“Double Take,” 2024, copper enamel, sterling silver, and stainless steel, 4.5 in. x 4.75 in. x .75 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Windgate-Lamar Fellowship
2025
My work explores the inclusion and presence of queer identities in the contemporary jewelry world. There is playfulness in the work that is invoked by the colors, motifs, and illustrations that demand attention. Because the subject and viewer often look at each other, there is a sense of connection. In a time of disconnect, I hope this gives the work an inherent speculation of self, culture, and the current state of affairs, and becomes an act of resilience and resistance.
Using digitally drawn images of people from my community, as well as traditional jewelry practices, the pieces meet at an intersection of tradition and forward momentum, creating artifacts of power. They are a metaphor for the potency of presence and the ability to evolve. I use metal to solidify the reality that queer people have been present since time unwritten, and that they will be around for the ever-present future. Color and the jewel-like essence of enamel are used to highlight the bountiful and diverse community that is LGBTQIA+.
I use floral motifs that are inherently both familiar and ethereal to suggest that queerness is simply part of natural existence. Finally, the form of a brooch combats the use of symbols worn as signals of oppression throughout history. These pieces are meant as badges of honor and presence. This is all to highlight the preciousness, beauty, strength, and eccentricities that are pillars of the fullness, and progress, of our collective queer culture.
Selected works
“Roko with Flowers,” 2024, copper, enamel, and stainless steel, 5 in. x 4 in. x 1.5 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
“Jubilation,” 2024, copper, brass, sterling silver, and enamel, 5.5 in. x 3.75 in. x .5 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
“Double Take,” 2024, copper enamel, sterling silver, and stainless steel, 4.5 in. x 4.75 in. x .75 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
“Black Flowers,” 2023, copper brooch, 3 in. x 3.75 in. x 1.75 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
“Divinity,” 2023, copper and enamel brooch, 3.75 in. x 3.75 in. x .75 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
“Ricky,” 2024, copper, enamel, sterling silver, and stainless steel, 4.625 in. x 4 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
“Harmony,” 2024, copper, enamel, sterling silver, and stainless steel, 4.75 in. x 3 in. x 1.5 in. Photo courtesy of the artist.
67 Broadway St, Asheville, NC 28801
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Gallery Hours: Closed — Reopening Fall 2019
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