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My name is Cory Lawson and I am a glass and metal jewelry artist. That I find myself here, calling myself “artist”, is a daily surprise to me. In my teenage years I was a performance artist, but my career aspirations were in the sciences so I went to Colorado State University to study there. Fortunately, money from home dried up and rather than drop out of school, I found a job in biological research. It was so much fun I continued on that path for the next 20 years. My career as a scientist came to a close in 1997, but as happens, a new life began. The spark that returned me to the arts was a family project that  took me to “junque” stores where we searched for broken rhinestone jewelry that always seemed to be wadded up with "vintage" beads. Those old beads captured my imagination, and my interest in the history of beads began. As I researched old beads and then ancient ones, I realized that these primitive adornments of bone and shells were intimately intertwined with the dawn of human awareness. Flesh and blood humans had created them, loved them, and worn them next to their skin while they danced, held their children, and worshipped their gods. So I learned to make beads. Glass beads. I was possessed. And eventually, I added precious metal fabrication. When I am working, those ancients who preceded us channel through me. It’s like a meditation or a prayer. A resonant “Om” hums throughout. Nothing else is. There is no beginning or end. Time has no meaning. Each piece has a story that is told with hammer marks, texture, and imperfections. These are a metaphor for life, and the people around us. Beautiful. Not in spite of their scars, but because of them. I am humbled when I consider how deeply blessed I am. My husband and children support me in my passion, and they are my biggest cheerleaders.