Berkshire Creations
Berkshire Creations jewelry is inspired by the natural world. Working in fine metals and mixed media, Deitra Blackwell makes jewelry by hand that is unique, but very relatable. Each piece achieves its ultimate meaning in the mind of the wearer.
Maker
Deitra Blackwell
Deitra Blackwell was born in Central Illinois in into a military family. Her father’s military career took her family to numerous locations. Her love for music started early, at age 8 with piano lessons. She continued as a musician through high school and college culminating with a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the New England Conservatory. She enjoyed a music career of over forty years in opera, theater, choral music, teaching and church music. At age 60, she retired from her music career and started exploring visual art in metalsmithing. She was surprised at the pleasure that working with metal gave her, and loved studying the stylistic periods in visual arts as she had studied these periods from the music perspective years earlier. Much of her work is botanical and organic in subject, with more recent abstract explorations. She credits her study at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock with encouraging her work and providing a foundation for her development of a body of work and establishment of her jewelry business, Berkshire Creations.