M eet the
Jeweler Aileen Lampman makes the rounds of
craft shows and arts festivals across the region.

You can find her creations closer to home at
Planet Art Gallery on Washington Road.

68 mtl • may 2008
internship program.

After graduation, Lampman apprenticed
with A.U., Inc., a goldsmithing company in
Hershey. She found the experience reward-
ing, but it limited her productivity.

“The last thing you want to do is come
home and work on your own stuff,” she
says. She eventually produced enough jewelry
to begin making the rounds of the arts and
crafts festivals, something she still enjoys.

The craft shows earned her some notice
from gallery owners and eventually she found
a place in the Sundance Collection, the line of
merchandise sold in conjunction with Robert
Redford's Sundance Institute in Utah.

Lampman has been living on Academy
Avenue for the past two years. “It’s walk-
able, safe and has great estate sales,” she
says. She is still marveling over the Eames
chair she picked up for a scandalous bargain
price. Handcrafted from gold and sterling sil-
ver, Lampman’s designs are inspired by
everything from nature to Georgia O’Keeffe
paintings to ancient Egyptian jewelry. She
is especially captivated by the lotus flower,
which “grows in murky water and emerges
at the surface as an exquisite bloom. The
lotus strives for the light at the surface and is
a wonder when it blooms.”
Fittingly for someone who loves flowers as
much as Lampman does, she and her fiance,
Giuseppe Francioni, are getting married this
month at Phipps Conservatory.

—MERLE JANTZ
Renee Rosensteel
A ileen Lampman, 36, has been
making jewelry since she
was 13. Her original medium
of choice was leftover cop-
per wire from her dad’s electrical projects.

Metalwork runs in her family. Lampman’s
great-grandfather was a blacksmith and
she uses the same anvil he did to work on
her creations.

By the time she reached high school,
Lampman was more interested in painting.

She became more attuned to metalwork-
ing during a five-week Governor’s School
program at Bucknell University between her
junior and senior years.

Governor’s School programs are held in
the summer on college campuses through-
out the state. The highly selective programs
offer intense concentrations in areas such
as the arts, sciences, health care and inter-
national studies. Her first choice was paint-
ing, but she couldn’t get a place in that
program. After completing the program,
she refocused her energies from painting
into metalwork. Lampman, who grew up in
Erie, earned a bachelor of fine arts degree
from Edinboro University, studying under
Sue Amendolara, a nationally known met-
alsmith. “Sue came to Edinboro my sopho-
more year, and she really turned things
around,” Lampman says. The two remain
in touch, and Lampman works with
Edinboro students through a summer
rtist