Describe your work as a visual artist. I design & create jewelry inspired by Nature, Medieval Architecture & Art that inspires me, particularly the Pre-Raphaelite artists of the Victorian Era in England. Using clay as a frame for Stained Glass, tiny glass vials or found imagery under glass, then hand paint them to achieve an antique finish.

How does music inspire your work as a visual artist?

Symbolism, emotion, the stories they tell. I tend to put on music in the studio that is conveying the mood I’m in at the moment and I guess that goes into what I’m designing somehow…I love music that takes you to another time or place, imagined or real. It is a true gift to create something that can transport someone to a world of your own making. Writers are another big inspiration for that reason, I try to do the same with my work in a small way. The feeling that it has come from another place or time, weathered and mysterious.

Do you remember the first time, or most significant experience where music influenced your work? When my website was new around fifteen years ago, a musician found it and saw that we were inspired by similar things. He sent me a copy of his CD, and I was so moved by it that I made a tiny wearable book with some of the lyrics in it and sent it to him. We still collaborate today, he is also a rare book dealer and sent me a true Medieval book fragment that I have been turning into jewelry one scary cut at a time.  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150137487122942.338114.61500032941&type=3 His band is Unto Ashes: http://pinterest.com/pin/168533211028253067/

What other types of music or specific musicians or composers capture you?

Patrick Wolf ~ British Queer Folk Classical Electro? He is hard to describe but I find him to be one of the most exciting new musicians out there today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVYjxocJcxI

The Veils ~ Just saw this band at Berklee’s Café 939 club and they were incredible! He is the son of another musician I loved in the 80’s, so it makes me feel a bit old but that is ok.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhGGjFHbyp8

Sharon von Etten ~ From Brooklyn. She opened for another band I had gone to see, and I fell in love with her fragile, personal songs and voice. This one was written to get through panic attacks: http://www.nytimes.com/video/2012/02/02/magazine/100000001328934/new-music-sharon-van-etten.html

Jordi Savall ~ from Spain, incredible Viol player, conductor and composer. Finally got to see him last year at Jordan Hall, it was my dream after hearing his music in the film “Tous les Matins du Monde” years ago. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103110/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNNq8qYeUDc

Adam Hurst ~ a gypsy Cello player I first saw when I was vending at a Fairy Festival! http://pinterest.com/pin/168533211026667090/

Could go on and on about the music I love, even have a Pinterest page for the songs that seem to be conveying the mood that I am in at the time or what I am listening to: http://pinterest.com/jen_parrish/emotional-landscapes/

What sites or venues can people view your creations?

My website is a place for connections to my blog, Etsy shop, and info ~ http://www.parrishrelics.com

(And I will be selling at a wonderful Renaissance Festival in a castle on the Ocean again this year at the end of July ~ http://www.abbadiamarefestival.com/ Come visit me!)