he art of making jewelry is something Steven Brixner learned after he graduated from school with a Master of Arts degree in metalsmithing.

"When you're going to school, what you learn is how to teach other people. I didn't know much about making jewelry or certainly running a business," he says, recalling his early experience owning a jewelry store.

In his sunny kitchen in San Diego, California, Brixner, 41, shows a visitor examples of his silver work and hundreds of slides that span his sixteen-year career. His work has taken different forms over the years; however, a clean, elegant, extremely wearable style remains his hallmark. His career has moved through different stages, and yet he values each episode.

It was in college that he identified his interest in art. At San Diego State University in the early 1970s, Brixner was encouraged by his professor, Arline Fisch, to apply the fabric weaving techniques he was learning to jewelry.

"Arline pushed us into metal

weaving, using fine silver wires on a loom." The selfsame basketweave and twillweave patterns he had mastered in fiber, appeared in his bracelets; he decorated bracelets and necklaces with coiled silver wire beads.

Fresh out of his master's program, he attempted to make a living from his woven jewelry. He set up a store in Ocean Beach, near San Diego, and offered his and his friends' work. Although his woven jewelry was attracting interest from his peers, as well as an invitation to exhibit in a show in Australia, Brixner found it was not selling. Then, there was also the business of running a business.

"The shop consumed about eighty to ninety percent of my time. Then the shop was open, of course I had to be there. That meant I couldn't visit museums or galleries, and I could barely find time to pick up supplies."

He also came to realize that although he had the right attitude about accepting new challenges—setting stones, making repairs for customers-he really did not know how to do the work. But, to survive, "you have to do

anything. I would take whatever came along. `Can you do this?' they'd ask me. I'd say `yes' and then I'd have to figure it out."

A job offer to teach jewelry construction and design at the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina came along, and Brixner seized it as, "an opportunity to get out of the shop." Next, he was hired by a commercial jeweler in Charlotte, North Carolina. Brixner includes in his chronology the humbling experience of melting a customer's earring, which he was supposed to be repairing. "I learned a lot about working with gold and diamonds, and what jewelry was all about. It built my self confidence, and forced me to do things I hadn't done before. I was given creative projects and my design background really helped me."

Returning to San Diego in 1980, he took a part-time job at a jewelry store, continuing to educate himself about working with stones. He fell in love with cubic zirconia.

"I love the way big diamonds look. I always thought zircons were fun. Having a great big, expensive diamond—for me—would not be fun.