Meet the Artist – Mary Anna Lee, The Witch Mother

Whether it’s beading, carving, or crafting fine sets of jewelry, Mary Anna Lee has made a name for herself as throughout the dissident sphere with her folkish inspired creations, which are truly a wonder to behold. We reached out to her for an interview to learn more about her beginnings as an artist, the inspirations behind her works, and more.

How would you describe yourself as an artist/crafter?

I’m primarily a beader but also a carver, fine construction and mixed media jewelry crafter dedicated to European folkways with an emphasis on the esoteric and informed by my Germanic, Slavic and Celtic heritage. My aim is to celebrate Our People’s folkways and empower the wearer.

When did you first get into crafting your pieces? How did it all start?

It all started about 9 years ago. The idea that I could be artistic or could be a crafter had never really occurred to me yet. I always assumed I didn’t have those talents which is why I always encourage others to give things a shot. My mother had recently passed away and one day I was looking at a stunning and ornate beaded Slavic piece my mother had gifted me and all these thoughts starting running through my mind. What happens if this breaks? Why doesn’t nearly anyone in America make these anymore? And I was studying the piece in a new way and out of nowhere it clicked in my mind how that piece was done. The idea that I could was born. Still utterly intimidated by beading, however, over the next few years I did a lot of reading of fantastic old handicraft and jewelry books and experimenting with basic construction. When I first started the business I was leaning heavily into animism and bone jewelry and quickly discovered a passion for carving antler, finding ways to incorporate my Bindrunes as well as classic European cultural symbols, and also making regal and historically inspired pieces with bones and Baltic amber. In complete and utter devotion to Freyja. As all of this was taking form, in the background, I was teaching myself how to bead. Which is primarily what I do now but certainly not exclusively. The business was truly born out of a place of healing, personal meditation, and a driving desire to create beautiful Folk craft and merge my lifelong experience with spiritual and cultural beliefs with tangible and lovely unique jewelry.

How does your heritage influence your creations?

Entirely. Completely. I’m taken with the folkways of the people I come from and I appreciate how my ancestors kept them close even in America. It’s a celebration of my heritage and it ripples out. All I need to be wholly and fully inspired is to look to the past, and present, of the cultures of my people.

What goes into creating one of your pieces? Take us through the process.

Well it kind of depends on if I’m doing a custom for someone or just creating for the love of it. My business has evolved to mostly custom work. I love chatting with my clients and dreaming up pieces together. Listening to their preferences and finding meaningful components and crafting something for their personal style and often for deeper and touching reasons. It’s a true thrill to create such unique and personalized pieces for folks. And then sourcing the materials carefully that I need. Sometimes custom work is inspired by previous pieces and it’s a little more straight forward. Either way, I adore it. Often times when I’m just creating for the sake of it my ideas come from dreams or I’ll have seen something inspiring and then ideas start swirling around. A lot of my more esoteric patterns I sit and design in a very ritualistic manner and let it take me. There are some intricate passion pieces floating around my head that I can’t wait to get out. And when I’m working it’s normally with my kitties and music blasting. My little slice of heaven.

Who is another artist in the dissident/folkish sphere that inspires you?

Oh, there are so many! I’m very proud to say that there are so many inspiring artists in our sphere. Fostering this community is very important to me so luckily I get to be surrounded, essentially, by so many Folkish crafters. Arcane Accents is a big stand out for me. I’m a huge collector of her work and just always cheering her on. I think what she does with handcrafted Folkish home decor is so important and moralizing. She’s an immensely inspiring woman and artist. I’m also very inspired by my friend Jessica Shaw from New Zealand. She is a fantastic painter mostly with watercolor and she has a passion for folklore and botanicals. Another inspiring painter is Emma Lucy Shaw. I just got in my first pieces from her and I know I need more! Jenny from The Litterbox inspires me with the precision and dedication in her embroidery. Solace Creations is another huge inspiration. Her wood-burning blows me away and I’m always thrilled to see what she does next. I find crafters like Little Resurrection Flower, Wheat & Sky and IANTHINE very inspiring in their originality and unique styles of jewelry making. I could literally gush about my friends all day, but this is a good start!

What is the most rewarding part of your work to you?

That could be answered as simply as creating beauty and sending it out into the world. But going a little deeper; I don’t even have the appropriate words to express how much it means to me to empower others and celebrate White heritage. To get photos back from customers where I can see how proud they are and how good they feel. I mean, what a cool job and outcome. The absolute honor of adorning brides, or making pieces for customers during times of bereavement, to honor ancestors or to invoke personal power or healing for folks is something I cherish and respect with my whole heart. To say it’s rewarding is to put it mildly. There’s a lot of personal growth involved in this as well and I’m proud of that too. Being able to work for myself, at home, homeschool my daughter and dote on my husband is such a rewarding way to live my life and the sheer opportunity to wake up everyday and do what I love and manifest beautiful things for beautiful people is not lost on me.

Do you have a particular piece that you’re most proud of?

I think this has to be a two part answer. To start, I would say my Visby lens pieces. In shop-lore they’ve come to be known as Visby. So the inspiration behind these comes from archeological finds in Gotland known as the Visby lenses. There are some silversmiths who make absolutely stunning recreations of the necklaces found there but they are at a price point that not everyone can swing. So my spin on them utilizes beadwork. I bead-bezel the lenses and these pieces are highly customizable. I’ve done lenses themselves with Baltic Amber, crystal glass and quartz and many kinds of gemstone beads for the length. So it’s a highly quality, heirloom piece but far more accessible in regards to the price. I have these pieces all over the world and it’s one of my most successful items.

And secondly it would be the work I’ve created with my Sigr-auðigr bindrune. This is actually fairly recent. Sigr-auðigr is old Norse for fated victory. The bindrune itself came to me in a frenzy. I was feeling a lot of things at the time, creative blocks, stagnation, frustration and set out to kind of murder the frame of mind I was in. It’s very hard to explain the process exactly but long story short, this bindrune was born and it filled me with new hope, faith, inspiration and determination. I very much wanted to share that with others so I made some beaded pieces with it and to make sure the gentlemen weren’t left out I even did a run of shirts. I’m very, very proud of this both personally and professionally. There are some pieces created for ritual purposes, that I am so proud of, and they are so sacred to the people who own them that no pictures were taken on my end and out of respect those just exist quietly in my heart.

Last but not least, do you have any advice you’d like to give to other aspiring artists and creators in our sphere?

Go for it. Have discipline. If you love it, do it. If it piques your interest, try it. From practical crafting to wondrous works of fine art, Our People have an ability to create that is unmatched. I hear a lot, particularly from women and other moms, that they just can’t figure out where to start in regards to a small business. And my best advice is to stop thinking about how and just do. Make a channel, make social media, make physical items, network in the community and get your stuff in front of eyes. Creating beautiful and culturally relevant things is so important not just for the self but for us all and future generations. When it comes to creating, the simple act of doing can he so very healing and meditative and positive. So if it’s more your style to create and not sell, that’s a wonderful thing too. And you know online, overall, you get what you give so get out there and network! Stand proudly in who you are and what you offer and I guarantee that will ripple out in a wonderful way. And while we do have a fantastic community ready to support you it’s always good to keep in mind that it’s up to you to promote and present who you are and what you’re doing. Be thoughtful and genuine and I guarantee good things will follow.

Where to find Mary Anna Lee

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