There’s a nice interview with jeweler and Penland student Chris Keener on the Cleveland Plain Dealer website. It begins with this story:

“I grew up collecting beach glass just to fill bowls and jars. Fourteen years ago, I made myself a bracelet. I drilled holes in the glass and made it with my hands; it was very organic. I wore it to a party and a woman went crazy for it. She asked me to make five of them. She bought them, gave them to her friends, who then started calling me for matching earrings. I was working in corporate America at the time. Discovering that I loved to work with my hands changed everything. I wanted to learn more about the properties of metals. I took classes at several schools. I studied in Colorado and got great training from Todd Pownell and Debra Rosen at TAP Studios in Cleveland. Most recently I went to Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, concentrating on metalsmithing. What I learned there changed my life. Now, this is my job, I work at it every day.”

Read the whole article here.