It started with my first class at age 12. The instructor gave us a package of jewelers saw blades, a dozen hair thin pieces of steel with tiny teeth cut into one side. He told us to expect to break all of them within the first week. But by the end of the three-month course, I still had half a package left.



I’ve often said that I was born to be a metalworker, for the techniques and the tools I use have always felt familiar, as if I worked with them in another lifetime. It’s been 40 years since that first class, yet I still feel a thrill when the process takes me over, and the wax or metal begins to transform through my hands into the vision of my inner eye.



I was born on the East Coast, in a small town with lots of natural beauty. I drew and made sculpture from a very early age. My early exposure to jewelry making and the skills I learned in the classes I took helped me get my first job in the jewelry trade when I was 16.



I worked in my craft all through high school, moving on to earn a BFA degree from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. When I graduated college, I refined my skills by working with European masters on Jewelers Row. I was lucky to have had such formal training, for my mentors introduced me to numerous tricks of the trade that I still use every day.



In 1991, I moved West and started a small craft business in Spokane. I began to produce jewelry in limited editions, and started touring the region doing fine craft festivals. Under the trade name Argentum Aurum, which means silver and gold, I worked in a partnership creating whimsical family oriented charms and pendants, which became very popular.



In 2004 I open a retail store in Spokane, and after several years, moved it downtown to Main Street. There, I had a retail space which I presented as a gallery. It was also home to my workshop, where I physically made each piece. I enjoyed having the finished pieces on display in the same location where I crafted them, in an atmosphere of creative sharing.



I changed the business name from Argentum Aurum to Silver Element Jewelry in 2012, and shortly after changed my personal name as well, from Debra Brehren to Ruly Deen. I made these changes to reflect my evolving artistic sensibility. My craftsmanship and symbolic references continue to become even more honed and focused as I pursue life as a working artist.



After two years under the new name, I closed my brick and mortar store in 2014. Now I show work from all phases of my recent career on Etsy, and my own website. I also do various art shows around the country.



My greatest passion is being able to make new work. I look forward to refining my techniques as I continue to weave deeper and more significant emotional concepts into my visual imagery.



I often say I am a sociologist, since I am so fascinated by world culture. Sometimes I am more of an anthropologist, becasue it is ancient symbolic systems that capture my attention more than anything else. This love of learning imbues my work with the concepts I absorb through my hours of reading and research. Those ideas flow into my drawings, and hence, my carvings and finished work.



I hope my symbolic art brings you as much pleasure in wearing and sharing as they did when I first created them.



Wear them in good health, and happiness!



Namasté,



Ruly