Reading Eagle Newspaper, Business Section, Page D8, January 9, 2006

PEACEMAKER
Artist promotes goodwill through designs and charity
Lancaster County’s Holly B. Gage, owner of When Peace Talks Jewelry, incorporates harmony into her work and donates a percentage of her sales to nonprofits.
By Michelle E. Arevalo Reading Eagle correspondent

From ancient amulets and religious medallions to birthstones and mood rings, jewelry often has had a special meaning. Artist Holly B. Gage, owner of When Peace Talks Jewelry, Bowmansville, Lancaster County, understands this connection.
Her work promotes peace through her designs and charitable donations.
“There’s a spiritual element to making things and a connection made when someone wears something handmade,” Gage said. “My work is more than just a pretty piece of jewelry. It has meaning behind it.”

When Peace Talks has a mission that is about more than a product. Gage donates a percentage of her sales to the international Adopt-A-Minefield program, which was founded in 1999 and works to clear the globe of land mines.
“The organization also helps mine victims get prosthetic limbs, and restores areas by building roads and schools,” Gage said. “I’m thrilled to be involved and at actually being able to help.”

Gage also works with other charities to help them raise money for peaceful causes.
“There are three ways I work with nonprofits to help them out: a fundraising event where I sell my work in a space they’ve set aside for me, and they get 20 percent of sales; I can give them space on my Web site, so sales from that [portion of the] site earn them 10 percent of sales; or a 50-50 arrangement in which they buy the pieces from me outright and keep all the sales,” she said.

Gage said her desire to have her work contribute to making positive changes started a few years ago when she and her husband, Chris, were publishing Parents’ Source, a monthly regional parenting magazine they founded in 1994.
“I had written a series of articles on peace-related issues — such as nonbullying, anger management and domestic violence — and I realized those ideas only could be taken so far under the theme of parenting,” she said. “At the same time, I was growing and my children were getting older, so I wanted to get back to my artistic roots, and saw a need to help develop more peace.”

The Gages sold the magazine last year. Holly, who has been creating jewelry for more than 20 years and teaching jewelry making since 2004, began When Peace Talks out of her home, two miles over the Berks-Lancaster county line.
“Through the magazine, I had worked with many local [non-profit] agencies and knew they had little staff, resources or money, and I wanted to help,” she said. “I researched the symbols extensively and wanted to include those only with no negative connotations or political associations. So I felt I couldn’t include the popular ’60s peace symbol, because it will always be associated with those times.”

Instead she chose a triad of dots inside a ring that symbolizes peace: the past, present and future encircled by eternity. “It also represents the preservation and respect of art, science and religion within different races and cultures,” Gage said.

Gage creates other types of jewelry as well, but has made When Peace Talks separate from her other business, Gage Designs, to preserve its socially conscious mission.
“I feel that peace starts with the self, then moves to the family, the community and then the world,” Gage said. “It’s a way of passing it on to the next generation.”

When Peace Talks Jewelry
Address: P.O. Box 614, Bowmansville
Phone: 717-445-5755
Hours: By appointment
Information: Necklaces, bracelets and earrings designed by jewelry artist Holly Gage, featuring seven different symbols of peace. The medallion, which is available in sterling silver or pewter. Gage donates a percentage of [web sales that are purchased from the "Fundraising Opportunities" portion of her site] to the international Adopt-A-Minefield program, which clears land mines and aids mine victims.
Where to find: In addition to jewelry shows and home parties, When Peace Talks Jewelry is sold at retail stores, including Earth Rhythms in West Reading, Sisters’ Gallery in Adamstown and the Lancaster Museum of Art.
Prices: From $25 to $99.
Web site: www.WhenPeace Talks.com

Contact correspondent Michelle E. Arevalo at 610-371-5049 or business@readingeagle.com.