Janet Payne Bowles (1873-1948)

Born in Indianapolis, Bowles moved to Boston to study psychology. While there, she recalled hearing “an orchestral tone, which was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard.” Tracing the sound, she discovered it came not from music but from the clanging metalwork of a young Russian metalworker. He became her first teacher in metalsmithing, the craft in which she would eventually become a leading figure and a prominent jeweler. Among her clients were some of the wealthiest families in the United States, including financier J. P. Morgan, who commissioned her to create gold tableware.

After returning to Indianapolis in 1912, she exhibited widely and earned numerous awards around the world. In the 1920s, a New York newspaper called her a “pioneer in precious metal design.” By about 1927, she had begun teaching pottery at Shortridge High School.

Her work can be seen today at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, which holds more than 120 of her metalsmithing pieces in its collection.