Inside the Mind of a Metalsmith

How nature, Michigan stones, and other local artists inspire Traverse City jewelry-maker Lucy Lowe

By Ellen Miller | Nov. 16, 2024

Metalsmith Lucy Lowe takes inspiration from the natural beauty surrounding us, so it seems appropriate that the leaves are brilliantly colored when we drive out to her studio near Moomers on the west side of town.

Inside, light streams in from a window; a few select pinecones and rocks adorn the ledge. Around the edges of the converted pole barn, Lowe points out her desk, shelves filled with jewelry pieces and raw materials, and a sink with a foot pedal that she later uses to rinse stones she plans to use in her work.

Natural Transformation

It has taken more than a decade for Lowe to get to this place—literally and figuratively. Lowe began her journey to metalsmithing with a local art jeweler in Grand Forks, North Dakota, when she was inspired enough by what she saw that she asked if they needed seasonal help.

“I was both hooked and terrified,” she reflects.

Her journey has had its twists and turns of the intentional and organic variety; for example, at one point she took a welding class—but not one for jewelry! The class was designed as a refresher from marine welders, but she found it really fun.

As she learned, Lowe found comfort and stability in the concreteness of metalsmithing. As she explains, there are objective elements in each piece, like whether the seam is sautered properly or the stone stays in.

“You could see improvement and know you were improving, and it was something I could witness the progression of. You know when you get better—at a different skill, you don’t always notice it.”

After a move to Milwaukee, she enrolled as a student at a local school’s jewelry and metals department. Apprenticeships, including working at a family jewelry store, came next. Eventually Lowe began crafting her own pieces, and in 2016 relocated to Traverse City and started branching out.

Elemental Work

Today, Lowe’s pieces include a wide range of jewelry from earrings to rings and necklaces. Her favorite, though, are rings.

“Rings are for the wearer,” she explains. “When I’m wearing a ring, I see it more, and I tend to interact with it more.”

Lowe primarily fabricates with sheet and wire. She works sequentially, building as she goes, describing this process as “building tiny structures.”

“There’s an exciting element to my process: any time I add something new, something old could fall,” she says. “I love to challenge myself. I love watching a piece come to life and the transformation that happens. That’s the whole thing I do here.”

When designing a piece, Lowe is highly influenced by her surroundings. In that way, her style has evolved over the years. For example, in Milwaukee her design was largely inspired by architecture.

“There has always been an organic or abstract element to it, but my work felt more edgy in the city,” she says. Now in Traverse City, her work reflects nature. “Being near the lake has definitely influenced my work,” she adds. “Not literally in terms of a curve, but there is more movement in my work and it is influenced by how things come together in nature. It feels elemental.”

Many of Lowe’s pieces include lake stones or fossils; she is particularly drawn to lesser celebrated stones, like the Charlevoix stone, a type of fossilized coral. Lowe sources her own materials, collecting stones—“only as many as I will use”—and also purchases materials. (She loves to go to the gem show in Traverse City, usually held in September.)

No matter which elements she’s working with, Lowe is constantly trying to get to the essence of what she is creating, stripping back her materials to create something that feels effortless. There’s also an experimental element to her work as she often plays with proportions and materials.

“I feel really lucky that often I don’t start with a vision for where I want to go with a piece. Following the babbling brook of life and seeing what feels right as it comes up has been a blessing. I think that’s what has allowed me to still have passion for what I do,” she says.

Most of Lowe’s pieces are one of a kind. Though Lowe does document her work in case she wants to replicate a piece, she rarely does.

Part of a Story

Working in the studio is usually a solo endeavor, but Lowe loves the relationships she has built through her craft.

“The relationships are one of the biggest things I’ve gained,” she tells us. “There are so many people up here, an incredibly generous group of people, and there’s enough space for all of us.”

When Lowe was new in town, a shop owner in Suttons Bay told her she needed to connect with Dana Fear, in Cedar, who makes kinetic jewelry. They met, and are now good friends. Lowe wears one of Fear’s rings (she demonstrates the movement element when she mentions it). Instagram has also helped her connect with other local artisans, as has attending select local markets.

Lowe has a website and an Instagram, but unlike many artists who sell directly to consumers online, she prefers the experience of selling through galleries. “I like knowing the way something fits, the way something feels on my body,” she explains. “I want people to know how it feels,” and that experience is hard to replicate digitally.

While she participates in the occasional market, she primarily sells her work through a partnership with Gold and Jaye Jewelry in Suttons Bay. “My work loves to be there,” Lowe says about her connection with the shop.

And once a piece has been purchased, Lowe loves to see how it takes on a new life and a new meaning.

“I know I made it, but once it becomes the person’s who wears it, it’s totally theirs. It becomes part of their story that they are using to illustrate their own experience and their own life.”

Learn more at lucylowejewelry.square.site. You can find her jewelry at Gold and Jaye Jewelry in Suttons Bay.

Photo by Meg Simpson.