For me, steel is a very feminine material. When heated to a yellow orange heat, it becomes sensuous and graceful ... workable with ease, yet retaining its strength. Working with the hot steel allows me to express my core connection to the sensuous grace in Nature. I can create the flowing forms of vines, the movement of gently blowing breezes and smooth running streams. And when the steel cools, it is a lasting record of those graceful forms and flow. My intention to transform and connect the wearer of my jewelry with the gracefulness of Nature had been fulfilled, forever.

About the Artist:

Valerie Ostenak, an award-winning jeweler, is a blacksmith and silversmith, creating sculptural designer jewelry using centuries-old techniques of forging with hammers, both with and without heat. Ostenak's latest collection celebrates the budding fruit trees on her property, incorporating pearls, glass, and/or Swarovski crystals with mild steel and silver.

Ostenak's work has been published in various books, Art Jewelry Today by Dona Meilach, Art Jewelry Today 2 by Jeffrey Snyder, The Contemporary Blacksmith by Dona Meilach, each published by Schiffer, and Best of America: Jewelry Artists & Artisans, Kennedy Publishing.

Ostenak was twice invited by the National Jewelry Institute to exclusive shows: 2008 at Designer Showcase, in the Forbes Galleries New York City, and 2009 at Sparkle Week in Paris during Paris Fashion Week.

In 2009 Valerie Ostenak was the national winner of the Halstead Bead Jewelry Design and Business Development Grant which, among other things, landed her visual placement front-and-center on Times Square and Las Vegas for three days. Her pieces were featured on the fashion runway during Phoenix Fashion Week in October 2009, both as her own runway presentation and also worn by the models of Li Cari by Jazmin Whitley.

The summer of 2010 was dedicated to working with two other blacksmiths designing, building, and installing a hand-forged steel railing at the Grand Canyon Amphitheater. The railing was designed to enhance visually and conceptually the artist-designed amphitheater, a monolithic native limestone centerpiece of Mather Point. In November of 2010 Ostenak presented her sculptural designer jewelry on the runway at Scottsdale Fashion Week. In 2011 Ostenak was one of only five jewelers across the U.S. to win a prestigious Centurion Emerging Designer Award.

She is featured on National Geographic's Education website in 'Real-World Geography: How people use geography and the geographic perspective in their everyday lives and real-world careers.'

Training:

Ostenak's training started with jewelry and metal-smithing courses at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and continued at California State University Long Beach. She has worked with blacksmiths creating gates, stair rails, sculpture and lighting, and has attended workshops nationally and internationally to learn new techniques.

Artist Prices Beginning at $175.

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