Current Collections &
Custom Design
Biography
Art
is not created in a vacuum.
Most great art resonates deeply with the artist who created it and with
the moving events of the time. In a similar vein, BonFire Studios creations
are an intimate reflection of my essence (Bonnie Harter) and phases
of my growth process.
Of Italian and Russian decent, I'm known to be passionate, sensual, and yet attained my higher education on funding merited by scholastic achievement. My daily schedule is a very mixed bag with disciplined meditation practice and demanding business schedule right along side whatever cultural events, dancing and horseback riding I can squeeze in.. The personal striving for spiritual integrity, which has been prominent throughout my adult life, has fostered an appreciation of various cultures and their artistic
expressions of both the divine and human comedies (God MUST have a sense of humor). So it should be no surprise to see the various ethnic influences in BonFire couture and jewelry.
For some, it may be of interest that I'm an accomplished business woman in a field previously dominated by men. My success in the business world can be attributed, primarily, to my cultivating a well-developed sensitivity to others' needs. The abilities to assess need, formulate solutions, and predict patterns in the market place have been critical to my ongoing success for many years. BonFire Studios provides these talents a venue that can also involve my artistic response to personal evolution and our shared cultural evolution. Indeed, the birth of BonFire Studios cannot, in my heart, be separated from one of the most sorrowful events of our culture/civilization.
Very shortly after the dust settled of 9/11, after the intense sorrow we all felt, a deep calm pervaded my being. A deep and profound "knowing" settled in that we, I, no longer had the luxury to indulge in fear or hesitation, of any kind. With calm confidence born of inner directives, it was now time to "do". (This was nothing like those inner resolutions we make to quite smoking, etc. it just WAS and IS, a deep connect to that which is at the core of your being.) It became obvious to me that it was the time to embrace and express our authentic selves like never before. And, it was also the time to nurture our specific vision and each other's dreams to a more positive fulfillment.
Within
2 weeks of 9/11, I flew to northern Italy and studied the use of symbols
and color therapy.
It was now time for my artistic talents to claim their rightful share
of my daily focus. "Dive Deep, Fly High" (reference jewelry
symbology) was created a month earlier, before our lives had changed.
By the end of November, the vision of how this radiant, empowered, form
compassionately inspires and integrates with all life came into being
as "In'erLight". At the end of December I formed BonFire Studios
and Productions, Inc. and we began the long process of turning my graphic
into an electronic solid model and then into a hand-detailed finished
piece. All of the electronic design, development, and production of this
piece, over the last 2 years has been performed in New York City, primarily
in Manhattan.
BonFire Studios couture line was actually initiated by my horse, the very beautiful True Hour (click photo #1 for a larger view). In 2002, Miss Hour and I were enlisted to perform at a Renaissance Faire with a group of fellow riders. Although
True Hour and Bonnie
The Renaissance Faire
*This site was designed and developed by Visual Affects.Copyright ©2004-2005 BonFire Studios and Productions. All Rights Reserved.