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NEWS / WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
STUDENT LIFE
KU metalsmithing design student is one of a kind
BY ROSHNI OOMMEN
roommen@kansan.com
When Sierra Winter graduates from KU in May, she will be the only person representing her major.
Winter, a senior from Manhattan, is a metalsmithing and jewelry design student and she's one of only three KU seniors in her program. Jon Havener, professor of art, said that most years an average of six students graduate from the program.
This year, because of plans by her classmates to study abroad. Winter is the only student graduating.
"I enjoy the small program." Winter said. "The professors are really good. They know you, your work methods and how you design."
That inspired her to create several pieces of art, some of which she has sold.
Winter discovered her passion for creating jewelry when she took a metalsmithing class during her sophomore year.
Lauren Hunt, a senior from Leawood, said she was fortunate
to recognize her interest in metal-
smithing before college.
"The majority of people didn't realize it was what they wanted to do." Hunt said. "So they had to start over again halfway through college."
Hunt said students who discovered their metalmithing interest at KU mostly graduated later than planned or avoided the extra year by not joining the major.
Winter's hard work has kept her on pace, though. Winter spends almost five hours in the studio each day making earrings, rings and necklaces.
Sierra Winter, a senior from Manhattan, shapes a ring Sunday afternoon in the Art and Design building. Winter is the only KU student graduating in May with a bachelor degree in fine arts with an emphasis in metallmithing and jewelry design.
"Sierra's an ambitious student," Havener said. "She likes to build complex pieces of jewelry. She's expressing herself through a wearable art form."
For Winter, metalsmithing and jewelry design has become her passion rather than just an academic focus.
"What I love most about jewelry is that it can individualize anyone," Winter said on her website, where she sells her work. "If an ordinary woman walks into a room and is wearing a breathtaking piece of jewelry, she suddenly becomes the
center of attention."
Winter started selling her jewelery at open houses and other venues. Almost one year ago, she also started selling her products on etsycom, a website that serves as a marketplace for homemade accessories and novelties.
Tanner Grubbs/KANSAN
"I realized that making jewelry is much more fun than working as a waitress or in retail." Winter said. "I could just sell my products."
Winter's friends also acknowledge her passion and devotion to the art.
Kelsey Liuzzo, a junior from Cleveland, Ohio, has been friends with Winterfor three years. Liuzzo, who owns some of Winter's necklaces, rings and earrings, said she recognized the uniqueness in Winter's art.
"She makes stuff that makes people happy," Liuzzo said. "She wants people to feel beautiful."
This spring Winter started an internship with Kylie Grater, a local jewelry designer and owner of Early Jewelry.
Grater said she was looking forward to giving Winter more responsibility in her business.
1 have enjoyed working with
Sierra." Grater said. "Having an intern that is mature is great for me, knowing they can work efficiently and are not wasting a business's
time. Sierra takes instruction well and has a great attitude."
Winter may not be the only student representing her major in
May, but she said the experience is more than worth it.
Edited by Taylor Bern
NATIONAL
Second serious storm rips through LA
Associated Press
BY ROBERT JABLON
LOS ANGELES — The second in a series of storms roared into Southern California on Tuesday, bringing heavy rains and winds that smashed windows, submerged cars and flipped an SUV along a stretch of coastline.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The thunderstorm surged ashore with fierce, rotating winds in southern Los Angeles County beach towns and areas of Orange and San Diego counties.
WORKERS gather around a large tree on the roof of a home in Corona del Calif. Monday afternoon, Forecasters said storms lasting through at least Friday could drop 20 inches of rain inland and 18 inches along the coast and in the valleys of Southern California.
Kimmara Acosta, 51, a saleswoman at Castle Tile in Costa Mesa, was sitting at her desk in the showroom when she saw palm trees outside blowing horizontally.
"The wind kind of whipped through the parking lot and the window blew in," she said, still breathless a half-hour later. "It was like an explosion. My mind said 'earthquake' and I ducked under the desk."
The wind threw shards of glass across the room, but tile displays
and a desk protected Acosta.
No major damage or injuries were reported during the storm. Parker showed the thunderstorm
the ground, Southern California tornadoes tend to start as waterspouts and then dissipate quickly when they come ashore, Gonsalves said.
said Philip Gonsalves, a National Weather Service meteorologist in San Diego.
Unlike twisters in the Midwest that can run for multiple miles on
NATIONAL
Radar showed the thunderstorm had rotating winds like a tornado.
Associated Press
California ordinance may cap dispensaries
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday tentatively approved an ordinance to close most of the city's medical marijuana dispensaries, winding down months of debate on how to limit the rapid spread of such clinics.
BY GREG RISLING
The ordinance, if passed next week by a simple majority of the 15-member council, would cap the number of dispensaries at 70 and require them to be at least 1,000 feet from "sensitive uses"—schools, parks and other public gathering spots.
The local law would put an end to the proliferation of pot dispensaries. As many as 1,000 have cropped up over the past few years. That's more than the number of Starbucks and public schools in the city. Four
dispensaries were open in 2005, when city officials first discussed a local medical marriana law.
The ordinance would also likely force remaining clinics that comply to move to industrial areas because of the distance requirement.
"I think it's a beginning point," Councilman Ed Reyes said after Tuesday's meeting. "We have to get control of this issue and shape a policy to make medical marijuana more accessible to those who need it."
While other California cities such as San Francisco, Oakland and West Hollywood have been able to regulate medical marijuana, Los Angeles city officials have discussed an ordinance for years, trying to adopt language that jibes with state law.
The number of clinics has exploded with more than 600 in the past 10 months.
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