Chicago, IL ARTIST STATEMENTSusanne Henry creates jewelry in steel and gold, as part of an evolving collection of chain-making and its elements. She explores scale, movement and flow, and structure and form. Susanne works in steel to express the juxtaposition of strength and femininity in jewelry. Steel is inherently lightweight and strong, allowing for more experimentation as well as larger pieces. She works in both sheet and wire, where rarely any element is left flat or straight. The material is forged, formed, or both, incorporating traditional jewelry-making techniques to create volume. She finishes the work black, which gives it a fierce and bold quality, evoking the ornamentation of armor and protection. She selectively incorporates pure gold into the work - sometimes fusing and sometimes gilding - for highlights and luxe over the blackened steel. BIOGRAPHYSusanne is a jewelry artist and metalsmith in Chicago. She graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Industrial Design. After an MBA from Northwestern University and a multi-faceted career in business, Susanne began learning metalsmithing at Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago. In recent years, she has been a part of many juried and curated group shows, including MAD About Jewelry in New York in 2021. She was also featured in the article on Next Career Artists, Coming of Age, in Metalsmith Magazine in 2020.