Biography/Artist Statement

Wesla makes objects of delight from reclaimed and upcycled musical instrument parts to help people celebrate their personal connections to music. She is inspired by the stories these materials have to tell. Craftsmen shaped them; musicians dreamed with them; listeners cherished those dreams. Then she turns them into kaleidoscopes – and art for your ear becomes art for your home. She earned a BFA in graphic design from Cooper Union in NYC. While taking a metalsmithing class for fun in 2006, Wesla was instantly captivated by the process of creating jewelry. Wanting to use recycled materials, she began to work with discarded and broken musical instrument parts to express her love for music, narrative, and craftsmanship. In 2018, after several years of making jewelry, she got the idea to try making a kaleidoscope using clarinet and flute parts – and she was hooked! Wesla lives and works in Los Angeles, California. While she loves L.A. (unless she has to drive cross-town in rush hour traffic), she still considers herself part-New Yorker and always folds her pizza slice.