Original Handmade One-of-a-Kind Silver Jewelry

Born on the South side of Chicago in the Marquette Park neighborhood, her parents and family members all  encouraged her early interest in art. Their leisure activities tended to the creative and adventurous. Her mother spent many hours with her volunteer work as a journalist and creative writer for her church and hospital. She also 
performed as a fortuneteller at many successful fundraisers for the local charity events. Her aunt was an oil painter artist that did enhancement for photographers. Her father spent his rare leisure time exposing her to the exciting experiences camping and fishing in the forests of northern Indiana and his homeland roots of Southern Illinois. She saw and experienced things an ordinary Chicago city child would have not, because of their interest in writing, acting, painting, and nature.

As a young high school student, Ms. Rosenquist began her serious art training when she was accepted at the Junior School of Chicago’s famed Art Institute. Upon graduation, she attended the Chicago Art Institute in conjunction with studies at the University of Chicago. In 1973, she moved from Chicago to New Mexico, where she was hired as an apprentice by Cindy Paulson, a silversmith and master jeweler. Ms. Paulson taught her the method of metalworking know as fabrication with the unique art of creating jewelry using primitive tools and age-old techniques passed down through generations of Navajo craftsmen.This is a very rare but ancient method of forming intricate work in metal.

Her silver and gold works are formed by cutting out shapes of precious metal and wire. Each element of the design is uniquely connected. Unlike the common method of casting and molding, which results in identical products of manufactured jewelry, every piece of her jewelry is truly an original and is not duplicated. Her work is the 
essence of handcrafting. When you see her work, you are looking at a one of a kind, and a true original. And when you have a rare piece of her jewelry, you have something that no one else has, it is yours, and yours alone, and you will never see another piece just like it. It is yours, alone.

Each piece is handcrafted with serious attention to detail, resulting in no two pieces precisely alike, making each product a unique piece of art. Very unlike the commercial stamped and cast production silver that all looks alike, she touches each piece with the fine hand of an artist, and works it to perfection. In Ms. Rosenquist’s jewelry, you 
will see her inspiration coming from her environment. Leaves and tendrils intertwine in perfect harmony. Excitement is added with jewel colored stones, both precious and semi-precious. Her home and her studio/workshop sits atop a high point in the Ozarks, north of Calico Rock, Arkansas. Surrounded by the lush vegetation and halcyon sunsets so remarkable in the Ozarks, she draws her designs from the bucolic pleasure of living and working in a pristine and organic environment.

Her work appears classic in design, almost Victorian. At first glance you will see graceful leaves, tendrils and perhaps a whimsical flower. But look more closely and deeply into the design. You can see the wildness that exists in nature, the chaos that forms the elegant final work. She gathers the strength of her design by placing it on the foundation of  nature. It survives as a thing of beauty for you to behold. She shares this with you, and hopes that through her work and 
your appreciation of it we will all weather our storms and see the shining light of peace reflected in her silverwork.