Aileen Lampman Members Exhibition Feature;
For artist Aileen Lampman, jewelry is a way of preserving the beauty of the natural world in forms that can be held, worn, and treasured. Rooted in a family legacy of metalsmithing, Aileen continues to forge her work on her great-grandfather’s anvil, carrying forward both craft and memory with every strike of the hammer. Trained in metals, fabrication, and later micro mosaics, her practice blends sterling silver with stone, glass, and texture-rich materials shaped by landscape and place. The result is wearable art that feels both ancient and contemporary — grounded in nature’s rhythms and elevated by the precision of handcraft.
In the 2025 Touchstone Members Exhibition, Aileen shares work that reflects her love of botanical forms, geologic color, and meaningful materials. Her micro mosaics reimagine a traditional medium by incorporating chunky stones and textured metal, transforming each bezel into a tiny landscape shaped by experience, location, and memory. Her connection to Touchstone began through friendship, but her connection to its creative community deepened through shared values: a belief in handmade work, a respect for material history, and the joy of learning alongside others who love craft.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aijewelrypa/ Website: https://aijewelry.bigcartel.com/
Read more about Aileen’s work in this interview by Erica Nuckles, PhD, Touchstone Communications Committee member and Director of Learning, Engagement and Partnerships at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art.
What is your Touchstone story? How did you first hear about it and what drew you to be involved?
I was introduced to it by board member, Colleen. I was exhibiting at the Three Rivers Arts Festival, and she gave me a thorough explanation.
Can you tell us about your journey as an artist—where did it begin, how has it evolved?
I began making jewelry as a bored artistic teenager. I started out in 2d painting and drawing but was always interested in jewelry; even more so after a 5-week arts camp at Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts. After studying jewelry/metalsmithing in college, I apprenticed with a goldsmith and later started my own botanical silver jewelry line. My work has evolved – almost shifted – into micro mosaics. I make my own sterling bezels and fill them with stone, glass and metal. I’ve very much enjoyed adding color and texture to my nature themed work.
How do you describe your work(s) in the Touchstone Members Exhibition? Where did you find inspiration?
The Chert Leaf is filled with stones found in the desert in Utah and accented with textured silver veins. It is inspired by the Southwest desert.
What’s something unique about your process, materials, or approach?
Traditional micro mosaics use only glass in the process. I like to mix that up using chunky, textured rock and metal. Many of my pieces have a connection to place and location to where the rocks were found.
How do you hope viewers engage with or interpret your work? What would you like them to take away?
Wearable mosaics that have a connection with the earth and places of meaning.
What does it mean to you to be featured in an exhibition at Touchstone?
As an artist local to Ohiopyle, it gives me great pleasure to exhibit my first piece in a Touchstone exhibition!
Visit the 2025 Touchstone Members Exhibition, on view through December 20, 2025, in the Bea Campbell Gallery at Touchstone in Farmington, PA. Click for gallery hours.