About the Artist
Slide Mountain is a real place. It sits on the eastern edge of Lake Tahoe in Nevada — the wild side. The less developed side. The home of crystal-clear waters where visibility reaches upwards of 50 feet and the bottom is fine-grained granite sand, pale and luminous in photographs and even more striking in person. The ski area on Slide Mountain boasts the highest base elevation of any in the region. To the west lies Tahoe Meadows — a sweeping alpine meadow threaded with meandering streams and willow thickets. To the east, Washoe Valley opens up around two desert lakes and bands of wild horses.
Maybe you know a place like this. Maybe you're still looking for it.
For over two and a half decades I've been hiking the woods, slopes, meadows, and creeks of this mountain. I've also spent that time as a search and rescue K9 handler — many nights searching for and bringing home people who go missing on all sides of Slide Mountain. These days, I take my current K9 partner out in its shadow in the evenings, listening to the birds, watching for coyotes, and marveling at the wild horses.
Slide Mountain Supply is rooted in all of it — and made for everyone who feels that same pull toward wild places.
I have always been an artist. But it took a lifetime to let it lead the way.
As high school graduation approached, I faced a choice: art school or science? I loved both. I chose science — partly out of practicality, partly out of fear that making art my job might make me stop loving it. That decision took me around the world. Tanzania. Norway. Turkmenistan. England. The world was less connected then. My family hoped I was okay and trusted I could take care of myself. I could.
When I wasn't traveling for work, I was training and deploying on search and rescue missions. My dogs and I flew in helicopters, dropped into remote terrain for days at a time. We were part of Yosemite Search and Rescue team — searching from Mount Whitney to Death Valley, and all across the country. Search and rescue takes you to places most people never see. Off the beaten path. Where people get turned around, lost, and into trouble they can't get out of alone. You might know those places too — the ones that stay with you long after you've left.
A lifetime of those experiences — as a scientist, as a handler, as someone who has stood in some of the most remote and beautiful places on earth — taught me something: people come and go. Landscapes remain. There is so much beauty around us, if we're willing to look. To listen. That's where my inspiration lives. And I believe it's where yours does too.
I hope my jewelry speaks to you in soft whispers — of a place you remember, or a place you're still dreaming of. Go. Be inspired. Bring a little sparkle along. These pieces are made to last a lifetime, keeping your memories and dreams alive.
