Carolyn Buss

Carolyn A. Buss returned to the Pacific Northwest after she earned her MFA in Metal Design from ECU in 2019. Carolyn draws inspiration from the divine feminine, and the natural world, creating works that evoke the idea of wearing the aurora borealis, a piece of the moonlight around your neck, or the blue of the ocean on your ears by forming, fusing, hammering, and wire wrapping precious metals and semi-precious gemstones into these wearable treasures.

Charity Hall

Charity Hall is a full-time metalsmith and studio artist with an MFA in Metal Design from East Carolina University. Charity is a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and teaches jewelry and enameling workshops at the John Campbell Folk School, Idyllwild Arts Academy, and other schools. Before becoming a full-time artist and metalsmith, Charity worked as a biological surveyor and as a U.S. Forest Service botanist. With a commitment to sustainable practices, she uses recycled sterling silver to create her botanical and insect inspired jewelry.

Susan Reynolds

Susan Reynolds’ work can be described as darkly romantic or even whimsical with a tough of naughty fairy magic. Susan uses things from nature, found objects and semi-precious stones to create unusual, one-of-a-kind pieces. Susan is originally from Petersburg, VA and moved to NC in the 1990s. She loves teaching her technique and delights in seeing her students run with new ideas.

Tim Lazure

Timothy Lazure is a Professor in the Metals Design program at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC. He received his BFA at Rochester Institute of Technology and his MFA at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. His body of work is diverse in scope - including jewelry, flatware and hollowware, furniture, and sculptural pieces. Tim exhibits his jewelry, silversmithing and furniture in national and international exhibitions. Throughout the years, Tim has taught workshops across the country from Florida to Alaska. He has pieces in the permanent collections of the Mint Museum of Craft and Design in Charlotte, NC, the Gallery of Art and Design in Raleigh, NC, the Enamel Arts Foundation in Los Angeles, CA, and the Racine Art Museum in Racine, WI.

Kerry Yichen Guan

Kerry Yichen Guan is from Beijing, China. Her work involves intricate harmony between enamel and 3D printed objects that serve as a frame to each chapter of her perception of reincarnation. Art is uncompromised, wild, beautiful, and a gateway to the history of humanity. She uses techniques and works with metal to create projects with a personal narrative. Kerry Guan has always loved creating and making things by hand, such as rings, brooches, sculptures, and other types of art, and becomes a unique work of art.

Christine Zoller

Christine Zoller is Faculty Emeritus after teaching 22 years as an Associate Professor and Coordinator for the Textile Program for the School of Art and Design at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC. Christine’s surface design pieces use hand and digitally printed fabric with embroidered, beaded surface embellishment. Her business, My Art Christine Zoller, creates and sells silk accessories and beaded jewelry. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and she has taught workshops across the country including the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and Penland School of Craft.

Candace Sturgill

Candace Sturgill is a self-taught artist whose works have won prizes, been featured in art shows, and displayed in homes and businesses. Her newest passion is paper art including paper bead jewelry and Quilling. Quilling is the ancient art of paper filigree. She is a retired Free Methodist pastor and chaplain with a BA in Religious studies. She won her first art studies scholarship at twelve and studied with all adult students.

MARIE HAMRA

Maria Hamra was born in Lebanon, where she learned a lot of her art skill. Marie moved to the United States in 1980 and has been living in Greenville since 1984 where she raised her three children. Marie has learned her craft through different art classes and workshops. She incorporates her culture and the culture of her current home into her work. Marie has been teaching at the Greenville Museum of Art for over twenty years and plans to continue for many years.

Karen Warren

Originally from East Lansing Michigan, Karen Warren currently lives in Simpson NC with her husband Jim and their dog Maya. Since retiring Karen has taken art classes at Emerge Gallery and the Greenville Museum of Art. She loves the discovery and experimentation aspect of creating art. She makes a variety of types of jewelry and owns Doe Run Jewelry company. Currently she is most interested in mixed media, painting, and printmaking.

Liz Steiner

Liz Steiner received her MFA in Metal Design from East Carolina University, and her BFA in Jewelry/Metals and Enameling from Kent State University, where she also earned a minor in Geology. She has exhibited work both nationally and internationally and curated the international exhibition Hot Under the Collar: A Survey of Contemporary Necklaces. Currently, she is an adjunct art instructor at the college level. Her work is inspired by rocks, minerals, the movement of water, found objects and ideas of spirituality and meditation.

RENEE TRIPP

Renee Tripp is an artist, fabricator, metalsmith, sculptor, welder, and teacher who takes great pride in her work and loves making custom creations. She is a lifetime student of art, earning both her BFA and MFA at East Carolina University. When Renee is not creating exciting new pieces of custom jewelry or fabricating works of art in her studio, she can be found teaching art in the town of Richlands, NC.

Marsha Thorpe

Marsha Thorpe is of Native American Indian ancestry. Her grandmother, named Pocahontas, taught her how to bead and basket weave. Marsha’s other grandmother, Delthia, taught her how to knit and crochet. She loves to express her creative and artistic ideas in various art forms (drawing, painting, beading, knit-work). These days, most of her work consists of bead, knit, and crochet designs.