To take a few minutes to stop and "smell" these beautiful flowers and appreciate the brilliant Artist who painted them! (Hint; it's not me.)
I've been admiring Gerry Florida from a far for quite a while now. Long before I started making jewelry, I always looked forward to seeing Gerry's jewelry creations at the end of summer every year at one of Pittsburgh's most prestigious art and craft events, A Fair in the Park. This is where the cream of the crop show and sell their wares and you could always count on Gerry to be there. A few years ago I got the opportunity to meet Gerry and my son surprised me with one of her gorgeous necklaces that same year for Christmas. It's one of my most prized possessions!
Fast forward to May 2020, Gerry decided to start selling some of her individually hand-painted beads in her Etsy shop.
In Gerry's words, "Aside from creating my own jewelry and artwork, I love making "pretty little things" for other people and inspiring people to be creative. In these uncertain times we all need a good dose of inspiration to keep us focused forward in positive ways."
Imagine my delight when she recently posted about them on Instagram. I was thrilled to make this discovery and I couldn't wait to get my hands on some of these glorious beads. I have been so inspired to create with them and so pleased with the outcome. They are so unique and so beautiful!
Gerry Florida is an award-winning recycle assemblage artist who refers to herself as a “Master of Imperfection”. Her creations deliver underlying messages of rebirth, recovery and reclamation through an array of salvaged, recycled and contemporary materials that she employs in work. Her intrigue with the “beauty of imperfection” has led her to work on behalf of at-risk populations locally and nationally fostering the belief that integrating failures, accepting imperfections and embracing differences is the path to living in harmony with the imperfections surrounding us and to living in sync with the real world and the one we can create. She works under the name of Florida Recycled and is the Artist Facilitator of Special Projects with Allegheny County Shuman Detention Center.
You can find Gerry's hand painted beads in her Etsy shop, FloridaRecycled.
Learn more about Gerry, her artistic accomplishments and jewelry at her website FloridaRecycled.com.
Summer Orchids and Flower Fancies earrings are available now in my store along with a some others featuring flowers from Gerry's garden. Come see What's New!
As a final note, once again in Gerry's words, "I hope that through the beautiful things we all make that we spread beauty, hope, love and joy in a world that so desperately needs it."
With timeless jewelry that's always in fashion -
Warm regards,
Suzanne