After spending hours with
Simma Chester, I had the opportunity to not only learn about the jewelry designer but also take a look into her adventurous life. The exotic artist who calls herself a traveling freak is not your everyday soccer mom.
Q: Who is Simma?
Simma: I’m a mother and a wife. And I’m Curious! I’ve been with my husband, who is a sculptor for 34 years but married for eight years. I have two sons who are also artist.
Q: Any family art projects?
Simma: We did a family painting on a wall when my sons were younger. We each took a part of the wall, expressed ourselves and created a four-wall painting together.
Q: What is your fantasy?
Simma: My fantasy is to live in the country and own a huge barn. I would have a station for everything I like to do - beads, metal, painting, sewing, drawing, and sculpting. I’ll just keep making stuff.
Q: What is your most memorable moment?
Simma: In Ibiza, I lived in a house on the hill for $23 a month. You walk out the door and it's the Mediterranean. I've traveled all over Europe, Africa and Asia. Artifacts from these places inspires my work.
Q: How do you cope with running a business and being creative?
Simma: Being an artist is 10 percent creativity and 90 percent administration. I know great artist that can't get their work out there and some people make crap but are doing good. You don't get what you deserve in business but what you negotiate. I knew nothing about business but somehow I’m doing it.
Q: Any moments of self re-evaluation?
Simma: In an accident, I severed my thumb and my hand turned into a flapper. It was the first time in my life that I couldn’t use my hands to do what I lived for.
Q: Tell me a secret
Simma: I didn’t start using pearls until my now deceased mother-in-law gave me a pearl necklace. I reconstructed it and made it into a necklace. I then fell in love with pearls.
~Shaneia Caldwell~
Photos: George Post
