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Statesman reporter Dana Oland posted the following piece on SSPA alum Mike Rogers in the Sunday Idaho Statesman.

Jewelry artist Mike Rogers tries to capture personality in metal adornments
BY DANA OLAND - doland[at]idahostatesman[dot]com
Edition Date: 08/17/08

Getting to know jewelry artist Mike Rogers is like learning to relax.

Perhaps it is the hours he spends staring into meditative crystalline gemstones such as tanzanite, sapphire, diamond and watermelon tourmaline. Maybe it is his deeply grounded Idaho roots that reach back to the banks of the Clearwater River, in Kamiah where he grew up.

Or maybe it is his peaceful nature born from years of pursuing his artistic interests

Either way, this jewelry artist just can’t help being mellow.

“I’m the happiest guy in town,” he said. “I can guarantee it. I love coming to work.”

You can find him Tuesdays through Fridays at Precious Metal Arts, 208 N. 8th St., Suite 50, in Downtown. There he creates elegant jewelry that ranges from whimsical to classical.

His small shop on the ground floor of the Idaho Building is part showroom, part cluttered mad scientist lab where ideas go from his imagination onto paper into wax sculpture and then get cast in gold, platinum, sterling or other precious metal. It’s his expression, he said, or at least one of them.

He sometimes dabbles in larger-scale media. He is a painter, sculptor, photographer and singer and songwriter. He keeps a guitar at the shop for when the spirit hits him to play.

“My whole house is set up in a series of studios. I have a recording studio, wax studio for sculpture, and you keep going and there’s a metal shop and photography studio. Wherever my mind is going, I can just go there,” he said.

Music came first. He started playing guitar in eighth grade in Kamiah, where Rogers grew up on his parent’s farm and ranch.

“When I wasn’t playing guitar, I was sitting my butt on a horse or tractor for years,” he said.

Then he came south to go to Boise State University, where he studied political science.

To read the complete article, visit the Idaho Statesman.

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