I was very tickled the other night when a mini show called Craft in America came on PBS one night recently, as a little segment betixed shows, and saw a Philadelphia friend featured. I met Jan years ago when in New Hope. I had complimented her pretty and unusual necklace. She replied that is was made of used cocaine crack vials and caps. Needless to say I was blown away. When we've gotten together I could listen to her talk all day, she is a very calming person to be around, and is one of the few who can see and be inspired by just about anywhere and anything. She is a artist who makes mixed media jewelry and draws inspiration from both the natural and the lived-in human environment from her neighborhood in Philly. She creates some of the most breathtaking and unusual pieces I've seen. She incorporates rocks, bullet casings, and crack cocaine vials into her work and finds beauty in the resilience of urban plants that some would consider weeds. Like those beautiful variety of blue cornflower and Queens Ann lace. She has a vast collection and her works have found themselves in the permeant collections of the Philadelphia and Smithsonian Art Museums, Musuem of Fine Art in Boston, National Museum of Scotland, and the Victoria and Albert Museum of London
