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| Photo Courtesy Methow Made |
Joanne Marracci has been making jewelry since 2005. She jokes that she has creative "ADD".
“I love to try new things, but I always get bored. I’ve tried woodworking, playing guitar in a band, drawing and sculpting. Then I took Metalsmithing 101 at Pratt in Seattle and that was the beginning of the end. I finally found something that I could stick with, because there are a million different techniques and materials.”
In addition to traditional silversmithing and stone setting, Joanne recycles used copper into wearable art, which she sells at the Confluence Gallery in Twisp, WA and at Matter, a gallery of recycled works of art in Olympia, WA.
“Over the last couple of years, I’ve been taking old copper parts from refrigerator parts and gorgeous sheet material from old electrical wire, and transforming them into beautiful jewelry. I take apart fax machines and printers and use their copper wire coils on earrings. Some of the sheet copper I flatten out and make a bracelet.”Joanne loves combining junk with gems to make something wonderful. But she finds her greatest joy is in making something for someone.
“This is an intimate thing that I am making. People are wearing it very close to their hearts—through their bodies in the case of earrings—and it’s such a visceral material. It humbles me when someone spends their hard-earned money with something that connects with them. And because every piece is different, I feel like I’ve made something for that person in particular. Then I release my design, and it goes out into the world. It’s kind of a spiritual thing.”
Since moving to the Methow Valley, Joanne feels her work has come alive.
“I have been coming to the Methow Valley for 20 years, but leaving Seattle has changed my art. There is not enough distraction and that has affected my work in a positive way. Living in the Methow Valley has made my designs less urbanized and more organic and nature-inspired.”
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