FUSENEWS - August 2018

The Enamelist Society Featured Member - Hosanna Rubio

Born and raised in Southern California, Hosanna Rubio currently resides in Greenville, North Carolina, where she recently graduated from East Carolina University with an MFA in Metal Design. She received her BA in Art Education from California State University Long Beach, where she also studied Metals and Jewelry. Hosanna specializes in creating wearable art pieces and small-scale sculptures that explore themes inspired by her personal experiences with issues such as health, medicine, and nature. Her work has been exhibited regionally and nationally.

Artist Statement

Memory has always been dearly held in my family, and easily lost. I watched as my loved ones surrounded themselves with objects that acted as physical anchors to the full lives they had lived and the things that were important to them. This experience heightened my desire to document, to create a catalogue of my own that will allow me to capture my life in this moment.

Petra Ahde-Deal asserts that jewelry at times can be used to ease moments of change. In her words, “transitional jewelry can function as healing devices in reconstructing the self after personal crises.” My work combines traditional metalsmithing techniques such as enameling and casting with newer technologies like digital manipulation to create intricate pieces that serve as a platform to explore this recreation of identity. Creating layered, detailed pieces allows me to find balance in the chaotic, to attempt to exert control over the uncontrollable aspects of my life and in the world at large.

My experiences are not universal, but I hope to inspire an atmosphere of dialogue with my work to show that sometimes moments of pain and tragedy can offer us the greatest opportunities for beauty and transformation.