Mark Battuello Artistry

Rings - Bracelets - Paintings - Photography

I ‘ve started with the art form of photography. I interned for two local publications and while at Sacramento State University I was one of their staff photojournalists. This was the training I needed to do the weddings I was hired for. From there I started painting. At one time I had paintings in a restaurants. Silverado Brewery which is no longer sold my paintings for 12 years and that was located a little North of St. Helena in Napa Valley. Schooner’s in Antioch, CA commissioned me to do all their artwork. Schooner’s is no longer there. I had some in the city of Napa at Allegria restaurant for a while and at the Hydro in Calistoga,CA. I ventured into another art form years later. Jewelry. I started making gemstone stretch bracelets for Marc Hupert aka. known as Ravenwolf in Santa Cruz, CA. We still work with each other he’s in Venice, Florida now. I wanted to expand on bracelets so I taught myself to work with metal, we know ourselves as metalsmiths. I eventually sold one in Made Local Marketplace in Santa Rosa, CA and from there I wanted to keep going. I taught myself how to use a lathe again and started making rings with wine barrel staves, then a whiskey barrel stave, then inlaying stones into different types of ring cores such as ceramic, stainless steel, damascus steel, wood, and animal skins such as buckskin and alligator skin. I also use salmon skin as a finish as well as to inlay opals and gemstones. Most of the opals I use are lab made. They take 18 months to grow and are the same material as natural opals, better colors and much stronger for the price. I have rings in Calistoga, CA at a shop called Kokomo Studio, and rings in Santa Rosa, CA at a shop called Positively 4th Street. I have also been successfully selling copper bracelets in Calistoga at Kokomo Studio.

I took one Jewelry making class in Santa Ross at a place called 180 Studios. I just heard they closed down. They offered wood work, welding, computer hardware and more. My instructor was Nancy Wintrup. She is a Master Jeweler. You can see her work on the internet. The class met once a week for five weeks. It was a basic class that exposed me to a variety of tools and techniques. I still share my projects with her via email and she shares me her latest work. She has been my only formal training and so grateful to have had her as a mentor and still do when I need her.Thank you for taking time to read a little about my artistic journey.

- Mark Battuello