Arts on the Plateau: Samantha's Earth Jewels

Enumclaw’s Samantha Rheinford is a jewelry artist with a different spirit. “Beadwork is my vessel into the netherworld of creation. I love controlling the tiny beads and manipulating them into a marriage with an unconventional item,” says Samantha. 

Samantha’s original designer jewelry expresses a most unusual notion for replicating nature.  Her work has a primitive feel, capturing the natural world in still life.  Bones, raw wood and rough bark, or dried moss combined with traditional jewelry materials evokes a relationship between contrasting elements. The organic materials that she fashions into chic bracelets and necklaces makes one think how a cave woman might have adorned herself to attract a mate. 

 “Wearable art is my mantra,” says Samantha. “The pieces I create are expressions of my raw emotions; from oozing with sickening giddiness, to slick and sleek with peril, I bring that into my art by using organic materials entwined with hard, manmade glass beads. The undulating repetition of weaving beads or threads frees my mind allowing me to experience and express my emotions on a higher level.”

Samantha's Art - A Taste of Eternity

Samantha forages the forests for nature’s elements to embellish her art and doing so fulfills an artists truest calling, according to Paul Cezanne. “Nature is always the same but nothing in her that appears to us lasts,” wrote Cezanne. “Our art must render the thrill of her permanence, along with her elements, the appearance of all her changes. It must give us a taste of her Eternity.” In the manner that Samantha incorporates nature in her work that taste of eternity occurs.

Samantha was inspired by her mother, who is a bead-weaver. She is self-taught, with many books, periodicals, and other artists to help her along the way. She came to Enumclaw in July 2010, she and her husband and two young children. “I immediately knew this town is where I would live, where I will stay, so I opened my studio, Etsat, at my home on Porter Street.”

Samantha is an exhibiting artist at Arts Alive! Center For The Arts, has recently taken upon herself the duties as Gallery Manager there and a she has been member of the Arts Commission for the City of Enumclaw since January 2012. Currently she serves as chair of the commission.  She has a heart for service. As an advocate for the arts, Samantha holds strong beliefs.  

The Business of Art

Samantha believes the Arts community holds together the emotional being of a town. “When economic times are high, the arts community celebrates their hometown, when the economy is low, the arts community still celebrates their hometown, their heritage, their roots, their ideals,” she says.   “The business of Art is not to make money, but to make emotion, and I truly enjoy putting my time into a field where everyone, regardless of age, status, or ability, can truly enjoy. I have held many jobs in my life, and none of them really puts a stamp on my soul. I would never say I had a life changing emotional experience while working as a travel agent or car salesperson. But creating art and experiencing art that others have created, I will forever remember how I felt, the way the light hung in the air, the way my feet felt in my shoes as I was standing there….connected.”

Contact:  Samantha@etsat.net or 360-625-8631