Written By Sofia Heins, Unionville Press
Inspiration
Hattie Weselyk’s artistic ambitions transformed from being a professional ballerina to running her own art studio in the heart of the Unionville Chadds Ford community. Seeking a creative outlet after having kids, Weselyk began to make earrings—specifically unraveling a love for ginkgo earrings. She was given the chance to sell her jewelry at the Longwood Art Gallery and yearned to create more. Weselyk’s beginning jewelry was created for Urban Outfitters, yet, when she turned to making jewelry for Terrain, Weselyk recognized Terrain’s nature-focused aesthetic and was inspired to work on whimsical plant-inspired pieces. From there, Weselyk fell into designing and creating botanical jewelry, often using real plants to formulate templates and unique designs. It is clear that, besides using live plants, Weselyk loves to draw inspiration from books from the beginning of her jewelry making—even finding creativity in illustrated children’s books that eventually made their way onto her studio’s bookshelves. With her ambitious creativity and yearning for a studio, Weselyk’s passion would initiate the next eightee years of her jewelry creations and teachings.
Teaching Time
Weselyk renovated an old office in her house to offer studio classes, beginning with a jewelry-making studio. Eventually, her garage too would be converted into a clay studio that has attracted the artistic curiosity of students who want to experiment in both areas. Early on in Weselyk’s studio classes, she would send out postcards around the community to reach enrollment. When I asked Weselyk about the transition from mostly producing jewelry to now teaching classes, she responded, “I think my real gift is teaching…I melted my knowledge of jewelry making and my experience in teaching [ballet], and I decided that I was going to start holding a single class here for adults on teaching them how to make beginner silver jewelry.” Returning students allowed her business to grow, eventually expanding Weselyk’s unique offered classes. With the addition of a clay studio, Weselyk was able to start Clay Day Open Studios where students of all skills and levels can experiment with clay in a self-guided manner. She noted that the preliminary concept of Clay Days was to resemble a community art center. Since she began the clay studio, Weselyk has been able to continue offering Clay Days in addition to workshop classes for kids, teens, and adults.
In the Studio
The Hattie Weselyk Art Studio offers a range of classes, entailing one-day experiences and also six-week classes. While the single-day workshops can range from wheel throwing to teen metal jewelry workshops, the six-week adult metal jewelry (and clay) classes catch the attention of those who want to jump into learning and make their own jewelry—which includes learning how to solder (join two pieces of metal together). Weselyk raised the importance of smaller studio classes, noting, “All of our classes are intimate and they’re small…in this way, I walk around and help everyone individually”. Weselyk teaches traditional silversmithing; she aims to “teach the foundations to [her] students rather than [her] style,” noting that teaching the basic techniques eventually allows her students to generate their own brilliantly unique styles and causes of inspiration. She also mentioned that, while teaching leaf jewelry classes, she always includes stone setting (cabochon setting) and precious metal clay (metal with properties that resemble the agility of soft clay) in her leaf jewelry classes as they are fan favorites. It is evident that Weselyk is methodical in her teaching, explaining each process and setting as much time as needed for every step of a project. Between producing intricate jewelry pieces to making sure that each student has their own set of tools and studio space, her attention to detail as both an artist and teacher is immaculate.
Kids and Teens, Gather ‘Round
In addition to six-week sessions for adults, Weselyk also mentioned her love for instructing kids’ classes. Notably, Weselyk admires the instinctiveness of kids in the studio. Highlights of her kids’ classes include her BYOSnack workshops and summer plant camps for kids. Of course, in addition to the kids-focused classes, Weselyk has introduced teen metal jewelry workshops where teenagers can work with tools to create a pair of earrings or a necklace pendant. Weselyk loves to host a range of group studio events, such as bridal and birthday parties in addition to Swiftie Saturdays—for all the Taylor-Swift-obsessed kids interested in art. Her range of studio courses is truly admirable; Hattie Weselyk is a teacher who aspires for others to both learn fundamentals but to also express their creativity in various ways.
Off-Site Classes
Weselyk allows herself to experiment with different mediums, especially when teaching off-site classes. She has recently been instructing how to make crepe paper flowers, orchids, and even precious metal clay projects through Longwood Gardens’s Continuing Education Classes. In addition to classes at Longwood, Weselyk instructs off-site classes at Winterthur and the Delaware Art Museum. It has become such a grand sense of pride for Weselyk when she sees her current and past students from both her art studio and off-site classes start to post their own designs or even jewelry businesses, knowing that she had helped begin their journeys. Weselyk’s artistic ambition has been carried throughout her own designs, studio courses, and off-site classes that allow her to inspire others within the Unionville Chadds Ford community.
