Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Valentine
Hi Jessica, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I was in a car accident that knocked me unconscious. When I came to, the world was a very different place for me physically and mentally. I’m a bodyworker, so working with my physical body came naturally to me. It was hard but familiar. Working with my brain and the damage it sustained was new territory for me. What happened in my brain during the accident far exceeded my knowledge of the nervous system. But always one to take on a challenge, I went all in on learning, rewiring, unlearning, observing, and feeling everything I could. I struggled a lot. I lost a lot.
There is something immensely beautiful that I gained through this experience that I couldn’t have felt any other way. When my brain wasn’t functioning enough for me to carry on a conversation or cook a meal for myself, remember my address, or how drive or pump my own gas, the thing that saved me and gave me hope was that there was something within me that was deeper and more alive than my physical body. When I couldn’t remember what numbers meant when I couldn’t figure out how to answer a friend’s simple question of what I would like for dinner when I couldn’t sleep for days, weeks, and months at a time, something deep inside of me was calm, clear, and peaceful.
During the first few years of healing, I made a lot of art and spent a lot of time in nature. They were the only things I could do that didn’t make me feel anxious or confused. So, I sat in nature and painted. A lot. Huge canvases and small canvases. I hung them all over my walls. And I wanted flowers everywhere. I planted so many flowers. And during those intimate and vulnerable times where I couldn’t really think, I let go of my mind completely and allowed my fingers and brushes to smear colors all over these canvases, and I would lay on the earth and listen to my heart. I found that we have this part of us that is eternal, not able to be broken or injured by the world we currently live in. We have this part of us that is so wise, loving, and peaceful. This part of us is what connects all of us to each other and to the earth. This part of us is rooted in a deep ocean of love, quite unfathomable to us in our current state of being in these human bodies.
Life outside of these moments full of nature and paint was painful and hard, and so I found myself at what we call rock bottom.
I would come back to those intimate moments of creating as often as I could. It was in those moments that I moved from painting to silversmithing and taught myself how to work with silver and stones.
Making jewelry is what brought me back to myself. At rock bottom, there was absolutely nothing: no feelings, no emotions, no connection to anything or anyone, no desire, nothing. And when I finally decided I needed help, mama nature came rushing in to ignite this desire within me to work with ancient things from the earth, to work with silver and stone. And this simple desire has now kept me busy learning and creating for hours and days and now years. Spending time looking into the depths within the stones, holding them in my hands, feeling them speak to me about what to create. They allow me to keep learning, keep trying, keep messing up, and keep trying again. They teach me about the process and about letting go, that it all ultimately leads to smoother edges, to create ways to let the light pass through. They teach me to see the beauty that is inherent within each stone, that wants to be revealed little by little. They teach me to find the beauty within myself and others. The beauty of loss, the beauty of being seen. They teach me about the beauty of community and the importance of becoming the fullest expression of my soul.
If I ever feel lost, if life feels overwhelming, I allow myself to find time to sit or walk in nature; I allow myself time to create and write and paint and plant flowers. And once I’m in those moments, I allow my thoughts to fall away so that my heart may speak to me through flowers, through the songs of the birds, through a gentle nudge toward my deepest desires of creating something beautiful.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has been incredibly challenging, but the joy far outweighs the struggle. Creating art is a continual learning process. My designs change as I change and grow, and it’s a beautiful process to witness. Creating art gives me the freedom to learn and to mess up and try again as many times as I need.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a self-taught silversmith. I’m so proud of myself for pivoting and creating a whole new life and business through learning how to work with silver and stones. I pour so much of myself into my work. I’m very intentional about the way I do business; I purchase recycled silver, recycle all of my scrap metal, and purchase stones from a woman-owned and run businesses. Iron & Wolf is all about creating community; I care deeply about every single human involved in my business, from my friends who are a huge support system to the people who purchase jewelry from me to the people who try on my jewelry at events. They all inspire me and allow me to continue to learn, grow, and do what I love.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I see more and more people interested in knowing more about what they are purchasing and who they are purchasing from. More and more people are taking the time to seek out small businesses that create one-of-a-kind, handcrafted, high-quality, responsibly sourced pieces of jewelry that will last. It’s so lovely to see people moving away from cheaply made, mass-produced products and instead supporting people who love what they do and put so much heart into what they create.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ironandwolf.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iron.and.wolf/
