SiP SALUTES

A Summer Sanctuary
Anne Bivens reflects on growing up at “Bamma’s Beach,” a
fisherman’s cottage on Sullivan’s Island. Today, the accomplished
silversmith maintains her connection to her childhood by showcasing
her stunning jewelry at Sandpiper Gallery.
By Colin McCandless. Photos by Rob Byko.

S
ome of silversmith Anne Bivens’ fondest
memories as a child were formed on Sulli-
van’s Island. The artist and educator, who
was raised in Sumter, spent her summers on
the island, staying with her grandparents, Essie
and Ferd Gregorie, in their vacation home at
Station 28-and-a-half. The former fisherman’s
cottage, situated on the front row of Sullivan’s
Island before accretion set it further back, was
over 100 years old by the time it was torn down.
Bivens still has a painting of the home
rendered by her Aunt Gabbie Gregorie, a cher-
ished keepsake and family heirloom evocative
of a place that holds special significance for
Bivens, whose artwork has been represented
at Sullivan’s Island’s Sandpiper Gallery for
20 years.
As a child, Bivens knew the house as
“Bamma’s beach” — the nickname for her
grandmother — an enchanting place where
she and her sister, Becky, and brother,
Wilson, who are all within 4 years of age,
would collect shells from the shore. “We’d go
barefoot all the way down to the beach,” she
reminisces. “We’d have to hop, it was so hot.”
Her grandma would teach them the names
of different shells, and afterward they would
make creatures or pictures out of them using
the pipe cleaners, glue, and paper that Bamma
had on hand. Bamma would play games with
them on the porch, including one imaginary
game she called “William the Trumpeter.”
“She’d play it the whole afternoon with us.
All of the grandchildren. She was a wonderful
grandmother,” says Bivens.
She recalls how in those days, the home
had a wraparound “sleeping porch” — and no
air conditioning — and they would sleep on

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A painting depicting Bivens’ grandparent’s home at Station 28-and-half
rendered by her aunt, Gabbie Gregorie. The home was torn down in
2021 following Gregorie’s death.
the side porch and watch the beam rotating

“
They would sleep on the side
porch and watch the beam
rotating from the Sullivan’s
Island Lighthouse.
from the Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse, per-
forming its sentinel duties. Bivens recalls one
occasion when a possum clambered up onto
the porch, clinging to the screen and hissing
at them. “It scared us to death,” she says with
a laugh.
Going crabbing was another common
pastime while spending time at Bamma’s.
Bivens remembers toting in a bucket of crabs
and accidentally dumping them all over the
kitchen floor, scattering crustaceans every-
where. “We were horrified as children,” says
Bivens. “I don’t think we ever found them all.”

Becoming an Artist
As a staple at Sandpiper Gallery on Middle
Street, Bivens has maintained a connection to
Sullivan’s Island, although she didn’t become
an established jewelry artist until later in life.
She began her career as an educator, earning
Anne Bivens is a jewelry artist who a master’s degree in adult reading, and has
spent her childhood summers on taught about every age from 3 to adult. She
Sullivan’s Island. worked for 16 years in Heathwood Hall’s

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Academic Achievement Center in Columbia,
South Carolina, helping teach students with
learning disabilities in reading and writing.
She still tutors high school students in humanities
and writing.
When she was a child, her parents would send
her to camp in the North Carolina mountains
every year, where she took crafts classes such
as copper enameling and underwater basket
weaving. “I always loved working with my
hands,” she says. Even when she was teaching,
Bivens crafted jewelry on the side. “I’ve always
been fascinated by jewelry,” she notes. “Not
that I wanted to possess it all. I just appreciate
the beauty of it.”
She recalls a pivotal moment in her evolution
as an artist. While walking down Main Street
with her husband Alton and browsing in a
jewelry store in Highlands, North Carolina,
Bivens glimpsed a bracelet crafted from hand-
made glass beads. “It was so beautiful.” Alton
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bought it for her, “and I deconstructed it,” she
“
said. “That was when I first got started with
jewelry making. I just started observing how
things were put together.”
She began attending gem and mineral
shows, buying items, and assembling them.
Before long, she showed Sandpiper Gallery
owner and director Julie Cooke some of her
“We’d go barefoot all work. “I was really surprised — she wanted
the way down to the to start taking them. I was so flattered,” says
Bivens. After several years, she decided she
beach. We’d have to also wanted to make the components she used
hop, it was so hot. to put the jewelry together.
She discovered metal clay, a Japanese-
— ANNE BIVENS derived medium consisting of microscopic
grains of silver extracted from old X-rays.
“You can mold it, you can cut it, you can shape
it, and then you fire it — at 1,600 degrees,” she
says. “It shrinks a little bit, but then it keeps its
shape.” Bivens found someone in Micaville,
North Carolina, who was a certified master in
Examples of Anne Bivens’ jewelry collection displayed at the Sandpiper Gallery.
Bivens is particularly fond of using turquoise in her pieces.
Sandpiper Gallery owner and director Julie Cooke, left,
silversmith Anne Bivens, middle, and art consultant
Kathleen Arnold, right, at Sandpiper Gallery on
Middle Street. The gallery has represented Bivens’
artwork for 20 years.

metal clay, took the classes, learned the art,

and became certified herself.
She plied the trade for a few years before
transitioning into silversmithing. For nearly
18 years, she took every silversmithing class
she could find, scrutinizing all aspects of the
craft. Besides Sandpiper, her work is featured
at Charleston’s Dare Gallery and the Rutledge
Street Gallery in Camden, South Carolina.
“Her attention to the minute details of cutting
stones and hand-working the sheets of silver,
copper, and gold into unique pieces of jewelry
is evident in every ring, earring, bracelet, and
pendant that she creates,” says Cooke, who
also owns Dare Gallery. “The simple beauty
of the natural gemstones that Anne combines
with the sophistication of her one-of-a-kind
designs brings collectors back time after time.”
Bivens makes pieces both for men and
women, fashioning creations using sterling
silver or mixed metal jewelry. Every one of
her projects starts with a flat sterling silver
sheet and wire, and, from there, she cuts,
textures, patinas, polishes and sets stones.
She prefers natural stones — turquoise is a
particular favorite. “It just speaks to my soul.
I love turquoise,” says Bivens. She has now
learned to cut her own stones using equipment
such as a trim saw and a cab genie for making
cabochons — gemstones that have been cut
and polished.
Bivens now teaches silversmithing classes
at her artist’s studio in Columbia, where she
welcomes any prospective students looking
to learn the craft. “I like to help people create
their own jewelry,” she said. As for the family
house at Station 28-and-a-half, it was razed,
and the property was sold when her Aunt
Gabbie, the last family member to reside in
the home, died. But Bivens has kept her aunt’s
painting as a memento. Meanwhile, her own
work as a jewelry artist continues to evolve. “I
can’t imagine not doing this,” said Bivens. “I’m
sorry that it took me so long. I wish I’d been
doing this forever.” SiP

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