When creating this piece for New York it was very important to me that I didn’t make just another necklace, that I didn’t just choose a piece that I had already made, This necklace had to be worthy of showing in New York. A piece that showed you New York just what I could do(first impressions are everything after all, haha)  And I also I wanted to show myself what I could do. Push the boundaries of where I was as an artist and where I wanted to go. Big goals for a necklace I know.

My current work is strongly inspired by nature, I pull from the outdoor spaces from my past and also those spaces in and around San Antonio that I now call home.  As i created my necklace “Emergence” a double meaning emerged as well. The obvious, The Cicadas, are very Texas. When they emerge from the ground their songs fills the warm air on summer evening. Love them or hate them they are a part of this place. As I worked on the piece, I contemplated my own emergence as an artist. And the process it took to get to this point where as a jewelry designer/fabricator I can see myself not just as skilled labor, but AS AN ARTIST. Its very exciting to see my piece considered art and displayed with other art pieces in this show.

The google definition of emergence is: “The process of coming into view or becoming exposed after being concealed” The second meaning of this piece pulls from that description and uses the cicada as a metaphor for an artist coming into their own. We don’t always share the work we do “underground” But when we are ready to show the world we emerge and fly!

I set out to create a piece that I would be proud to show in New York, this fashion and art mecca. And in the end I created a piece that’s very reflective of who I am as an artist and where I live and work at this time. This year and New York are my emergence.