Jeffrey Lloyd Dever

"Curious by nature, I believe every piece I make tells a story. It is my job to drink deeply of the world around me, and then share the beauty."

All of Dever's works are sculptural studies—explorations, if you will—of where the material world of his daily life intersects with his naturalistic musings. From early childhood, the hills, orchards, streams, and woodlands of his small New England town infused his aesthetics. It is to the natural world that he retreats when seeking inspiration. In those still, quiet moments, Dever's mind takes wing and soars. Recently he has amended his portfolio, exploring new contemporary work under the influence of modern art, mid-century design, with a dash of Asian aesthetic.

Using hollow form and reinforced armature techniques, Dever creates an array of art jewelry. Working primarily in one-of-a-kind pieces, he also makes limited production editions of several pieces. His techniques are slow and meticulous as pieces grow from sketches to sculptural forms through cycles of fabrication, sculpting, and layering. The colorful surface details are the actual color of the clay.

Dever's first formal training was in college studying fine art. Throughout his career, he has worked in graphic design and illustration, serving as an adjunct professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art and operating his award-winning graphic design studio. In the early 1990s, he discovered polymer clay, and he has been exploring the possibilities of what he calls "color in 3-D" ever since.