Meet Shauna Turner | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shauna Turner and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shauna, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I am the daughter of a very talented businessman and a gemologist. I grew up with my sister and I listening to the talk of my parents’ jobs around the dinner table. I learned about diminishing returns and how diamonds are made…along with some truly terrible jokes and puns. Unlike most artists I grew up going to science camps and couldn’t stay away. My favorite camp though was the Marine Science Institute camp in Redwood Shores. I truly wanted to be a marine biologist. I followed my zest for science both in school and in my free time.
BUT, I also LOVED my art classes. I couldn’t help but fall in love with them too. It made my work through my emotions in a way that was more therapeutic than “Hi, I’m Shauna” “Hi Shauna” would or could ever be. I went to pottery, drawing, and painting classes.
There was a strange combination of art and science in my life and I loved it.
By the time I was 17 I was a volunteer at the Marine Science Institute doing research data. I was so sure I’d grow up to be a deep-sea invertebrate biologist that I applied for that major in college…with art as my minor. I went to college and got sick from the mold in my dorm room. I was so bummed to have to give up my long time dreams of being a scientist but knew that this would be great too.
I ended up switching my degree from the high intensity, high energetic demand of biology to the more serene major of art. I loved it. It made my soul soar more than science ever did. I threw myself into art.
Now my preferred arts are beading with natural stones and minerals and photography. I LOVE the feel of beads in my hands and how I find the perfect combination of colors, stones, shapes, and patterns to make a piece that is appealing to people. My happy place always has always been in art.
Since I’ve been in my mid-twenties I knew that art was my path in life. I didn’t know how, but I knew that I would either be creating art or teaching it or using it as therapy. Who knows maybe all three of those one day? What art means to me is the expression of emotion that a human couldn’t otherwise express. I love that I am part of the art world, it gets me through my hard days and makes my good days even more amazing than I ever could have hoped.
From my 5 –year-old painting classes, my 7-year-old ceramics classes, to my 10-year-old drawing classes, to high school ceramics and sculpture classes, to my college art history and drawing classes I always felt…at home with art supplies all around me. My beading frenzy (I never can make only ONE piece of jewelry in a day) days are always peaceful. I love that my happy place is now my passion and drive. My day job is now just my “I have to pay for my bills and art supplies” job. I couldn’t be more at peace with the direction my life is going now.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I start my process when I pick out the beads for each piece of jewelry I make. I use only all natural stones (or fossils), along with sterling silver and nylon cord or plastic coated wire. I love to work with the cool or strange material, beads from apatite to zoisite and from fossilized coral to fossilized turritella snails. For all necklaces and most bracelets (some bracelets are on wire) I bead whatever pattern I want then go through the strand and make knots along it in the cord so that there is little chance of losing beads when the piece of nylon breaks hundreds or thousands of wears later. After I knot I put a bit of jewelry cement on the end knots to really make sure it stay on. I pride myself on my quality both of products and effort. For earrings I use a doubled over piece of the plastic coated wire to loop through beads to create a dangle. I have to make sure that my brand quality is always as high as I can make it. I have this old excel spreadsheet, one without self-calculating column or anything fancy. I have literally had this spreadsheet for fifteen years at this point. It has all my past work, sometimes who bought it, materials, price, and pattern. I make everything in sets. So I will bead ten or so necklaces, then knot those ten necklaces, then put them in my system and price them, then photograph and post. I got where I am with the help of my family, friends, and amazing materials. I couldn’t have done the same end product with glass or plastic beads. However that is where I started. With plastic seed beads. I relish the feel of the beads and pendants in my hands. If I didn’t have a huge respect for the materials I use I would never be able to end up with the product. You can’t fight nature, certain beads and colors and textures just don’t go together.
Getting where I am was definitely not the easiest task. I still remember when I was on the floor with my sister once, we were beading with plastic seed beads. I think that was my first remembered moment of my love for beading. From then on the hard part was keeping my beading relationship healthy for my wallet. I still have my days when a person has the “I want it” face…then they check the price tag of my all-natural, one-of-a-kind, hand made creation and they walk away. THAT is the hardest part of my current situation. On those days I have to remember that I am making something unique and precious and it is worth the asking price.
I have learned some lessons from along the way. 1. Always thank the people who help your dream come true. I never thought about the term “thank you for choosing…” before I made my own product for people other than friends and family. They DID choose you. 2. HAVE FUN. Some people make their dream their dread. They are so into it succeeding that the fun goes out of it. If I am not having fun with the current step of the process but still want to work on my business I change it up. 3. Work hard for the highest quality YOU can afford to spend. As a kid, the highest quality was plastic beads, then glass beads, then low quality stones with glass beads, I then moved to solely stone beads but still not the quality I work with now. I couldn’t have started with sapphire beads when I was ten, nor would I want to. 4. Make it work. If you do a pretty ugly piece of jewelry, make it work with different beads in the same pattern or some other way. DON’T give up for the day just because what you made isn’t perfect. You CAN do better. If you have to, take a break for a while, let those artistic vibes refill. 5. YOU GOT THIS. I think that everyone has a dream that is attainable and it sometimes is the case of finding the RIGHT dream to set your soul on.
I make healing, natural crystal beaded jewelry. I wouldn’t be who I am without the whole set of adjectives. If it was just crystal jewelry it wouldn’t be me. I started out very into the more healing crystal vibes. I still believe they do hard work for the people who wear it, but they also healed me. Beading is my zen, so it really does make me a better person to be around. I am now very into combining the science and the spiritual sides of art.
The name Heartistic comes from a day when I was trying to make a name for my new business. I wanted a word with “art” in it. I needed a work with “art” in it, it was how I would show the world what I did. I found out after spending hours trying to be fancy. I was silly. HEART. And that was what I did. But something was still missing. I had to make a word that was mine. And so began Heartistic. Art from the Heart. Bam, I found my perfect word to describe what I did.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If I was doing a giant tour with an out of state friend I would start with my childhood favorite. The Monterey Bay Aquarium and Cannery Row. I have been to Monterey Bay Aquarium so often over my lifetime that I wouldn’t be able to pass up another chance to go and nerd out. And then Cannery Row because they have two other weaknesses of mine, sugar and socks. Yep, the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and The Sock Shop. The next day I would probably be very stereotypical and go to Pier 39, I love the stores and the people watching. People come from all over the world to visit San Fransisco, and most go there at least once. Again there is another sock shop…what can I say, I’m consistent. But there is also a bunch of cool stores like the Tea and Spice Exchange and some cool metaphysical stores. Not to mention the sea lions that like to show off behind the pier. The next two days I would go to Santa Cruz. There is the Boardwalk and then the city of Santa Cruz itself. Who could resist some great company and an adrenaline rush. I would visit Half Moon Bay next. It is another coastal town but there is a smaller town feel. I still love that you can walk down the Main Street and find something for everyone. Lastly, I would go to the Winchester Mystery House. Fun Heartistic fact, that was my first official sale. I sold them 12 pieces of jewelry that I had designed just for them. It focused on protection and grounding. Something a place haunted by ghosts would need. I love the whole story of the house and how it came to be what it is. If there was one more day I would recruit local friends to go to wine country, but I am not a wino so I’d have more issues leading a tour.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have several people who deserve some credit and love. I would love to give credit to my mum and dad for always giving me the choice to follow my own version of my life. And my sister for always giving me her honest opinion. My boyfriend for being my support system. And anyone who has supported my dream by buying from my business, they are what lets my dream be real.

Website: www.etsy.com/heartisticbyshauna

Instagram: HeartisticByShauna