Kelly Leeman

I grew up in a small Maine town with a big backyard. Many hours were spent in and around the woods, fields, and waters of Maine loving the sights, sounds, and feelings these places brought to me. Oftentimes, I would bring home treasures from these places; stones smoothed by the waters, shells, grasses I had woven, sticks of interesting shapes and even tangled moss. Once inside always finding a place for them as they were expressions and made statements... I like that, and making jewelry does that for me.
I attended college at the University of Maine as a math major. I also enrolled in basic drawing and 3D design. In the work study program I worked in the Art Department for President Vincent Hartgen's secretary. My job there was to help type and file for “The Traveling Art Exhibition”.
After college I really had a need to spread my wings and that is what I did. I left the state of Maine to travel across the country by car with a friend. The goal in mind was to see all we could see. We walked canyons, dried up riverbeds, mountains, Indian ruins, caverns, petrified forests, hugged giant trees and slept in the desert. To me this was the most valuable and inspiring experience. The colors, the landscapes, the feelings that came to me then, come to me now, keep me still and influence the work I do today.