Earth Dance Revival: Sharkey Back in Business
-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on December 16, 2021.
Before becoming Floyd’s first Tourism Director, Pat Sharkey owned a jewelry and gemstone business for more than 20 years. Now, a new incarnation of Earth Dance has just opened up as a retail shop — located downtown in The Station — and Sharkey is in her element.
“Earth Dance is waking up,” she said, noting, “I’ve always done this.”
Sharkey has been making one-of-a-kind jewelry since before she came to Floyd in 1986. She started her first jewelry business, Phoenix Rising, right out of college in Nashville.
In Floyd, she traveled to craft shows to sell her work. She helped start The Floyd Center for the Arts’ Winterfest Art and Craft festival 27 years ago, and, for a couple of years, shared space with fine arts sculptor Michael Costello in The Yellow Pony, a house that was once located where the parking lot next to the Station is.
Sharkey started out with bead and wire wrapping and later incorporated metalsmithing. Along with her unique jewelry pieces and gem specimens, the new shop will focus on rock lore, local rocks and rock education. “Unakite (pictured below) is our state stone. There are veins of it on Bent Mountain,” she said.
Sharkey, who knows her rocks, says she loves the relationships and enthusiasm she shares with other rock lovers. “The Pope wears an amethyst ring,” she shared, noting that purple is related to spirit.
She also loves taking requests from customers and tracking down special items. Shop plans include doing repairs, cutting stones for people with her lapidary equipment and displaying stones found in Floyd, which include garnet, quartz crystals and amethyst.
“I love that I don’t have to do shows. I don’t have to pack it all up every Sunday night, put it in my car and unpack it. And if it’s raining I don’t have to worry about it,” she said.
Reception to the new shop has been great, reported Sharkey, who has been enjoying the positive feedback ‘from rock lovers and people I know, to people who remember my business and my connection to rocks from as far back as 25 years ago.”
Keep up with Earth Dance on Facebook by searching “Earth Dance Jewelry & Gems” or visit in-person at The Station, 203 S. Locust Street. The shop is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays; from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays; and from noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays. __________Colleen Redman
