“It started with a fire. In 1989 while attending a Halloween party, a drunk partier decided to flick a Bic and set my costume on fire. I landed in the hospital for a month's stay with 30% 3rd degree burns and skin grafts. Six months later I took my first jewelry class and was horrified to learn that I needed to torch to solder to join my ring. With help from my teacher, I watched in utter fascination, that little slip stream of solder flow across my silver band ring. That moment marked the first major transformation of my life. I became a jeweler, entered Massachusetts College of Art and Design and graduated with honors in 1997. In 2006 I attended Burning Man. This marked the second transition of my life. And yeah, watching my first Man Burn was kinda difficult.

The works I create are inspired by archeology, geology and time surrounding life altering events. I meticulously encapsulate various natural elements into repurposed, wearable jewelry. The rich story of how these materials have lived and how they were collected is rearranged in new and compelling ways, capturing its very essence from novel transformative phenomena.

Upon receiving my BFA in Metals '97 from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, I decided not to pursue the conventional fabrication path. Instead, I founded a non-profit jewelry school, Metalwerx: School for Jewelry and the Metal Arts and discovered my other calling as an entrepreneur and educator.

It's the paradox of the two professions and mindsets that allow me to slip between two worlds of giant and oh so tiny. I think my middle name is "What If". Over the years, I've learned to trust the "What If" in my head and shoot for the opportunities so many fear, but wish they could reach. This has led me down many beautiful and creative paths in my life.

What if there was a school that highlighted jewelry education, honored the best teachers and lured them to spill their knowledge for 23 years? What if after watching countless hours of Star Trek, you got to meet the jewelry maker of all those cool resin jewels for the breastplates of Sarek, and assemble your findings into another in-process book, Jewelry of Star Trek? What if you decided to visit Chiang Mai for 4 months and work in a temple learning traditional Thai chasing and repousse or build a jewelry teaching area at Makerspace Thailand? What if from another death of a jewelry manufacturing company, you purchased 400 spin casting molds and are installing them in underutilized hallways of museums? What if there was a book on The Jewelry of Burning Man, encapsulating the stories and visual adornment of a groundbreaking event? What if you could teach jewelry to others and inspire them to follow their dream of creating? I can answer all of those. The answer is: you become something better each time.

I'm stymied when people ask me, "what is your art?" For me, it is a celebration of What If's. It is engagement for both rites of passage and the very jewelry that is part of a grander ceremony, unique and referential. My art voice is a choir for the "What If" and then having the guts to pull it off.

What if you collected carbon from 15 burns, stored them neatly and tricked science? Through scientific innovation, a unique lab grown diamond born from the ashes and carbon of Burning Man's Temple and Man Burns we celebrate the intense emotion and spirit in wearable adornment. What if you could look down at your hand with all that energy, fire, passion, and unique community encapsulated in a diamond ring to wear? And once again, I learn from my personal exploration into the What If.” - Karen Christians

“This project began as a question. What if a sculpture could be more than just temporal art at Burning Man? This diamond ring and full art project began as a question. In 2011 I conceived of a sculpture project called Ring of Fire. A 25 ft steel ring to be placed onto the playa as the giant ring box. Imagined as a rough CAD outline, ladders on either side. In the side of the diamond facets allowed citizens to place love letters, divorce decrees, custody battle documents, fond memories and more to be burned inside a round faceted mirror polished stainless steel diamond. What if the ephemeral remains could be collected as carbon and spun into five diamond rings to help non-profit art organizations in a unique collaboration between an event and as jewelry. I applied to Burning Man for an Honorarium, and was accepted, provisionally, that I had to fund the entire thing, as no money was available. I had support from DPW, and all the logistics that it would take to build on the playa but no funds. The vision remained and the idea that a diamond could be created someday stuck in my mind. I continued to collect carbon from every Temple Burn and Man Burn from 2006 to 2016.

My camp, Oasis 47, is an art camp. I teach resin inlay, a process that combines two-part resin into the back of bronze pendants into a cloisonné themed designs. We all experience meaningful gifts. One is the story of a ceremony of leaving our 2009 Evolution Horseshoe Crab pendant at the temple for my friend's mother who passed away. The following summer, a BRC citizen biked up to my camp's art car and asked about its unique shape, a horseshoe crab. Noticing the pendants that hung from our friend's necks, he pulled out his pendant which he found the previous year digging through the Temple burn remains. He followed us back to our camp, where he took off his pendant and gifted it back to my friend. This gave me the idea of writing a book on The Jewelry of Burning Man with LadyBee (Christine Kristen) and photographer George Post. I love putting ash and playa and even ground glass from the Man into my resin inlay jewelry, but as a teacher, it is the discovery and delight of my students that fuel my passion. It was in 2010 the idea came into my head to go bigger, and that 2011 Rites of Passage was the perfect theme. I vow that if this ring does well, that the sculpture will finally come to rest on the playa at Burning Man. Some things are worth waiting for.

With this diamond ring, I get to finally create the proof of concept of creating a lab grown diamond from Eterneva who has embraced and supported my idea. The carbon from the 2011 Temple of Transition burn has been submitted and will be spun into a 1 carat, red, emerald cut diamond. The black silhouette on the right side of the ring is filled with resin inlay from the very same carbon that is creating the diamond embracing the lovely Easter egg of meaning. The final ring size will be custom fit to the winner. The diamond will take 7-10 months to grow. It's a long time for online auctions but well worth the wait. The winner will receive updates on the growth and progress of the diamond, wax carving of the ring by Kenn Kushner, and casting in 18K gold. Jewelry, like big sculpture, can be a collaborative process. My jewelry heroes, Faberge, Tiffany, Cartier, unknown Thai Goldsmiths and Cellini all make stunning jewelry in a collaborative fashion. This ring is no different and is truly a one of a kind diamond ring. I love items that have meaning, are self-referential by capturing a precious moment of time. My metal art from book cover applique to jewelry to small sculpture all have meaning. Our book continues to inspire makers everywhere. As I teach, I learn and for me, it's the most meaningful gift of all.” - Karen Christians

You can learn more about the different types of participant-made jewelry found at Burning Man through Karen’s book, “Jewelry of Burning Man” or by watching this interview with the author.




To see more of Karen Christians’ work please visit her website, or like her on Facebook.