About Brooke (Bio)

Brooke was born and raised in the rolling hills of Eastern Kentucky, surrounded by the wonders of nature. Being an only child – (but also from “a good southern family”) she was not allowed to be inside the house when it was “a perfectly fine day outside” and so found companionship in her many dogs and variety of critters that are so plentiful in such pristine open habitats as a holler in Kentucky. Many days were spent catching tadpoles, crawdads and salamanders around the creek that ran through the property where she lived which has been in her mothers’ family for more than a century. Countless hours were spent scratching and digging in the clay banks around the creek in search of rock treasure which were then proudly displayed on any and every surface.

Brooke’s mom is a professional portrait photographer and her dad spent weekends restoring old cars to mint condition, lending her to a critical eye for detail (maybe a little obsessive compulsive) and composition.

Brooke met her husband, Josh, in 2000. Josh is a cool California character who was born and raised in the San Diego area. He perfectly complements and grounds Brooke’s flighty artistic personality. In 2001 Josh flew to Kentucky and joined Brooke for the cross-country trek to start their life together in Southern California. They were married in a sea-side wedding in 2003. They live on a couple of acres in Jamul, an unincorporated area of San Diego County about 30 minutes from downtown. The family they have chosen to have is an ever changing and never boring assortment of rescue animals in various stages of life and love. They enjoy travelling the world together when schedules allow, but have found an even stronger bond with the Big Island of Hawaii, specifically Kealakekua Bay near Kona on the west side of the island

Always in pursuit of the crafty and creative, Brooke happened upon an article about PMC (Precious Metal Clay) in a beading magazine in 2006. Intrigued by the idea that a lump of clay with a similar texture to those creek banks she played on when she was young would become a piece of fine silver sculpture jewelry was too strong to pass up. She bought her first lump of PMC+ from the Bouncing Bead in La Mesa in January of 2007. At that point the biggest obsession of her life began to take shape. Hundreds of pieces, several classes and a few years later, here we are…