Vanessa Ortiz Alcaraz is a Chicana multidisciplinary artist from San Diego, CA the ancestral lands of the Kumeyaay nation. Currently she is a guest resident artist on the island of O’ahu, in the Hawaiian Kingdom.

“My studio practice transmutes my craft of Metalsmith Jewelry and Cyanotype Art works.Influenced by the divine forces of nature and my connection to my cultural spirituality of my Azteca y Mixtec lineage. My hope is that when you wear a piece of my jewelry, you feel a little more connected to your inner self and to the earth around you.

Similarly, my Cyanotype works are of my photographs of nature with my cultural symbolism. I transform this imagery through an elemental printing process which harnesses the power of all the natural elements (Fire, Earth, Air, and Water). Cyanotype is a non toxic photographic process using chemistry and sunlight that dates back to the 1840s created by botanist.