- Artifact
- Copper, Wood
- 2024
Artifact began as a project for me to sculpt with little reference. I was just following a doodle that I mindlessly made back in grade school.
I wondered what would happen if I took a meaningless (though well remembered) image and created a sculpture using an arduous method used thousands of years ago. What would the image mean after it had been sculpted in copper?
I’ve heard “mythical being”, “phallic“, and “commentary on the female body”. Actually, the majority of people assumed the last one or that it had something to do with body dysmorphia. Perhaps that I, being a curvy gal myself, hated my body? Quite presumptuous. I don’t think they would say that if a man had made it.
When I drew the doodle, I was a child. I did not know how I was perceived and my body was just something to get me from place to place. I simply thought that breasts looked a little bit like eyes so I could draw a face.
Every time I showed this piece, I asked the viewers to assume they did not know anything about the person that made it. Not their age nor gender. But they already knew who made it. They had already made decisions about it subconsciously.
This piece that was supposed to be an exercise in imagination, became a reminder of how I cannot exist beyond my body.
Maybe I’m the Artifact. It was painstakingly made. Its materials are rich in history. It can be so many things; a monster, an omen, a god. But no. No one seems to be able to get past the hips and breasts.
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Home Again
- Sterling Silver, Recycled Pearls
- VCU x Radical Jewelry Makeover
- 2024
Radical Jewelry Makeover (RJM) is an international community jewelry mining and recycling project focused on education and collaboration. It brings together jewelers, working together to examine mining issues while making innovative jewelry from recycled sources.
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Bobbin Earrings
- Fine Silver, Recycled Glass Beads
- VCU x Radical Jewelry Makeover
- 2024
Radical Jewelry Makeover (RJM) is an international community jewelry mining and recycling project focused on education and collaboration. It brings together jewelers, working together to examine mining issues while making innovative jewelry from recycled sources.
Bobbin Earrings were a fun way to get to use metal forming in a more wearable way. These earrings inspired a line of production work using the same technique of bending the metal.
Sold at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art RJM Pop Up Sale
- The Stories I Tell About Them Are Really Just Stories About Me
- Cotton, MX Dye
- 2023
- The Stories I Tell About Them Are Really Just Stories About Me is my way of being very direct about my presence. I collaged pictures of myself with anyone else in the photo being erased and then transfered that design to a screen print. I created a functional work suit using canvas with this pattern printed on it. I may not always be the subject of my work but I will always be the maker.
After having made several works about people in my life, specifically men. I felt like I wasn’t being a good feminist or something. Perhaps an identity crisis. I went to art school for me but I never made work about me. Where was I in my work?
While struggling with this idea, I settled on believing that in showing my relationship with people was a reflection of me. I was the one telling the stories and I was the one creating the work. Maybe I don’t have to explicitly say I was there to know who I am.
- Lotería
- Cotton, Print Paste
- 2023
- Boob Ring
2023
This ring came about as an accident when I was making a base for a separate project. I didn’t have enough silver to finish the top of the ring so I used copper instead.
After I took apart the project I decided to add a dome or nipple on to the top of it and make it look like a breast because why not? I love how the copper tarnishes over time.
- A Timeline of Falling in Love with You
- Cotton, MX Dye
- 2023
This piece is a love letter to my partner. It’s based on the playlists we would make to eachother in the begining of our relationship. We would add songs that reflected how we felt at that time. As we keep adding to these playlists, they documented our relationship.
I hand dyed a large piece of cloth using specific colors to show how our love developed. The panels of fabric shift in opacity so viewers can walk on each side of the fabric and see eachother in different colored filters.
It was blue in the beginning; refreshing, calming, and familiar. As we continued to get to know eachother we experienced an exciting vermillion, a muddled violet, and a rejuventating green before settling into a warm yellow.
I don’t think I could continue this piece if I tried. There are not enough colors to explain the love we have developed.