Art Glass Artists

Paul Crosbie returned to Chico from showing his work at the Fine Art Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ in 2009.  He is excited to be home lighting up his furnace to create his many art glass designs again in his studio.  The art of glassblowing fascinated Paul at a young age when he was growing up in Blackpool, England. He received his formal training there with the Venetian Glass Company.  Paul developed his talents and expertise with 30 years of experience to become a master glass blower. He says, “I enjoy experimenting using new methods and techniques with the challenge of making something totally different and unique.”

Gem Artists

Martin Guptill is an accomplished gem faceter, creating gorgeous one of a kind gemstones. He completed his studies, earning a his Graduate Gemologist (GG) in 1990 and found his hunger for gemstone knowledge was not yet satisfied. He enrolled in the Gem-A program and before long had earned an FGA to accompany his GG.  In 1991. He moved to California and spent 10 years with EGL grading diamonds, identifying gemstones and doing research before becoming the manager of Stuller’s Los Angeles office. On a whim, Marty decided to take a faceting class taught by Richard Homer, but it wasn’t until Kreg Scully urged him to spend his tax return on a faceting machine that Marty began to turn a hobby into a career. The first large stone he ever cut was a 200+ carat piece of yellow sunstone rough.  After cutting, the finished weight was slightly over 56 carats.  The Oregon Sunstone was a gift from Don Buford of the Dust Devil Mine which was later donated to the LA county Museum of Natural History in memory of Marty’s mentor award winning carver Kreg Scully.

 Jewelry Artists

Amy Fyrdundel has created “gems for the walls” of the gallery with her original paintings of gems which detail the colorful geometry and inclusions as seen in the microscope of emerald, ruby and sapphires.  She is an artist who delights in exploring many different tactile mediums.  She creatively merges textiles with other re-cycled materials in her striking unique jewelry ranging from natural crystals and moss to leather and feathers.

Brenda Schlegel has a unique style of intriguing patterns, geometric designs and colorful patina’s.  She delights in exploring patterns and shapes whether making impressions in wax, embossing them in the rolling mill or carving them by hand or fold forming metals.   Brenda is a second generation San Francisco jeweler who studied Fine Art and German language at UC Berkeley in the 60’s.  She trained in Germany in Goldsmithing where she thoroughly immersed herself in the training and the German culture.  Upon returning to California, she worked with various San Francisco jewelry firms as a bench jeweler.  About 10 years ago, she moved to Chico to set up her jewelry studio and began teaching metalsmithing classes.  She also offers small batch casting to other jewelry artists.   

Geralyn Sheridan is a GIA Graduate Gemologist and JCK Award winning jewelry designer who handcrafts one of a kind eco-friendly fine jewelry in her Chico studio.  In June 2011, the World Gold Council chose her designs for inclusion in their 2011 Look Book and showcased her unique gold rings at their booth at the JCK show in Las Vegas.  A-List celebrities, such as Susan Sarandon and Bethenny Frankel, chose “Green” Ribbon Candy Collection pieces of jewelry which she made especially for the celebrity attendees at the FMPR Style Lounge during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.  United Airline’s Skywest magazine featured Geralyn Sheridan in the “CHICO Green at Heart” article by Connie Naylor for her environmental awareness in her jewelry business.  The article detailed Geralyn’s commitment to using American products from American suppliers, such as re-cycled precious metals.  She is quoted saying “I love the idea of keeping the old gold and creating something new that preserves the sentiment of the piece. I want to bring that extra value to my customers.”   Texture, movement, energy and emotion inspire Geralyn’s designs with curves from serene to extreme.

Ron Pickard designs and skillfully handcrafts 14K Gold and Silver jewelry which is intriguing and showcases stunning opals and abalone which he cuts!  Ron developed the jewelry program at Butte College and taught metalsmithing for duration of the program inspiring many students with his open, creative and engaging teaching style.  He also taught at Solano College and a large number of his students are active in the jewelry industry. Ron draws on his love of the sea and the outdoors as his source of inspiration.  He casts natural materials using the organic shapes in his unique way to design jewelry with an engaging sense of humor, inventing the eye-pod several years before the i-pod.

Sarah Alice Britton was born and raised in the small Victorian town of Maine, NY. Always artistically motivated, she graduated with a BFA in Jewelry Design from Buffalo State College in December 1998. Driving away from her last class in a packed moving truck, she headed west to Northern California. Now living in Oroville, CA, she creates her jewelry in a sunny studio overlooking a cottage garden in the home she shares with her husband Michael. Sarah believes too often the whimsy of childhood is lost or neglected as a person matures and embraces adulthood.  She has chosen to celebrate the playful and fanciful parts of youth in her designs. Tactile by nature Sarah Alice designs her jewelry to invite touch, inspire playfulness, and evoke a memory that results in a smile. She incorporates texture and maximizes movement in her designs both literally and visually. As with youth, each new day provides inspiration for new projects and designs.  A love of pearls is inspiration for her creative use of circles in her “All Goes Round” and “Polka Dot” Collections.

Handcrafted Box Artists

Mike Mikutowski is committed to excellence in design, function and workmanship. His passion is to create a design in which the natural luster and rich grain can be blended to form beautiful contrasts. Only the finest domestic and exotic hardwoods are used to inspire consistency in the quality of these functional pieces.  He was born & raised in South St. Paul, Minnesota. He also was awarded 2nd place in the international box competition in Seattle Washington sponsored by NW Galleries of Fine Woodworking. His most recent honor was the commission by Xerox Corporation to design and make the memorial urns presented by President Bush to the families of the victims of the September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon.  Mike is also committed to raising environmental awareness and minimizing waste. Any wood that is determined to be unusable is donated to the local community schools, nursing homes, and elderly services programs for art and craft education.

Perry Holbrook handcrafts tiny treasure boxes in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains: both art and function.  Self-taught in woodworking, metalsmithing, and glass.  Perry’s boxes are crafted with many different techniques.  His designs may be carved out of single piece of maple, turned on a lathe, made using traditional woodworking methods, welded steel or hand forged copper.  The final touch is his handmade glass tile top, each with its own color combination and an air bubble.

Vaughn Nelson “One Blue Marble - Something out of the ordinary . . .Out of the Blue”   is how Vaughn describes his work.  He strives to create beauty that is not based on perfection and tries to maintain an organic feel to his with rough edges, irregular shapes and imperfect circles which is where he finds beauty.  His ceramic work begs to be touched due to the textural effect of the glaze design influenced by many artists from Dali to Mondrian to the graphic artists of the Art Deco.