Using jewelry as her format, Kelly Jean Conroy intends to make notion of death an idea of beauty and a tangible object to be worn on one’s outer layer. She use her memories with nature as a child as a material source. It is important that the flowers and silhouettes that she uses are significant to her. This early timeframe of childhood was one of not really understanding what death meant. Conroy acknowledged that she was supposed to be sad after she buried a small little mole that was found at the edge of the woods. But now she knows what grief feels and looks like. Conroy understands we all carry these moments of sorrow in our inner layers of our being.
Conroy considers herself to be equal part teacher and maker. She teaches full time Metalsmithing at Lincoln Sudbury High School in Sudbury, MA, as well as Intro to Jewelry courses at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, and at Metalwerx, a school for jewelry in Waltham, MA. Previously she has taught enameling and metalworking courses at the Worcester Center for Crafts, Peters Valley School of Crafts in Layton, NJ, and Haystack School of Crafts in Deer Isle, ME.
