Renee Busdiecker is a full-time studio jeweler and metalsmith living in Nashville, Tennessee. She shows work at Danielle Miller Jewelry in Greenville, SC and online on her website and at Artful Home. She has sold her work at various fine juried art shows through out the US. 

Graduating from Eastern Illinois University with a BA in 2D Studio Art with a concentration in Painting and Drawing, her journey with metals began as an undergrad when she landed in her first jewelry class in 1989. She went on to continue metalsmithing graduate studies at EIU. 

Her jewelry career started with opening a retail fine jewelry store in Eugene, Oregon called Blue Moon Jewelry Designs. She operated the store for 16 1/2 years. 

After closing Blue Moon, she produced a wholesale and retail production line she sold to art galleries and jewelry stores at approximately 50 different locations. After 10 years of production and wholesale, Renee refocused her energies on creating custom designed pieces for clients and one of kind work for retail online and traveling to juried art shows across the country.

She has been classically bench trained and continues to expand and refine her skills with more advanced engraving, setting and technique based learning from some of the world’s best artists in the industry.

Renee enjoys being an instructor for beginning and intermediate metalsmithing. She travel teaches in private studios, at other jewelry schools and work spaces across the country and overseas. She offers Make Your Own Wedding Band workshops to couples for an exciting adventure in hand creating your own wedding bands under her helpful guidance. Please email at renee@reneefordmetals.com for pricing details.

​inspiration
The beauty in the natural world inspires me. The imperfections intrigue me. I continually explore the idea of creating simple forms rich with tiny details. Inspirations from nature, historical references, architecture and self discovery all compel me to translate ideas into tangible permanence in the form of wearable jewelry and small scale sculpture. Imagery and small details found in nature or of the massive wonders of the universe find their way into original illustrations then in hand-engravings on the metal of my jewelry.

Painting and illustration/drawing have occupied quite a bit of my creative output over the last year. Graphic design has been a big part of how I am approaching elements of translating my illustrations onto metal for then hand-engraving. I have begun a side-by-side creative business as a brand illustrator, surface pattern designer and illustrator transitioning into a chapter where metals takes a slower path.

process
With a background in painting and drawing, I find myself often trying to create a painterly surface on metal. Heavily influenced by the German expressionists in my painting and drawing, I often mimic with bold, wild textures they favored. A direct connection with my tools, specifically hammers, is almost always visible in each piece I fabricate. The evidence a hammer blow makes leaves a trail that indicates how I have manipulated the metal into a new form. I choose to leave this trail as to bring the viewer into the process of creation. I will never tire of the challenge to create. It brings me too much joy to ever stop. Focusing on process leads to new ideas & a way to keep my work fresh. Keeping my eyes open & my sketch book near, I hope to capture that idea & translate it into a manipulated version of my mind.

life + family
I owned a bricks & mortar retail store, Blue Moon Jewelry Designs in Eugene, Oregon for over 16 years. Blue Moon Jewelry Designs closed it's doors in October of 2010. The end of this chapter has brought over 15 years of many new opportunities and challenges that I am always eagerly embracing. I continue to evolve and adapt to where my art takes me. I still welcome limited custom work and connecting with past customers of Blue Moon Jewelry Designs.

As a single mother for a good portion of their childhood, I am grateful that I was able to and continue to make jewelry for a living. Now as they enter early adulthood and head out into the world, I was fortunate enough to meet the love of my life, Paul, and we got married fall of 2023. (Hence, the personal name change.) Living and loving a creative life with him by my side is beyond any dream I could have ever imagined.