Biography

Artist’s Statement

I feel like art is in my blood because I come from a lineage of painters. I have always been surrounded by artists, their work, and conversations about its meaning. My primary school used art as the main tool through which everything else was taught, so in a way, art is my language. In the desert I studied printing, ceramics, sculpture and painting, and graduated from the University of Arizona in Tucson with a Bachelors of Fine Art. After which I longed for the ocean, and moved my studio to Cape Ann a seaside town on the Atlantic and established “Art by any Means” in 1999. Initially the name was a pun on Art by any Medium because I studied many genres, but before long my focus had settled on jewelry. I love designing jewelry because it can have the space of sculpture, the color of painting, the form and function of ceramics, and the production of printing. But best of all, you take it with you in an intimate way on your body. Jewelry is unique because it is its nature to transfer the artistic expression from the Designer to the Wearer.

I design jewelry like all art, by playing with the balance between chaos and pattern, through skill and inspiration and years of practice. Regular trips into the International bead tents to uncover the newest cut or the most exotic gemstones can be the start of inspiration, but each piece is then designed through a few layers of work. I use mixed metal wire of varying weight to develop an array of thoughtful forms to weave, texture and support the fresh color palettes of the stones. Using a cache of techniques to blend these elements I hope to create a natural but unexpected wearable expression of the moment.   –Vanessa Gilbert Savlen

We have such a wonderful time working with Vanessa to bring in all of her unique pieces from earrings to necklaces to bracelets. The collections we feature at the gallery are always changing but the quality never does. Her work features mixed metals from silver to bronze with an incredible assortment of semi precocious stones and crystals.