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A Flame in Her Soul
Quite a few years ago, Laura McDonald and the family moved to New Zealand. Whilst there she learnt about Pounamu, otherwise known as greenstone. She learnt how it was sourced, carved and lashed.
Laura says, “I was so fascinated by it all. I loved learning how important Pounamu was for the Māori people and how spiritual it was to them. The greenstone had ignited a flame in my soul. I knew that stones and jewellery-making was definitely something I wanted to learn more about.”
Upon her return to Australia a few years later, Laura began her metalsmithing journey. The family created a small studio at their home on the Central Coast of NSW. She then started collecting all the tools she needed to get her on her way. Laura says, “It wasn’t instant love with smithing. I found it quite challenging at first and almost gave up several times, but I persevered and I’m so incredibly glad I did!”
Now a few years on, Laura has progressed to teaching Metalsmithing five days a week in her studio. She had been teaching various types of art for many years and teaching metalsmithing was a natural addition to her offerings.
“I absolutely love teaching. The majority of my students are teenagers from the home-schooling community and I get enormous pleasure from seeing their enthusiasm for jewellery-making. The students will often be making the same thing, but they will all be completely different,” Laura says excitedly.
Of her own art, Laura says, “I love working with Australian stones, opals being a favourite. Recently I was asked to create a memorial piece of jewellery for a loved one that had passed. I was so honoured and felt truly blessed to make something so meaningful. It’s allowed me to explore a new side to the craft. It’s certainly something I’ll continue exploring.”
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