This article is the first in a series that will feature former students from the Cranston High Schools’ art programs to show where they are now and how they have used their art education in their lives and careers.

It’s been 10 years since Ariel Biern graduated from Cranston High School West and she has accomplished a lot in that time.

In 2013, she graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City with a fine arts degree in Fashion Design, and lived there for a year after graduation as a freelance artist before returning to Cranston.

Today, she is just days away from the launch a line of jewelry which she helped design for Gennaro, the Cranston-based jewelry company she now works for.

Recently, she returned to Cranston West to visit her art teacher there, Valerie Bruzzi, and to talk about how much the Cranston art program and teachers impacted her life and career.

“Val [Bruzzi] is the one who taught me how to draw, she taught me how to sew, and she one hundred percent believed in me,” Biern said. “I had a tough time in high school and I didn’t even take an art class until my junior year. I was too discouraged to even try to get in to a design school, but she saw something in me. It is so important to see something in someone, and she saw where my strengths were and we built on that.”

Biern credits Bruzzi with motivating and supporting her as she worked on her portfolio submissions for the very competitive FIT admissions process.

“She is the one who helped me get into FIT. She stayed here with me after school, sometimes until 7 o’clock at night, working one on one with me on my portfolio until it was perfect. I would not have gotten in without her,” she said. “I would not have gotten in without her help and her encouragement.”

Now, Biern applies all of her artistic design skills and passion to her job at Gennaro, a job that she loves. It’s also a career path that she was very familiar with growing up.

“My dad was a jewelry designer,” she said. “Rhode Island was a Mecca of jewelry design in the 80s and 90s. Even though I grew up around the jewelry business, I still had a lot to learn.”

Now, however, Biern has a new lens through which she views the world of jewelry design, and a new appreciation for the craftsmanship, thanks to her experiences at FIT and the things she has learned on the job at Gennaro, a company that’s been in the costume jewelry business for 30 years.

“Coming back now, I have a whole new perspective,” she said. “At FIT, every semester for our four years, we would study something very specific. One semester it might be patterning or draping or drawing simple silhouettes. We learned about fashion history and the merchandising of textiles, and the more experience we had in the later years, the more specialized we got. Over time, we had to create our own collections, a whole look from top to bottom from the shoes, to the hats and gloves, to the accessories and the jewelry. Jewelry is what completes a look.”

When Biern works, designing a line of jewelry which makes women look and feel their best, that is top quality craftsmanship, and affordable, are all top on her list of priorities.

“Women’s lives are hectic nowadays, but they want to look and feel well and have the confidence to feel their best,” she said. “My boss Stefanie reminds me so much of Ms. Bruzzi. She named the line Zaxie after Stefanie’s two boys, Zachary and Jackson.”

When designing, Biern is sure to include the company’s signature stones and their logo, which is oftentimes hidden in places one might not expect, such as in the settings of a pair of sparkling earrings or on the clasp of a stunning necklace, drawing on all of her artistic experiences and early foundations as she works.

Biern is proud of her work and excited for the launch of her jewelry line, but quite possibly no one is as proud of her as her former art teacher.

“It’s very beautiful,” Bruzzi told her as she examined the glittering pieces spread out before her. “I’m really very proud of you.”

Biern’s jewelry will be available online beginning April 9 at zaxie.com.