I grew up in rural Connecticut, and moved West permanently after working on the Navajo Reservation midway through college. I fell in love with the western landscape and finished my BFA at the University of Colorado in 1973. After 10 years of making jewelry in Boulder, I settled in Nebraska. I now work with three fulltime assistants and my husband, Craig Roper, who manages the business end of my studio.

My jewelry combines bold, simple shapes in a sensual blend that results in an organic geometry. I use textures and surface patterns for tactile and visual interest. Wearability is always a critical consideration for me: my jewelry needs to be comfortable and graceful as well as sculptural, strong and well crafted.

Working with the materials is the most exciting part of the process for me. Simply put, I like making things. The diverse selection of stones I use in my one-of-a-kind pieces: from dinosaur bone to drusy, opals, diamonds and tourmalines, etc., allows me to exercise my love of color in endless combinations. These stones are then set in complimentary arrangements of sterling silver, 18k and 22k gold.

My design vocabulary derives from a wide range of sources which reflects my personal interests: the natural forms of rocks and seashells that I've collected since childhood, the lines and contours of landscapes where I've lived and traveled, the rich surfaces and intriguing shapes I find in weathered areas of the city.

I continue to be interested in, and inspired by, tribal and ancient jewelry that illustrates human need for arranging found objects in new, personal patterns. My jewelry designs tend to be abstract, leaving the wearer open to create a personal, intuitive relationship with the piece.