Today we’d like to introduce you to Ruby Rodriguez.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I get asked a lot about the materials I use and how I came into contact with them. Since my work uses non-local materials people are curious about them and want to understand the impulse, I have to work with them. About 15 years ago while traveling through Rome I stumbled into a ton of kiosks, antique shops and small den like stores that sold jewelry from all over Africa and the Middle East. On one of those days I found myself in an antique shop that had 3 necklaces I loved equally.
The proprietress saw me struggling to make a decision and helped me arrive at the idea to take them apart and put them back together using my favorite elements from each piece. Stunned at the possibility I agreed and my first piece sort of happened. I hesitate to call it my own piece because I didn’t put it together with my hands. I designed it–and watched her hands use her tools to manifest it and I just sort of knew in those moments that I really needed to learn to do what she was doing. I returned to my home in San Diego and started looking for the kinds of pieces I had seen in Rome and was unbelievably lucky to be in a city that has a total treasure chest. I found Lost Cities Beads in Old Town and they had everything I needed to get started–including a library. So that’s when it all started. Then when I’m traveling, I always look up the best museums to go see the ancient jewelry collections. There is also a whole literature on the beads and materials I use–so I love that part as well–looking up the history of the materials.
Please tell us about your art.
I’m an artist who makes jewelry out of materials and ideas from all over the world that I encounter through travel. In my work I’m hoping to stir some resonation with deeper conversations about cultural appropriation, recontextualization and ownership. I am obviously also trying to work through the racial privilege of free movement. And those are, in my opinion, conversations that we, as a society in this moment need to be continuously trying to have. And oddly in the markets where the materials I use are bought and sold I am not hearing conversations about anything else than how absolutely gorgeous all of it is–which obviously it is!
It is a scary conversation for me–especially because I am trying to do it through business–which is never a domain I really envisioned myself as a part. And because I am a cultural anthropologist by training–so I know how complicated some of the issues are. I do hope my work is taken as a respectful invitation to make a language with other women in which we can talk about some of this stuff in an organic, living way. We need to empower each other’s languages and I don’t think it has ever been much of a secret that in and through jewelry we can reach across many axes of difference that are notoriously difficult to bridge.
Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
I just think we need to be more mindful of the myriad ways that the past lives in this present moment. History matters so much–why not wear it around your neck? I don’t really know what an artist is–I just know that I practice art.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My work is on display on my shop site: www.ruminationsstudio.com. There are many ways people can support my work. Obviously, people can make purchases on the online site. Alternatively, I appreciate follows on my social media platforms, interaction and any kind of exposure generated in those ways. Every like means something to me! People can also be supportive by engaging in conversation about my pieces with me or anyone else.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4421 Collwood Ln San Diego, CA 92115
- Website: www.ruminationsstudio.com
- Phone: 8583737455
- Email: ruminations632@gmail.com
- Instagram: @ruminationsstudio
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ruminationsstudio/
Image Credit:
Vanessa Alcaraz
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