Paula Haymond

I am an eclectic artist working in a wide variety of mediums including wood, metal, stone, resin, gems and minerals, bone, and found objects.  I collect a wide variety of objects to help embellish and bring to life my works. I am self-taught with no formal art training although I hold a doctoral degree in counselor education. I worked for years as a licensed psychologist with an emphasis on vocational rehabilitation, neuropsychological assessment, and cognitive retraining.  

While living in Houston Texas, I was fortunate enough to be selected by the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft for a six-month artist in residence program. I did this while working full-time in my psychology practice. This experience laid the ground work for my entering the business world of art.  

I have always been fascinated by the “how, what, why,” of working objects. Taking pieces apart, reassembling them in unique ways, and striving for animation in those pieces.  If you’ve seen it before, it’s probably not something I’ve made.  

My mantra, since early childhood, which has remained throughout my life, has been “You can never have too many skills.” Learn as much about how things work as you can to be able to transfer those skills to ever-increasing circles of possibilities. This has enabled me to learn a skill to see how many ways I can use that skill in my life. My art reflects that diversity of knowledge, skill, and uniqueness.

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Wood turning has been a passion for many years now. Although I can turn functional pieces of wood, such as bowls, it’s hard for me to leave the surface of a piece of wood to stand alone. Embellishment combined with design has led many viewers to wonder “how did she make that?” “Is that piece ceramic?” “How did she come up with that idea?” 

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These are the questions I thrive on in my work.  If the viewer isn’t drawn in to take a closer look, if the piece doesn’t reflect its own sense of movement, I don’t feel the piece can stand on its own merit.