about
Bio

Artist Statement

From the Artist
I came to metals in midlife to keep myself busy through the end of a painful marriage. When my teen stepson died in 2015, I poured my grief into my fledgling metalwork. I forged a bracelet in his honor, and was comforted by its presence, weight, and permanence. From within this loss, I found my voice.
My affinity for poetry and its power to express emotions has the most significant influence on my metalwork. I etch original verse into most of my jewelry pieces, creating scintillating textures that, upon closer inspection, reveal a deeper meaning.
At university, I trained in the aesthetic of the Swiss school of graphic design. Though my body of metalwork does not always reflect the minimal Swiss style of my formal design training, its principles are ever-present in my jewelry work – from an obsessive sensitivity to typography to my attention to negative space.
Themes from my rural Ohio childhood are prevalent in my jewelry work. I grew up on my grandparents' defunct farm, playing in a dusty barn full of sheet-covered furniture. I waded in pastures that sighed with power lines and cornsilk. I explored my grandmother's farmhouse and its secret room filled with 19th-century poetry tomes, blurry snapshots of strange places, and letters penned by long-dead ancestors. Enchanted in this landscape of mysterious artifacts, I imagined the stories behind the tintype lives, abandoned beds, and lost loves.
Today, I create modern memento mori and narrative jewelry that revolves around themes of the brevity of life. Rooted in a lifelong loam of memory and solitude, beauty and loss, I aim to forge luminous heartaches in precious metal.
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How and When to Buy
Teresa Kiplinger releases limited collections of one-of-a-kind pieces several times per year. Release dates are announced a few days in advance of availability on her Instagram and via email. Sign up for her email list or follow her on Instagram to receive updates about new work and upcoming collections. Tap here for more information.
Because her pieces are one-of-a-kind, when a piece is sold, Teresa won't make another just like it. However, she often explores similar themes in new collections or adds new pieces to past collections.
S O C I A L
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I N T E R V I E W S
Jewelery Maker's Guild Podcast
&TheyMake
I N T H E P R E S S
N O T E S
from Teresa's Patrons