Workshops & Demos

Susan Lenart Kazmer is an artist, silversmith and designer of 23 years. She studied at The Art Institute of Chicago and graduated from Southern Illinois University. Diploma in hand she wondered what to do next. She wasn?t necessarily trained for a job and she quickly realized to be an artist that she needed a lot more experience under her belt to develop an interesting body of work. She had always loved adornment, any and all kinds of adornment and soon realized that what she really loved was the obscure study of sacred adornment. During art school she often frequented the Field Museum in Chicago and was a museum junkie in general and was especially inspired by artifacts and relics. She also did ethnographic repair in the Chicago area on West African beadwork and adornment, East Indian Naga jewelry and Thailand components and jewelry. Her job was to repair or rebuild a historical piece of jewelry or fiber. During that tenure she had the opportunity to witness up close the construction of ancient pieces, how pieces were built and what would last through time as connections as well as witnessing innovative use of materials and their significant meanings. Through a lot of travel and exploration she built a vocabulary of her own symbolism and Talismans through jewelry and adornment for the sake of building. She recently landed back in the fashion field where her work won an award during the 2018 Milan Fashion Week Artistar event with Italian Vogue Accessories. Her body of work has been in many markets including museum exhibits, education, American Craft Council and SNAG. Her jewelry is considered innovative and expressive. She builds culture, history and beauty into adornment.