Artist Bio or "Why I am driven to do this for a living"

Hi! I'm Betty St. Clair and welcome to my website. When I was just six years old, I was hit by a car. As a result of this accident, I had a broken femur and multiple surgeries over the next eight years. Since I couldn't be physically active, I became more cerebral and developed a vivid imagination. I was a published writer before age seven.

I must have always loved flowers. There are family photos of me as a toddler with a huge peony pressed into my nose. I started making "things" at a young age too. I was spending a lot of time with a great aunt, who was a fabulous seamstress and took a lot of craft lessons. Aunt Rene would show me how to make all sorts of wonderful treasures. But I would put a twist on each project. If the craft specified lace, sequins and dried flowers, I would use ribbon, beads and sea shells. By the time I was ten, I was very hesitantly knocking on doors, trying to sell my coquina earrings, which, by the way, looked a lot like tiny flowers. As a child, you quickly learn that being artistic gets you lots of positive attention. So I studied piano, ballet, and continued writing short stores and poems. Then my mother, in her desire to make me more outgoing, enrolled me in children's theatre. While it didn't get me over being shy, I was smitten with the acting bug for the next ten years. It became my college major; I even studied in New York for a short time as part of an off campus fine arts program.

After graduation, the job market was tight; so I became a perpetual part-time student. I took classes in anything that interested me: horticulture, retailing, interior design, visual merchandising. Many years later, I would win three outstanding booth/display awards for Fleur du Jour. Thanks to relatives, I finally landed a creative job managing a retail store.

But, after five years, the shop had been sold; and, I had moved to Colorado and was selling advertising. Since cold call sales scared me, I decided to do something comfortable again: be a student. I enrolled in the Colorado Institute of Floral Design. Within a few years, I was a pretty good designer; but working in uncreative job situations, and quitting or getting fired. Then a friend asked me to share a booth with her at craft fair. "It's only $10. We can share the fee. You can make and sell some of your floral wreaths." Three hundred dollars later and a consignment contract in the works, Fleur du Jour was soon to be born.

I introduced the first version of the jewelry within the first year. Three years later, I juried into the Colorado Renaissance Festival. By the fourth year and a wholesale show later, the work was being sold in gallery shops and at Walt Disney World in Orlando.

Artist's Afterthought: I have been making rose jewelry for over fifteen years. The production is long and tedious. Sometimes I wonder why I continue to do this work. Then I do an art show. And there is always at least one person who walks up to me smiling: "I 'm so glad you're here. I buy your jewelry every time I see you. I wear it all the time. And I always get compliments." Yes, the attention feels great. But, it's nice to know you've made someone's day a little happier; and you've touched their lives in a good way.