Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Santiago.
Jessica, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve since been working with spirit, through shamanic practices to give birth to some interesting pieces. I work with the tarot and my intuition for my subject matter. Every piece I make, I create by thinking about the person it is going to. I often get symbols and ideas and just find a way to bring them to life. In a like manner, making this jewelry has taken me places I never imagined. It has lead me to become an Aztec Dancer (indigenous Aztec Dance from Mexico). It has also allowed me to meet incredible and inspiring people like you with your stories. It is the best part of going to a fair/show.
So when you hear me say that I make everything with intention, I trust that they will resonate with somebody like you because I made it for you. This path is not so easy but it is rewarding and I thank the universe for all the opportunities I’ve had and even the roadblocks I’ve had. If you like what I do please consider supporting me by liking, sharing, or adopting a new piece. Your support helps me to continue on this path, put food on the table for myself and my fur babies.
I one day aspire to create a life for myself where I can continue to make art and have a community space with fresh offerings for all people to help heal the world, one person, at a time. I really want to create a beautiful container that envelopes all the scopes I have learned. I am advancing in my art and my spiritual practice and I want to take it as far as I can and am blessed with an able body, mind, and spirit.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I don’t believe there are many smooth roads in this life, even pristine freshly paved roads get potholes or foreign pebbles come to litter the path. As a Chicana woman of brown skin, that grew up in a disempowered and impoverished neighborhood, my prospects were stacked against me. I have faced a lot of adversity in this life, as the daughter a teenaged immigrant single mother, spirited away from her home country, as a product of childhood trauma and abuse, and as a native foreign language speaker.
My mom was really young when she was raising me, but I am proud and honored to have her as my mother because she taught me everything I know. My mother is one of those people that can tackle problems in such imaginative and creative ways, something she learned from my Grandfather. When you grow up with limited resources, you learn to be resourceful and imaginative with solutions to really difficult problems. That was my inheritance and the most important skill that I learned from my mother, the power of creativity. See she also sewed and made beautiful things.
I would see her draw designs and bring them to life, seemingly out of thin air. This same skill she used to weave in the things we needed to live. To be honest, growing up was mostly really stressful and there may have been metaphorical losses of limbs and some battle scars, but it made me resourceful and patient. I had to learn a lot of things to be able to persevere statistically based on my social-economic-status and background but the only thing that matters is the present moment. I had to come a long way to realize that those things don’t have to define me and that I could use those experiences as an ingredient for the life I create but not it’s defining flavor.
That’s not to say that those struggles shouldn’t be acknowledged because they were real and they are real for a lot of other little ones that look like me. So now I ask myself what can I do with what I have now? I look at the situations and resources in my life to find solutions to my real-life situations and my artistic dilemmas. This process involves a lot of different takes sometimes, and that means being ok with failing or not getting the result you want in the precise way you want it. You just gotta try it again in a different way, just like there are a hundred different types of tools, brushes, and paint mediums there are also a hundred different kinds of paintings. You learn to let go and allow things to emerge on their own. It makes life really interesting.
So, yeah the road changes and sometimes it’s a rocky road and you might cry but you just gotta learn to jump over some rocks, or build a cool ramp, and keep going. I’m simply trying to say we are the creators of our own lives, and though things get tough, just stop and acknowledge the generations that came before you to make it possible for you to be where you are. It’s amazing. Nothing gives me more strength than thinking that all those ancestors are cheering for me.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I am the owner of The Mountain Druidess, I grow copper onto stones and bend metal to create pieces of jewelry to bring you wearable art made with intention… Every piece of jewelry begins with a stone or crystal hand selected by myself.
The stones come from travels and respectable sources. Those selected are chosen because they speak to me; perfect timing, a feeling, an intention. I appreciate each stone & this selection goes beyond traditional concepts of beauty. I select both raw and polished stones, then have an intuitive dialogue with the stone and allow it to tell me what it wants to become. Not a common conversation, but a deep listening.
Once this portion of the process is completed, I use an electrolytic acid solution and electricity to slowly build up the copper around the stones over several days (36-72 hours). A process which breaks down a piece of copper and transfers it to the piece of jewelry, the solution acting as the medium. A very alchemic process.
The final steps of finishing the piece, polishing and shining, then patina (oxidize the piece to give it dimension and depth) then shine to bring out highlights. The finished piece is paired with a chain and finally smudged with Copal. Each piece I create not only involves a lot of technical skill but is also interwoven with the spiritual imprint of nature. I create each piece as a talisman, an item to bring us closer to nature and to ourselves.
What were you like growing up?
I’ve survived as a full-time artist in this city so I would say so! If you are just starting out, make sure to do your research but more importantly, just get out there. Start out small and don’t be afraid. San Diegan people are very nice and welcoming. Make sure you make one of your goals when you are getting out there doing events to actually have a good time and interact with people. You hear the most amazing stories.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.TheMountainDruidess.com
- Email: themountaindruidess@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themountaindruidess/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themountaindruidess/
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