I am Who I am

I grew up in the Keystone state and settled in the Hoosier state. My family is small, me, my husband and my son. We are all only children. Only but never lonely. We are art lovers. The story of my adult life is about art. We also love dancing. I met my husband at a dance. We were later on bandstand when it was big In Philadelphia.

Once we were extras in the Twins movie with Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwartzenegger when we were vacationing in Santa Fe. They were filming outside our hotel room and asked if we would like to walk across the street while Danny and Arnold walked down it. I bet you would never notice that we walked across that street three times in the same scene. Several of us represented the crowds in the street. Learned a lot about filming that day.

Photos by designsbyharriet

It was the Greatest Experience

About a year and a half ago I was the curator of American art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. I spent 25 years in charge of the American art collection.

I purchased paintings, sculpture, watercolors and drawings for the collection. I started the museum's collection of African American art and built it into something I and the museum could be proud of. I wrote books on art, "A Shared Heritage," "Edward Hopper's Hotel Lobby" and the "History of the Herron School of Art - Early Years," and I have written many articles for American Art Review.

I loved every minute of my job, especially training the docents in American art. But there came a day when the museum found itself running low on funds and there was a big layoff. Sadly, I left the position I loved and moved on.

Photo of my business card by designsbyharriet

Create, Work, Fun, Wear, Sell

After the museum, I decided that I still wanted to be in the arts, but this time I wanted to be on the creative side. I took courses at the Indianapolis Art Center and fell in love with jewelry designing.

I tried to learn all the techniques I could and now specialize in fine silver created from precious metal clay. I am a certified precious metal clay artist.

I have won two prizes in jewelry, Rio Grand Award for Jewelry and Second Prize for Wire Wrapping.

I have an Etsy shop www.HGWjewelrydesigns.etsy.com and a website www.HGWartisanjewelry.com

Photo by designsbyharriet

Oh How I Love These Novels

I read. Most of the time what I read is related to art or creating jewelry, but in my really spare time I read paranormal romance novels. I love everything vampire, otherworldly, and fantasy.

Recently we refinished part of our attic to hold my paperback books. Now I find the authors that are successful are putting their first editions in hardback, so I added a bookcase to fit the hardback books.

I do not own a Kindle or a Nook or any other book reader, because I love turning pages. The feel of the book in my hand makes the characters more alive. I flip back and forth to parts I want to reread and parts I need to reread to understand the story. I go back to previous books to try to remember all the characters in each series.

I am addicted to reading these novels. My wish list on Amazon is filled with upcoming new books in the many series that I read.

I tried watching "Trueblood," the Sookie Stackhouse novels brought to television in all their gory detail, but even though I can read all this gore on the pages of my books, seeing it in vivid red is more than I can stand.

Back to my books. I read them in the gym, in the restaurant, in the hair salon, and at home for relaxation between designing my jewelry. I call it research in the art of the paranormal novel.

Photo of book by designsbyharriet

Pumping Iron is Great for your Bones

I go to the gym six days a week. On alternate days I do weight training and elliptical aerobic. I used to do step class but I had tendinitis and had to stop, so not to be daunted I changed my routine. I do the rowing machine on my weight days for fifteen minutes to warm up and I watch NCIS on my elliptical days to keep boredom in check.

I am determined that my body stay the way it was and is for as long as I can keep it that way. It takes work and sometimes I do not feel like exercising, but I go anyway, because if I don't then I will get in the habit of making excuses.

I always feel better after I go to the gym. I have been doing this for almost thirty years, except for a few years when my tendinitis kept me away. Exercising makes me happy, and I hope it keeps me healthy.

Photo: Taken by designsbyharriet