Jewelry Designer Coralynn Pence Traveled The Globe For Inspiration

Jewelry that Coralynn Pence designed had a distinctive look. Each piece was different, but all featured strong geometric lines.

Mrs. Pence traveled the world for inspiration. Sometimes she returned from her trips with seashells, sometimes with exceptional gemstones to incorporate into her work.

She left many pieces unfinished on her workbench when she died of heart failure on Feb. 7 at age 84. Friends said a siege of pneumonia had left her unable to work for months.

After special bequests to friends, Mrs. Pence left the bulk of her estate to the Seattle Art Museum. She had lived alone for decades, following the death of her husband, W. Ross Pence, in 1950, and the later death of her son, Peter Ross Pence.

An accomplished goldsmith, Mrs. Pence exerted a far-reaching influence on jewelry design in the Northwest, both through her creations and as a teacher of her craft. She instructed community-college classes in Seattle for 16 years and taught one year at the University of Washington.

Mrs. Pence studied at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and at the UW, becoming so accomplished that her jewelry was exhibited around the world, in galleries and museums in Egypt, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, as well as in New York, San Francisco and Minneapolis. Yet she never ceased to consider herself a student.

She did much of her learning during her frequent trips abroad. Friends remember her as a fearless traveler who loved to tell stories of being caught in the middle of a revolt in Colombia or of being in a taxi that ran out of gas in the middle of the night on a lonely road outside Cairo. She sat around a campfire with desert dwellers while her taxi driver went for gas.

A longtime friend, Mona Buckley, said Mrs. Pence's life and her love of travel were colored by memories of a grandfather who owned a ship and was lost at sea.

"She always traveled to places with a group, then struck out on her own once she got there, while the rest of the group were doing ordinary things," Buckley recalled. "She always came back with an idea for something she wanted to make. Sometimes it was from a bird she'd seen; other times it was from something gold."

All of her jewelry was designed with specific individuals in mind. She completed more than 500 private jewelry commissions for clients. When the Seattle Art Museum staged a grand-opening bash for the "Treasures of Tutankhamun" exhibition in 1978, board member Anne Gould Hauberg wore a necklace designed for the occasion by Coralynn Pence.

Her designs won honors and awards from many organizations over the years, among them the American Crafts Council and the Theta Sigma Phi Matrix Table.

Mrs. Pence was an active member of the American Crafts Council and the World Crafts Council. She served for 16 years as a member of the board of directors of the Seattle chapter of the Fashion Group International, a professional organization for those in fashion and allied fields. In 1987, at the request of the director of the Fashion Group International, she helped establish Fashion Groups in Peru and Colombia.

At Mrs. Pence's request, no service was held. Remembrances may be sent to the Seattle Art Museum, P.O. Box 22000, Seattle, WA 98122-9700.