Jeweler Jo-Anne Frazier has been working in silver off and on for 25 years, working with metal clay for five years, UV cure resin for four years, and playing with beads her whole life. She has been a member of the Chester County Craft Guild for four years and an HGC member for a year. And as of March 2022, Jo-Anne is a juried HGC Master Artist.
Born in Broomall, PA, Jo-Anne is educated in both the arts and the law. She earned a BA in Technical Theatre-Historical Costume Design from Butler University, then a JD and LLM Taxation degrees from Villanova Law School. She also studied metal clay/jewelry design- or the “fun stuff,” as she puts it- with Holly Gage and Lizel Crowley, and silver work with Kate Richbourg, Anne Mitchel, Hattie Weslyk, Patricia Halsey.
She is now recovering from 32 years of practicing law with jewelry therapy.
Jo-Anne describes her work, ”My metalwork journey began with wire-wrapping and cold connects, but I soon learned that soldering was much faster. Soldering satisfied my desire for quicker results, but I was interested in taking my work to the third dimension. Metal Clay became an answer to my quest for a moldable, sculptable silver, and after it is kiln-fired, it becomes sterling or fine silver.
My love of the fleeting beauty and endless variety of flowers inspires me to preserve their beauty in silver. Generally, my Metal Clay work consists of sculptured, realistic flowers and trees. Searching for new inspiration, I began to add heavy lacy filigree, stylized from Edwardian jewelry, the scrolls and whorls of Victorian and Art Deco wrought iron work, to my pieces. Vintage vibes from these periods imbue my work with movement and interesting open work.”
Jo-Anne also makes themed sterling silver filigree jewelry sets, with an array of semi-precious stones. She has also started to do some of her own lapidary work.
Jo-Anne has dabbled in other media, such as UV cure resin. Says Jo-Anne, “ I love this medium, because I can paint in brilliant colors. I have a collection of trees in all four seasons, geometric designs, beach scenes, whimsical fairy gardens, and Halloween scenes. I also enjoy beading with Czech glass shaped beads.”
In recent years, Jo-Anne’s exhibitions have included the Chester County Studio Tour, The Chester County Craft Guild Shows, The Downingtown Fine Arts Festival, The Fine Arts & Crafts Festival Swarthmore, Winterthur Arts Festival 2021, Corn Hill Arts Festival, Rochester, NY, Clothesline Arts Festival, Rochester, NY, Kriskindlemart West Chester 2021 and The Belsnickel Craft Festival in Boyertown.
Her philosophy? Number one: Do what interests you. Number two: Try new techniques and media. And number three: You can never have too many tools.