I fell in love with metal as a medium and began crafting jewelry, with brass and African trade beads in the late 60's. In 1972, I was introduced to the traditional silversmith methods used in Mexico by my art teacher, John Adams, in San Antonio, Texas. From there I began making rings, bracelets, earrings, and crosses for friends and family. I sold jewelry through weekend art shows in San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Austin, Texas. The summer before I started going to the University of Texas in Austin, I would work on jewelry late into the night and get up before sunrise to get a good spot on “The Drag” – an outdoor market where artisans sold their crafts. From the mid 1980’s to the early 1990’s a small gift shop in Hyde Park and a gallery carried my designs. My work is now sold exclusively in my studio and gallery, Sweet Liberty Creations in Liberty Hill, Texas.

The disciplines I learned in my graphic design career helped me to use my love of symbols from different cultures in jewelry design and fine art. If you look closely you can see how the different phases in my life influenced my work. Spiritual studies, including Christianity, Native American, Tai Chi, I Ching, Celtic, and others, drove me to see and experience symbols firsthand by visiting the temples, caves, and sacred sites in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Mexico, Guatemala, Ireland, and Belize.

At times my restless spirit challenges me to experiment with combinations of these different influences - like the Cowgirl placed in a retablo or the Mayan symbols on Native American shields. At other times I choose to keep the designs more pure – like the simplicity of the Chinese Calligraphy or Christian cross. Each piece develops a life of it's own. When I create jewelry with a specific person in mind, I like to use symbols that resonate with their life experiences. As we co-create, we come to learn more about one another. Magic always happens in these brief moments of our dance together.

Diana Kipfer