Amy Butts, Chicago-based metalsmith and jewelry artist, gives voice to the found objects she fashions into striking and distinct original jewelry. If these pieces could talk, they would say "reinvention," "transformation," "collection" and "souvenirs."
These are the words Amy herself uses when speaking about the contemporary jewelry she creates from historical elements. Rather than building simple necklaces, rings and bracelets, Amy's work is wearable nostalgia. She creates new life out of old items including chandelier crystals; several decades' of autograph books, diaries and recipe books; vintage rosaries and other yard sale and flea market finds. In addition to her own scavenging, she works with clients to re-fashion everything from inherited jewelry, photographs, handwritten notes and obsolete wedding rings (left over from ended marriages) into contemporary pieces that have meaning for today.
Working in her Chicago studio overflowing with found objects, crystals and jewelry vending machines, Amy finds inspiration in the ways that jewelry can spark memory and play the role of souvenir. She hand crafts each piece in her collection and can spend hours arranging various items until they feel irreplaceably right. For Amy, it's a good day in her studio when she’s able to look at beautiful little objects that have lost their present usefulness and bring out their beauty again. A really good day is when she is creating beautiful jewelry and making herself laugh.
The daughter of a tool and die worker and a veteran crafter, she is not at all surprised to make her living designing and creating. After all, she grew up on Jewel Avenue! Amy has a BFA in metalsmithing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and an MFA in sculpture from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. Her jewelry is available in boutiques and galleries throughout the Chicago area. Amy currently holds a part-time faculty position at the School of the Art Institute and The Art Center of Highland Park. She is passionate about teaching.