A native New Englander, Anne completed a Bachelor of Arts in Theater and Drama and an Associate of Arts in Technical Theater at Johnson State College in 2009. After pursuing theater and alternate career opportunities, she returned to craft and began an MFA program at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in Artisanry: Jewelry/Metals. Anne has consistently placed in the International Precious Metals Institute competition (2017-2019). She uses the format of jewelry to explore the nature of theatricality and the limits of emotional tangibility.
Julian De La Garza was born in New York, and raised in Rhode Island. He received his BA in Jewelry/Metals from Rhode Island College and then went on to work in the industry. During this period he was a diamond setter for Tiffany & Co. and a model maker for C & J Jewelry working on high-end jewelry brands such as David Yurman, Haverhill Leech, and Tiffany & Co.
His personal studio art practice explores personal ritual and meditation through the language of mourning jewelry and reliquary. These spiritual rituals allow a person to contemplate death, memory, mourning, and longing in a liminal space, outside of the way we normally perceive time. My jewelry encourages this relationship by providing objects for the wearer to focus on; counting stones, following patterns, and exploring intimate spaces, just as rosaries, reliquaries, and sacred spaces do.
