Denise Wallace

“The transformative power contained in the ancient stories of Arctic native peoples seems to have reached across the centuries to find expression in the lives and work of Denise and Samuel Wallace. Master jewelers whose pieces depict icons and legends inspired by Old Bering Sea culture, the Wallaces possess an almost mystical ability to wrest continuity from disparate elements — gold and silver, culture and design, desert silver inlaid with fossil ivory, the deep blue of lapis lazuli beside the swirling green of malachite. Even their personal backgrounds and ages make for an unlikely match. Denise, born in 1957, traces her heritage to the Chugach Aleuts of Southeastern Alaska; Sam — she calls him Wally — was born in 1936 in Virginia, and had hillbilly kin living in Hoot Owl Holler.

“How the two of them created a family of jewelers (with their children Dawn and David) whose work has won most Indian jewelry awards and is collected and exhibited in major museums is presented in surprising detail in Arctic Transformations: The Jewelry of Denise & Samuel Wallace by Lois Sherr Dubin.”

excerpt from American Craft magazine, Dec 2005 / Jan 2006