Amy Butts



Amy Butts has a BFA in metalsmithing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and an MFA in sculpture from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago.
Amy’s work is wearable, whimsical nostalgia. She creates new life out of old items including chandelier crystals; several decades’ worth of autograph books, diaries and recipe books; vintage rosaries and other yard sale and flea market finds. In addition to her own scavenging, she works with clients to refashion everything from inherited jewelry, photographs, handwritten notes and obsolete wedding rings into contemporary pieces that have meaning for today.
Working in her Chicago studio overflowing with found objects, crystals and jewelry vending machines, Amy finds inspiration in the ways that jewelry can spark memory and play the role of souvenir. She hand crafts each piece in her collection and can spend hours just arranging various items until they feel irreplaceably right. Amy says it’s a good day in her studio when she is able to look at beautiful little objects that have lost their present usefulness and bring out their beauty again.