Flora Earrings

Maple, gesso, ink, oxidized silver.

2 x ¾ x ⅛ in.
(5.1 x 1.8 x 0.3 cm)

Julia Turner’s work has been exhibited internationally and has been included in numerous books and publications, most recently New Bracelets, released by Nicolas Estrada, and the feature “Julia Turner: A Gateway to Modern Storytelling” in Ornament Magazine. She has taught at the California College of the Arts, San Francisco State University and the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts. Recent exhibitions include “45 Stories in Jewelry: 1947 to Now” at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York and her solo exhibition “TIMBER” at Velvet da Vinci Gallery in San Francisco, California. Her studio is currently a part of the Heath Collective and occupies a unique industrial space in San Francisco’s Mission District. Julia studied art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received her M.F.A. from Miami University in 1995.

Julia Turner’s work is driven by a continuous exploration of materials and techniques from diverse disciplines. Her studio tables are piled with small experiments in form and surface which she arranges and re-arranges, finding tensions, creating compositions, moving ideas forward and developing the strongest impulses into finished work. She freely combines everything that interests her; mixing hot and cold connections, carving and fabricating, wood and gold, traditional enamel and industrial paint. Her work reflects a fascination with the boundary between the human-built and natural worlds, the beauty of accidental collaborations between them, and our often funny ideas about what we can and can’t control.