About the Artist

Donna’s love for gemstones began with a gift of an amethyst stone from Erica, a Brazilian exchange student Donna shared her home with many years ago. A year after Erica’s departure, Donna had the opportunity to visit Brazil and share a trip to Oro Preto, a small village in Central Brazil famous for its rich mines of colored stones. It was an amazing experience that sparked her passion to study gemstones and create jewelry.

 

Since that initial exposure to the lush world of gems, Donna pursued the most prestigious training available to gemologists and jewelry manufacturers at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), obtaining diplomas as a Color Stones Graduate, Diamonds Graduate, and a Graduate Gemologist. To further her knowledge and gain skills in manufacturing, she also received training from Revere Academy in San Francisco, a distinguished school of jewelry design and manufacturing, and from Farrin O’Conner of Pasadena, California.

Donna also belongs to the Society of North American Metal Arts Guild and the Idaho Metal Arts Guild, as continued growth and current knowledge of the constantly changing metals processes and new design techniques are of prime importance to her.

 

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The jewelry Donna creates is crafted from the finest gemstones and precious metals, and she feels privileged to be able to create in her studio in central Idaho, surrounded by beautiful mountains, lakes and streams. This pristine setting is the inspiration for her creations. Every stone has been selected from Donna’s personal collection of gems obtained over a 30 year period from local sources as well as stones acquired in Oro Preto and other cities in Brazil.

 

Donna’s desire, through her creations, is to captivate your intrigue in these gorgeous gemstones and metals. She has hammered and torched the metals to emphasize their naturalistic beginnings and placed stones of superior quality and color, carefully, to compliment the meshing of stone and metal. Now that you have an opportunity to purchase Donna’s creations, we sincerely hope you enjoy wearing them as much as she enjoyed creating them.