John Binzley is an artist, craftsman and adventurer. Traveling to the far corners of the world yearly, he embodies a unique and personal vision that fuses the duality of his life as a trader and an artist. His travels and contact with diverse cultures enrich both his art and his life.

 

John was born in Santa Barbara, California in 1955. His father was an educator and his mother a mystic. He grew up in a highly creative environment. His formative years were divided between Southern and Northern California. His unique aesthetic perspective originally developed living along that dramatic coastline, from the majestic redwood forests of Marin to the stark beauty of the Mojave Desert.

After high school he moved to the Southwest. He settled in the old western ghost town of Jerome, Arizona where he became part of an artist colony. He has continued to maintain a studio and home there since 1976. It was here in Jerome that John developed a taste and interest in Native American culture and beadwork, inspiring him to create his own ceremonial pieces.

His earliest beadwork was bags, necklaces and bottles covered with intricate peyote stitched seed beads. He soon gained notoriety for his work and has been exhibited in galleries throughout the world. He has a strong customer base of collectors who greatly appreciated its fine craftsmanship and creativity. In 1979, John was part of a beading exhibition that traveled throughout the United States.

Several of his pieces were published in an anthology of beadwork, "The New Beadwork" by Kathlyn Moss and Alice Scherer.



In 1983, John started his Asian travels, and within a few years made a major life changing decision, he moved to the Indonesian island of Bali. Here he designed and built a second studio and home amongst the idyllic terraced rice fields of Ubud. He then became part of an international colony of artists.

 

The proximity of his home to other Asian countries has allowed him to travel extensively throughout the Far East, inspiring and fueling John's passion for studying different cultures, and the diversity of the people and geography. He makes yearly pilgrimages to such places as Tibet, Nepal, India, Pakistan, China, Myanmar and Cambodia, and visits on average 9 countries a year. He has recently started exploring South America, and has already done an extensive tour of Bolivia, with plans to visit Peru and other South American countries already in the works.

 

Wherever he travels he can be found combing the back alleys and marketplaces for the things 'normal' tourists never even dream of finding. Amongst his peers and fellow artists he is known as someone with an incredible eye and an uncanny knack for finding the unique, rare and unusual treasures of the world. Part of this can be ascribed to his 'eye for detail', combined with a fearless and adventurous spirit, plus an enormous amount of determination and patience.

Part of John's artistic vision is inspired by the mandalas of Buddhism along with the Islamic patterns of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In truth his artwork is an ever-changing, ever-evolving merging of the cultures that he experiences and combines with his own artistic visions. His collectors eagerly await to see what he will be displaying in his yearly collections, as they never know what he will be presenting next, and they are never disappointed.

He is a master of silversmith, beadwork, lapidary, and leather craft. Along with the treasures he gleans from his travels, he weaves these disciplines together to create one-of-a kind fashionable objects of adornment, fine jewelry, handbags, pouches, and distinctive objects de art.

John coins his pieces "fine funky ethnic", a synergy of cultures that have made a deep impression on him and his life.

John's home on the Internet is a place for collecting and creating. A place for sharing the adventures of art, life and traveling.