Margaret at our gallery in Fort Davis with carving by Doug Moreland
Margaret Sullivan is the 8th of 10 children from Gladwin, Michigan, but these days she lives with husband Preston, and a host of other animal family members on N-Bar Ranch in Reserve. New Mexico. The place is headquarters of two creative souls in Margaret and Preston. N-Bar Ranch is a beautiful place operated with love and in a way that honors the history of the setting and the cowboy.
She makes jewelry in her solar powered studio just about every day, in between ranch chores and spending time with Preston, the furry family or ranch guests.
We met Margaret back in the late 1990’s when she and brother, Bob had a shop in Dallas, Texas called Puti. They sold folk art, cool stuff, and some of the beginnings of Margaret’s jewelry making.
She has dedicated her life to making stuff. Her jewelry has blossomed, bloomed and hit the highest level of skill, imagination, her beautiful wit.
She is also breaking up her pounding silver these days with painting and we LOVE her paintings!
Margaret is a dear friend and we share a love for music and laughter. Her humor is quick and her wit is dry and no one lights up a room like Margaret Sullivan.
What is the best part of your day at N-Bar Ranch?
I guess the best what I love best about the Nbar Ranch is just when I just look around. There’s just incredible beauty everywhere. My favorite time of the day is feeding my horses and taking my dog for walks and petting my barn cats. I have some friends out there.
What inspires you the most & what music are you currently listening to in the studio?
I’ve been listening to Justin Townes Earle all of the time lately. I love his voice and his lyrics.
What inspires me most is I love horses and animals and cowboy stuff .
I like it to make jewelry that people want to wear all the time, every day or when they dress up,
I like my pieces to work for it all.
When and how did you get the jeweler calling?
In 1992 I was working at Half Price Books and learned about religious reliquaries where they stored part of saints and decorated the boxes with gold and jewels. That inspired me to make my first pieces.
I first started forming jewelry out of sculpey clay until I could take silver jewelry classes.
