A Summer Sanctuary

Anne Bivens reflects on growing up at “Bamma’s Beach,” a fisherman’s cottage on Sullivan’s Island. Today, the accomplished silversmith maintains her connection to her childhood by showcasing her stunning jewelry at Sandpiper Gallery.

by Colin McCandless

Aug. 09, 2023

12:00AM

Rob Byko Photography

Anne Bivens is a jewelry artist who spent her childhood summers on Sullivan's Island

Some of silversmith Anne Bivens’ fondest memories as a child were formed on Sullivan’s Island. The artist and educator, who was raised in Sumter, spent her summers on the island, staying with her grandparents, Essie and Ferd Gregorie, in their vacation home at Station 28-and-a-half. The former fisherman’s cottage, situated on the front row of Sullivan’s Island before accretion set it further back, was over 100 years old by the time it was torn down.

Bivens still has a painting of the home rendered by her Aunt Gabbie Gregorie, a cherished keepsake and family heirloom evocative of a place that holds special significance for Bivens, whose artwork has been represented at Sullivan’s Island’s Sandpiper Gallery for 20 years.

As a child, Bivens knew the house as “Bamma’s beach” – the nickname for her grandmother – an enchanting place where she and her sister, Becky, and brother, Wilson, who are all within 4 years of age, would collect shells from the shore. “We’d go barefoot all the way down to the beach,” she reminisces. “We’d have to hop, it was so hot.” Her grandma would teach them the names of different shells, and afterward they would make creatures or pictures out of them using the pipe cleaners, glue, and paper that Bamma had on hand. Bamma would play games with them on the porch, including one imaginary game she called “William the Trumpeter.” “She’d play it the whole afternoon with us. All of the grandchildren. She was a wonderful grandmother,” says Bivens.

We'd go barefoot all the way down to the beach. We'd have to hop, it was so hot."

-Anne Bivens

She recalls how in those days, the home had a wraparound “sleeping porch” – and no air conditioning – and they would sleep on the side porch and watch the beam rotating from the Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse, performing its sentinel duties. Bivens recalls one occasion when a possum clambered up onto the porch, clinging to the screen and hissing at them. “It scared us to death,” she says with a laugh.

They would sleep on the side porch and watch the beam rotating from the Sullivan's Island Lighthouse."

Going crabbing was another common pastime while spending time at Bamma’s. Bivens remembers toting in a bucket of crabs and accidentally dumping them all over the kitchen floor, scattering crustaceans everywhere. “We were horrified as children,” says Bivens. “I don’t think we ever found them all.”

A painting depicting Bivens’ grandparent’s home at Station 28-and-half rendered by her Aunt Gabbie Gregorie. The home was torn down in2021 following Gregorie’s death.

Rob Byko Photography

Sandpiper Gallery owner and director Julie Cooke, left, silversmith Anne Biven, middle, and art consultant Kathleen Arnold, right, inside Sandpiper Gallery on Middle Street. The gallery has represented Bivens’ artwork for 20 years.

As a staple at Sandpiper Gallery on Middle Street, Bivens has maintained a connection to Sullivan’s Island, although she didn’t become an established jewelry artist until later in life. She began her career as an educator, earning a master's degree in adult reading, and has taught about every age from 3 to adult. She worked for 16 years in Heathwood Hall’s Academic Achievement Center in Columbia, South Carolina, helping teach students with learning disabilities in reading and writing. She still tutors high school students in humanities and writing.

When she was a child, her parents would send her to camp in the North Carolina mountains every year, where she took crafts classes such as copper enameling and underwater basket weaving. “I always loved working with my hands,” she says. Even when she was teaching, Bivens crafted jewelry on the side. “I’ve always been fascinated by jewelry,” she notes. “Not that I wanted to possess it all. I just appreciate the beauty of it.”

She recalls a pivotal moment in her evolution as an artist. While walking down Main Street with her husband, Alton, and browsing in a jewelry store in Highlands, North Carolina, Bivens glimpsed a bracelet crafted from handmade glass beads. “It was so beautiful.” Alton bought it for her, “and I deconstructed it,” she said. “That was when I first got started with jewelry making. I just started observing how things were put together.”

She began attending gem and mineral shows, buying items, and assembling them. Before long, she showed Sandpiper Gallery owner and director Julie Cooke some of her work. “I was really surprised – she wanted to start taking them. I was so flattered,” says Bivens. After several years, she decided she also wanted to make the components she used to put the jewelry together.

She discovered metal clay, a Japanese-derived medium consisting of microscopic grains of silver extracted from old X-rays. “You can mold it, you can cut it, you can shape it, and then you fire it – at 1,600 degrees,” she says. “It shrinks a little bit, but then it keeps its shape.” Bivens found someone in Micaville, North Carolina,who was a certified master in metal clay, took the classes, learned the art, and became certified herself.

She plied the trade for a few years before transitioning into silversmithing. For nearly 18 years, she took every silversmithing class she could find, scrutinizing all aspects of the craft. Besides Sandpiper, her work is featured at Charleston’s Dare Gallery and the Rutledge Street Gallery in Camden, South Carolina. “Her attention to the minute details of cutting stones and hand-working the sheets of silver, copper, and gold into unique pieces of jewelry is evident in every ring, earring, bracelet, and pendant that she creates,” says Cooke, who also owns Dare Gallery. “The simple beauty of the natural gemstones that Anne combines with the sophistication of her one-of-a-kind designs brings collectors back time after time.”

Bivens makes pieces both for men and women, fashioning creations using sterling silver or mixed metal jewelry. Every one of her projects starts with a flat sterling silver sheet and wire, and, from there, she cuts, textures, patinas, polishes and sets stones. She prefers natural stones – turquoise is a particular favorite. “It just speaks to my soul. I love turquoise,” says Bivens. She has now learned to cut her own stones using equipment such as a trim saw and a cab genie for making cabochons – gemstones that have been cut and polished.

Bivens now teaches silversmithing classes at her artist’s studio in Columbia, where she welcomes any prospective students looking to learn the craft. “I like to help people create their own jewelry,” she said. As for the family house at Station 28-and-a-half, it was razed, and the property was sold when her Aunt Gregorie, the last surviving family member to reside in the home, died. But Bivens has kept her aunt’s painting as a memento. Meanwhile, her own work as a jewelry artist continues to evolve. “I can’t imagine not doing this,” said Bivens. “I’m sorry that it took me so long. I wish I’d been doing this forever.”

I can't imagine not doing this."

by Colin McCandless

Aug. 09, 2023

12:00AM