TORY HUGHES BIOGRAPHY
Tory lived around the world with her family and her polymer art was the vessel for these adventures. Whether it was polymer jewelry, a wall hanging, a mobile, a toy, or book, her deep love of travel and polymer coalesced, and the results were remarkable.
Tory began her 34 year journey in polymer clay in 1984 with Fimo. She was a pioneer in developing realistic imitative techniques for turquoise, jade, agate, coral, ivory and amber among others. Tory loved teaching and over the years taught classes nationally and internationally, in not only polymer art and polymer art technique, but self-improvement classes and workshops for developing your creativity. Her work has appeared in dozens of publications including books, magazines, newspapers, and other platforms. Tory’s book, Polymer: The Chameleon Clay, was published January 1, 2002.
In addition to her book, she made a series of instructional videos that are still in circulation and available in MP3 files. Tory’s polymer jewelry is in private collections and major museums including Museum of Art and Design in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Her work has been shown and sold in shows and galleries around the world.
Tory carried her love of travel into adulthood even up to a few months before her death. She particularly loved Africa and Australia. Her library had hundreds of artifactual and historical books from Africa, Egypt and China. Three weeks before her passing Tory taught what would be her last polymer class, a three day workshop in Santa Fe on her imitative techniques.
The legacy of Tory is that she was a deep personality with wonderful artistic talents who wanted to touch people in meaningful ways and help them answer her favorite question – ‘how do we get from idea to object?’
Victoria Ellis Hughes ( Tory) passed away on February 18, 2018, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A memorial service was held on June 29th, 2018, on what would have been her 60th birthday. Her ashes were scattered in the Sangre de Christo mountains above Santa Fe.
tory hughes photo gallery
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