Amy Butts

Biography

Amy Butts, a Chicago-based metalsmith and jewelry artist, gives voice to the found objects she fashions into her striking and distinct original jewelry. If these pieces could talk, they would say “reinvention,” “transformation,” “collection” and “souvenirs.” Those are the words Amy herself uses when speaking about the contemporary pieces she creates from historical elements. Amy’s work is wearable nostalgia. She creates new life out of old items including chandelier crystals; several decades’ worth of autograph books, diaries and recipe books; vintage rosaries and other yard sale and flea market finds.

In addition to her own scavenging, she works with clients to re-fashion everything from inherited jewelry, photographs, handwritten notes and obsolete wedding rings left over from ended marriages into contemporary pieces that have meaning for today. Her “Autograph” collection further explores verbal meaning and connotations as the pendants feature words and phrases from old autograph books and diaries, including “home,” ” best,” “dream,” “wishes,” “sunshine” and “hot.” Amy also encourages her clients to have the backs of the pendants engraved for an even deeper personalized statement.

Working in her Chicago studio overflowing with found objects, Amy finds inspiration in the ways that jewelry can spark memory and play the role of souvenir. She hand crafts each piece in her collection and can spend hours just arranging various items until they feel irreplaceably right. Amy says it’s a good day in her studio when she is able to look at beautiful little objects that have lost their present usefulness and bring out their beauty again. A really good day is when she is creating beautiful jewelry and making herself laugh. The end result is unique rings, necklaces, bracelets and other treasures that manage to be aged and timeless all at once.

The daughter of a tool and die worker and a veteran crafter, she is not at all surprised that she makes her living designing and creating. After all, she grew up on Jewel Avenue! Amy has a BFA in metalsmithing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MFA in sculpture from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. Her jewelry is available in boutiques and galleries throughout the Chicago area and at the Society for Arts & Crafts in Boston.