Jessie G. Donnan
2192 Trail Point Road
Aiken SC 29803

Phone:(803)649-2262

email:jessied1@mindspring.com

Below are excerpts from an article from the May, 2002 issue of Wire Artist. Jessie was the featured artist of that month.

"Jessie Donnan may be the only wire artist you will ever meet from Mars -- Mars, Pennsylvania, that is."

"Yates, Jessie's husband, had collected rocks and cut cabochons since the 50's. I guess his enthusiasm for the hobby rubbed off on me. We joined the local gem and mineral society primarily so we could go on field trips. At club meetings we heard about the great workshops at William Holland and Wildacres. However, it wasn't until I retired that we decided to go."

"They signed up for their first workshop in the summer of 1995. Yates took silversmithing and Jessie took a beginner's course in wire-art jewelry. 'I selected wire art because I had bought a shark's tooth at the club show that year that I wanted to wear. The instructor for my first course was Martha Spies. I enjoyed her class so much I signed up for a second course that same summer under Mimi Murray. By the end of the summer I was really hooked.'"

"Over the next several years, Jessie took other courses -- silversmithing, cabochon cutting, dichroic glass, intarsia and lost-wax design/casting--but there was no question she was addicted to wire-art jewelry."

"'By 1997 I felt comfortable enough with my wire-art skills to teach. That first summer I volunteered for two weeks of Advanced Wirecraft. To help me in those classes, I decided to write a book by drawing upon the procedure-writing skills I had learned at work. I naively assumed one book would be all I would ever need. However, my students enjoyed that book so much they begged me to write a new one for 1998. Each year they continue to ask for more. I now have a total of eight completed books with a ninth one in the works.'"

"It amazes Jessie how many people have asked her to develop specific designs for future books or have shared their own designs. That has made her job of compiling a new book each year a lot easier."

"Jessie and Yates enjoy their time at the school--its almost like a second home. They've met so many nice people there, included Suzanne Wagner, who runs the school. While there, Yates either teaches cabochon cutting or sits in on other classes. (He's a pretty good silversmith, and also does some nice channel work.) They also enjoy going to local rock shops or collecting more specimens at local collecting sites."

On this website you will find pictures of the designs that are featured in each one of Jessie's books.