Keith Wooten: June Artist of the Month

Keith Wooten's work is hanging in the Greenhouse for the month of June, and it different from the past Greenhouse art shows. While Keith's pieces are certainly worthy of hanging on your wall and being displayed in your home, they are actually meant to be worn!  He creates masterpieces...  from antique and vintage jewelry and trinkets.  They are full of whimsey and wonder and instantly become the counterpoint of an outfit!    Keith is also a shop owner... Buddyrow, in downtown Ocean Springs.  Please go visit him there too!  The reception for this show will be June 10, 6-9pm! 

Quick background on how you came to be, please!

After being laid off from a corporate design job in, I think 2001 or 2002, I went cashing about for what next to DO. Sitting on a beach on the outer banks of the East Coast, I rang up an old Texas pal. She read to me a poem by James Kavanaugh, entitled, There Are Men Too Gentle To Live Among Wolves. Then, she asked, what do YOU want to do? I decided that was to go to San Francisco, and make big necklaces. And so I did.

If a biscuit inspired a necklace, or another piece of jewelry, what kind of biscuit would it be, and what would it look like?

It might be argued that EVERYTHING I make could have been inspired by a biscuit of one sort of another. What would they look like? Look at the pieces.

What do you do when you aren’t making jewelry?

When not making jewelry, I’m tending to my vintage boutique/gallery - Buddyrow...and eating biscuits.

Do you have any cats? If so, what are their names, If not, why not?

Dog guy here. If I need a cat to visit, there’s always the Greenhouse, or a visit to my favorite cat, in Tupelo, named Kudzu.

What is your favorite thing about making jewelry?

Seeing what pieces want to marry each other.

If you could make a piece for the Queen, what would it look like?

“THE” queen or “A” queen? Either way, they’d probably look like what I do anyway.

What is the best thing about owning your own business?

Control-or at least the perception of control.

Is there anything else that you want to tell people who are going to come and look at your pieces, or are thinking of coming to view them?

I’d leave that to others. I’ve always hoped the pieces spoke for themselves, to the people who are listening.