Laura Bracken’s own jewelry aesthetic embraces minimalism, clean lines and organic forms. Her teaching philosophies are clearly linked with her personal belief that fun and happiness are key components to a fulfilled life. Teaching others to take their spark of creativity to fruition is a joy to Laura as she watches her students create pieces that help identify their individual expression. Other than safety issues, there is never a “right” or “wrong.” Laura believes art has indefinable lines and that experimentation and playing “outside the box” can elicit new worlds of wonder.

Rather than focusing on one niche or skill, Laura embraces the idea of learning as many jewelry making techniques as possible in order to fabricate pieces with a wider range of design vision. Making jewelry is usually about saying something specific, whether sentimental, conceptual, or even whimsical. Laura helps the jewelry maker translate their vision and voice by incorporating combinations of basic jewelry making skills including metalsmithing, bead stringing, wire wrapping, etching, metal clay and more. As a staunch supporter of inclusion rather than exclusion, Laura tries to embrace the melding of all forms of jewelry making.

Although primarily self-taught, Laura has studied under metal clay artist and pioneer, Hadar Jacobson. Laura will be an accredited teacher of Hadar’s metal clay products and practices. She has also completed Rio Grande’s PMC (precious metal clay) instructor’s certification course. In 2005, Laura started the international grassroots organization SRAJD (Self-Representing Artists in Jewelry Design). This word-of-mouth organization has 4000 members with active participation by jewelry makers seeking to learn from and help one another, as well as to raise customer awareness to the benefits of buying directly from the artist.