. I love connecting with new people and expanding my knowledge of this very diverse craft.
I hope people enjoy my jewelry as much as I enjoy making it.

Collaboration: a good idea?

Collaboration: working with someone to produce or create something; partnership; joint intellectual effort; to cooperate.
I am collaborative by nature. Being an extrovert I solidify new ideas for my jewelry business by talking to other people. Making connections with people, coming up with ideas, bringing variety to my work are all positives for me. I enjoy the company of others and sometimes need the challenge they bring to express my creativity fully and gain confidence in my work. So far I have taken new classes to satisfy my need to collaborate. One of my goals is to find a “group” that I fit in where I have similar-minded people to collaborate with. I am always looking for ways to improve and connect with others. My jewelry business depends on it to succeed. People have to like the jewelry I create and buy it!
 Read more on the 101010 Project: click HERE


3 comments:

Leanne said...

Love Jean's take on collaboration! Not surprised, at all, that so many of us feel the same way! Rock ON fellow collaborators!

sonyamacdesigns said...

WOW, what a Grandma are you and a know extrovert too!

Kelly Warren said...

extroverted and love to meet other people....yep, that sounds like me too! Lovely to read more about you Jean!