Long over due post, a year to be exact. But what a year it has been! At the 2019, Edwardsville Art Show, I was fortunate enough to receive an award of Excellence along with some of my former classmates and our Instructor. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has an outstanding metalsmithing program, and the instructor (Aimee Howard-Clinger) is the glue that holds it all together. I came to SIUE as a mixed-media artist who liked to wire wrap the occasional crystal. OK,

It's always an honor to receive an award at an art show. This was doubly an honor because I had three pieces exhibited in the show. The Endangered Art show, at the St. Louis Artists Guild in 2019, was filled with incredible works that blurred the boundaries between traditional skills and alternative media. It was thrilling to see what limits the imagination could break, and even more exciting to see people bring them into reality. The innovative spirit among artists is in