Susan Brooks

At the age of 5, Susan Brooks took her first life drawing class. Since then her fascination with line has never ceased. Born in a family of artists (her father a sculptor and her mother a painter), her painting and drawing were always viewed as a natural means of expression.  Stemming from this early exposure to the arts is a comfort and fluency with line that allows Brooks the confidence necessary for her hand-etched jewelry.  “I see drawing as a language,” says the artist, “which is why it makes no difference to me whether I express myself on paper or in metal.”

For Brooks it is the love for ornament which led her to working in silver.  Having collected antique jewelry for many years, her appreciation for the craftsmanship and design of old things gave inspiration to the whimsical and ethereal metalwork she now creates.  Though she possesses a personal connection with Egyptian and Native American jewelry, Brooks is not interested in anything derivative when it comes to her own pieces.  Instead, it is her longtime fascination with the face which inspires these timeless, personal expressions in silver.

Susan Brooks studied illustration at Parson’s School of Design in New York and has been an artist and jeweler in the Bay Area for more than twenty years.