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Barbara Bixby Portal

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Barbara Bixby Jeweled Art

Barbara Bixby's jewelry is avidly sought by collectors around the world. Her intricate, intriguing pieces are deeply spiritual, incorporating gemstones and motifs that have meanings both personal and global. The combination of exquisite, feminine design with edgy, free-spirited themes results in creations that are satisfying on both aesthetic and emotional levels.

Her creations range over a wide variety of themes and incorporate many different motifs. What they share is an aesthetic that reaches for deep meaning even as it retains a sense of light-hearted whimsey. Each gemstone, each motif is chosen with precision. Elements combine in ways that allow the wearer to wear what is truly personal. The designs pay homage to ancient, spiritual traditions and to the wonders of nature. The result is jewelry that is both art and talisman. It delights senses and sensibility.

This page serves as a portal to individual lenses that explore some of the many facets of Barbara Bixby's jewelry designs.

Barbara Bixby Keys of Life

fairy-keyBarbara Bixby has been creating her Keys of Life collection since 1991 and it has become one of her signature themes. Keys have always attracted people. The whole idea of unlocking something that has been closed -- hidden away -- ignites the imagination. Keys symbolize knowledge and and often are associated with the gaining of wisdom. Barbara has created many keys since that first one, and each key is carefully designed to incorporate the unique meanings and properties of the various gemstones she chooses. These are not just pieces of jewelry. They are meaningful pieces of sculptural art -- each named, each accompanied by an explanation of its symbolism. A selection of the keys she has created over the last 2 decades is presented in this lens.

Barbara Bixby Keys of Life

Barbara Bixby Garden

tree-of-lifeBarbara Bixby makes no secret of her passion for gardening and the creative stimulation she derives from the flowers and creatures she observes in nature. Her signature flower is a stylized lotus. She chose this special flower because the lotus grows in mud, reaching toward the sun and the heavens -- a metaphor for spiritual growth and reaching for a higher plane.

This page showcases some of the jeweled blooms and garden-themed designs Barbara Bixby has created. Delicate lines and subtle colorations capture the essence of nature's miracles -- allowing us to cherish the beauty of the originals and the original beauty of her designs.

A Barbara Bixby Garden

Barbara Bixby Skulls and Daggers

skull-daggerSkull and dagger symbols go back hundreds of years and the meanings touch the core of our most primitive beliefs. It is these spiritual aspects that Barbara Bixby calls upon when she uses skull and dagger imagery in her jewelry designs.

As the container for the human brain the skull carries direct links to spirit and consciousness. While it reminds us of the transient nature of life, it also reinforces the idea that we transcend our corporeal beings. In the Bixby lexicon, swords and daggers are symbols of power -- emblems of personal power and strength.

Barbara Bixby Skulls and Daggers

Short Interview with Barbara Bixby

The designer discusses her jewelry and inspirations in this short interview before a recent QVC Designer Silver Day show.
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Barbara Bixby Vessels

pink-swirl-wish-bottleBottles and other vessels hold secrets and mysteries. Symbolically, they protect our deepest desires, our dreams -- our very essence.

Since earliest times, sacred vessels have been integral parts of spiritual ceremonies and rituals. Over time, these bottles and jars have come to carry spiritual significance far beyond their original purpose.

Jewelry artist Barbara Bixby has created a series of ornamental vessels designed to symbolize these deeper meanings and to represent their many ceremonial uses. Whether you use them as intended or simply cherish them as beautiful objects, there is something intriguing and mysterious about these bejeweled creations.

Barbara Bixby Vessels

Barbara Bixby Jeweled Creatures

bixby-creaturesPassionately attracted to the beauties of nature, Barbara Bixby draws considerable inspiration from her garden. This influence shows up in her jewelry in the form of lush flowers (including her signature lotus blossom), sinuous swirls of foliage, and whimsical creatures.

It is her "critters" that are the focus of this page. In the hands of this artist, common garden bugs, slithering reptiles, and winged insects are transformed to jeweled objects of desire. Stately elephants, mystical dragons, even the humble garden snail become small treasures. If the idea of wearing a grasshopper or spider seems unimaginable to you, you haven't seen them with the Bixby touch!

Barbara-Bixby-Jeweled Creatures

Barbara Bixby on eBay

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Barbara Bixby Symbols of Faith

symbols-of-faithBarbara Bixby's affinity for all things spiritual is well known. Into even the simplest design she incorporates gems that are associated with attributes and meanings that imbue the wearer with positive energy. In quite a few instances, these subtler influences are incorporated into more traditional and widely-used and understood spiritual symbols. Among her many designs are numerous crosses, oms, Buddhas -- even t he occasional ankh. These more graphic manifestations of religion and belief are embellished with very specific combinations of gems and metals, with the result being spiritual jewelry that is both deeply personal and an expression of individual taste.

Barbara Bixby Symbols of Faith

Barbara Bixby Hearts

barbara-bixby-onyx-heart-ringJewelry artist Barbara Bixby is known for her reinterpretations of beloved icons -- elevating them to coveted and treasured talismans. She has done keys, symbols of faith, skulls, flowers, and critters of all sorts. This lens showcases Barbara Bixby's heart creations.

Traditionally, hearts are symbols of love. But earlier beliefs associated the heart with a person's inner self, believing that this organ controlled a person's spiritual and emotional core. It is to these beliefs and meanings that Barbara Bixby turns when she designs her heart jewelry.These small works of art, wrought in metal and gems, are heirlooms-to-be, amulets, personal expressions.

Barbara Bixby Hearts

Favorite Bixby Jewelry

Each of the pages showcased in this lensography features a different category of jewelry by designer Barbara Bixby. Which category contains your favorite pieces? (Please vote. You may also comment, if you like).

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What Kinds of Jewelry Do You Wear?

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resabi

Experimenter, dabbler, follower of paths frivolous and not. I'm an editor by vocation and avocation; I also design books. Among my interests are readi... more »

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