I am a jeweler working mainly in silver, semi-precious stones, and pearls.  My style ranges from the traditional to the modern and is completely unique.  All of my pieces are individually handmade and are therefore one-of-a-kind or in small series with repeating motifs.

            My training is with David Laplantz at Humboldt State University, at Monterey Peninsula College, and various Mendocino Art Center Workshops and assistantships.

            I am presently working with my company Ling-Yen designs and my website www.ling-yendesigns.com.

            I have curated and exhibited in several shows in the past.  I also have shown in Point Arena-CityArt, the Pacific Grove Art Center, Gualala Art Center, and the Mendocino Art Center.  I am featured in the winter 2000 issue of Metalsmith, and the Monterey Herald “Life & Times” 2001. Currently, manager of a gallery in Point Arena called The Coast Highway Art Collective.

            I define jewelry as creations that are useful, artistic, symbolic, identifying and an expression of personal ideas.  In my earring line, some of the motifs I use are leaves, birds, and windows.  When these elements and others are integrated into a piece, they can represent new beginnings, changes, hope, and further growth in oneself.  The materials that I enjoy using most are sterling silver, copper, gold, pearls, and semiprecious stones.  My intentions for each one-of-a-kind piece is that it is clean-looking, distinctive, and artistically rendered.

            The pieces with Asian-like faces are inspired by the feminine, graceful, and romantic scenes of the Ukiyo-E period of Japanese art.  The piece “Unmentionables” has different faces, all expressions of surprise, serenity, wonder, and ecstasy.   On the back of the pieces, there are hidden hand-cut flowers, roller-printed leaf patterns, and scenes of paired lovers.  Ukiyo-E or images of the floating world were representations of the everyday life of Japan in the 16th through the 19th centuries.  This piece brings together my own interest in the expressive power of faces while exploring the serenity and grace of the everyday in my own time.

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