Biography

Marjorie Simon is a studio jeweler and object-maker who also writes and teaches jewelry making and enameling. For over twenty years she has written about jewelry and jewelers, craft criticism, book reviews, and catalogue essays for solo and group exhibitions. Trained as a sociologist, she looks for the context in which fine craft artists and their work exist. She has written more than 60 articles for Metalsmith magazine. In her studio practice she makes one-of-a-kind and edition jewelry from precious and non-precious metals, including vitreous enamel on copper and steel. In 2014 she embarked on an installation project dealing with human shelter, housing, and warehousing, with roots in World War II.

Artist Statement

I love the magic of glass and the structure of metal. I was trained as a sociologist but I’ve been an artist all my life. I’ve made jewelry since I was a child in summer camp, but detoured into academia, earning a BA and MA in sociology and teaching it at the college level for several years before returning to my true love as a maker. I have been making jewelry and metalwork for over 40 years, studying with the excellent faculty at community based institutions and crafts communities that exist in the United States. For several decades I sold my work at craft shows and produced edition work as well as one-of-a-kind pieces. Although I no longer travel around doing shows, I continue to sell my work in select galleries. In 1995 I began to use vitreous enamel on copper and this has become a large part of my studio practice.