Bruce Eckhardt
Bruce Eckhardt was raised in Arizona and lives in Santa Fe New Mexico. His jewelry has been shown in the SW, and across the US, as well as in collections in Europe, and Asia for 30 plus years.
His work has been collected by Rock Stars and Celebrities including; Madonna, Louis Malle, Candice Bergen Jonnie Mitchell, Jenny Craig, ZZ Top and Santana.
Galleries across the US that carry his work include Garlands in Sedona Az, Ortega’s in Santa Fe NM, Twin Rocks Trading Post in Bluff, and the Cosby Collection in Park City Utah.
Eckhardt studied with a Navajo painter at Prescott College in the early 70’s whom created a student exchange program with the American Institute of Indian Arts IAIA in Santa Fe. As part of his student exchange, Eckhardt worked in the studio/classroom of Alan Hauser – the well-known stone Sculptor. During this time Eckhardt realized he loved the feel of stone—the density resilience, and sense of eternity in the material, yet he still loved the bright colors of the paint he was used to working with.
Those stones of bright, vivid colors turned out to be gemstones. Over the years many other teachers including Charles Lavato from Santa Domingo Pueblo inspired Eckhardt; and taught Bruce how to roll beads. With the help of his talented teachers, Eckhardt developed and honed his own unique talent and signature style. He strives in his jewelry “to paint” with stone by capturing color and volume. It has been an evolution of many years work but ART is often like that, he says; “ It becomes itself, in spite of itself.”
I have been collecting Bruce’s work for years and his pieces are my favorite things in my jewelry box. …….Each piece of Bruce’s work is a work of art designed using beautiful high quality stone that is second to none. There is southwestern jewelry
……and then there is Bruce Eckhardt………