Artist Bio

Grace Barden is an artist and metalsmith, based in Lewes, Delaware. Born and raised in the heart of Wisconsin, she creates work that explores themes of feminism, grief, and matrilineage, often drawing from deeply personal experiences. As a second-generation metal artist, Barden’s practice is profoundly influenced by her mother, whose creativity informs her passion for craft. Her work has been exhibited across the Midwest and beyond, showing at the Ella Sharp Museum of Jackson, Michigan, the Gallery at Kenilworth Square East in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the Baltimore Jewelry Center in Baltimore, Maryland. Barden held an internship with Jost Jewelry Manufacturing in West Allis, Wisconsin, where she achieved the first ever awarded Advanced Apprentice Graduate in Professional Jewelry Making & Repair certificate through the Manufacturing Jewelers and Suppliers of America & U.S. Department of Labor. She recently graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio arts, studying jewelry and metalsmithing, from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Barden currently works for the Heidi Lowe Gallery as a bench jeweler in preparation for graduate school, while keeping a consistent and intentional studio practice going.