Bio
Linda Sorensen's lifelong passion for making things has led to a full-time career of handcrafting gold and silver jewelry. Her artistic medium changed radically during her last semester at the University of New Hampshire when, as a drawing and printmaking major, she enrolled in a beginning jewelry course in order to satisfy 3 remaining credit requirements and a gap in her schedule.
That chance encounter led to further jewelry study at the Institute of Arts and Sciences in Manchester, New Hampshire, continuation with private study and professional workshops, and juried membership in the prestigious League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.
Today Sorensen works her hammers, anvils and torches on a hilltop in New Hampshire's White Mountains. Her jewelry designs reflect the rich texture and love of color found in her earlier fiber work. Using silver, gold and semi-precious cabochon stones, Sorensen creates earrings, necklaces and pins with a balanced proportion and classic simplicity. She is happy to share with you her joy in making things.
Artist Statement
It is a total mystery to me why I am working in metal. Was it a fluke, or was it part of some grand design that jewelry came to me in mid-life when I was a printmaking major at the University of New Hampshire.
Formerly my work had always involved soft, pliable materials, from making doll clothes as a child to making my own clothes in high school. Fiber and needle arts had been my forte, with further experimentation in weaving, basket making, quilting and many years as a nationally recognized rug hooking instructor. Yards and yards of wool material have simmered on my stove as I played in the dye pot and learned about color. All of that has culminated in my current spare time immersion in knitting, spinning yarn and weaving.
I’ve come to the conclusion that my purpose in life is to Make Things. Perhaps I make jewelry because it is the ultimate challenge, the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but one which provides an income and still gives me pleasure. Perhaps the colorful stones in my work satisfies the color aspect of my former fiber work. At times it is simply the sculptural effects that I enjoy about working in metal.
I’ll leave it to others to figure out why I work in metal. I simply consider myself so fortunate to be working with something I love, doing something that is all consuming, all by myself, with just Public Radio or an audio book or music to keep me company. And no office politics! How lucky can one get!
