Mary Lou Christie prefers in-person jewelry sales to make connections
About 15 years ago in the dead of winter, Mary Lou Christie decided to take an introduction to silversmithing class in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
Her husband showed her an advertisement for the class at Ponca City Arts in the newspaper to her one night when she was "piddling with making jewelry."
"We lived in the middle of nowhere," she said. "It was about 45 minutes to town and my husband said, 'if you want to go I'll drive you.'"
After the three night class was finished, Christie had learned how solder flows through a blow torch to shape different metals, she was hooked.
Her home at the time had a parlor where she "put all her mess" and started teaching herself how to make jewelry with a blow torch.
At the time, Christie taught high school in rural areas of Osage County.
She took a break after her long days at school to create jewelry.
In 2014, she retired as a teacher and moved to Tahlequah where she met a pottery artist who told her about Art on the Border.
Shortly after, Christie did a Christmas show at St. John's Episcopal Church in Fort Smith, where she met Donna Skinner, artist coordinator for Art on the Border and the Classic Charitable Foundation.
Christie said she loves all the people who put in the work to pull off the show and sale.
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"The cause is wonderful as well," she said. "I participate whenever I can."
The art shows Christie brought her jewelry to helped her establish Mary Lou's Baubles and Beads where she now sells her work online.
Christie's jewelry making process starts with a pencil and sketchpad, bringing shape to her new ideas.
"One thing kind of leads to another," she said. "While I'm making a piece, I come across an idea, but sometimes I hit a dead spot."
In her creative blocks, Christie gets out her "treasure trove" of different stones like turquoise, variscite, lace agates, spiny oyster, jaspers, moonstone and opals.
"I get my stones out, I hold 'em and I put one stone with another and I start sketching and pretty soon I come up with an idea," she said.
Christie will remember color combinations or something that catches her eye at an art show and motivates her to get back in her studio.
She said her pieces constantly change as she shaping the metals and adding stones.
"The piece kind of morphs into something totally different," Christie said. "It kind of speaks to me along the way. And sometimes it's happy accidents that turn out to be my best pieces."
"It was one of those meant to be things," she said of her finding silversmithing as her art.
The instructor at the intro to silversmithing class at the Ponca City Arts was a retired art teacher and Christie recalls him telling her: "Mary Lou, I think I found your niche."
Her most successful sales are at art shows, Christie said.
"I like to see the people," she said. "I like to visit and tell them about what inspired me and that's my favorite thing to do."
Christie is now a silversmith teacher herself, with classes at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts in August.
This will be her third sold out class in a row.
"It's like a dream come true," Christie said. "When I was a kid I wanted to be an artist."
Christie has been awarded at many fine arts festivals in Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, Texas and Arkansas.
A few of her awards include: "Best in Show," first, second and third place at the Ponca City Arts Festival, first place at the Guthrie Oklahoma Art Festival, and first place at the Medicine Park Art Walk and Flute Festival.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Mary Lou Christie prefers in-person jewelry sales to make connections
