Maria relies on jewelry formats as systems with which she analyzes her environment. The historical and cultural threads that persist through jewelry allow her to place things into a context that can be both expressive and introspective. Much of Maria’s work pulls from nature and humankind’s relationship with it. A statement in history lingers, told by our physical traces and material remains. Much of Maria’s work is fabricated, hammer formed, and enameled. The traditional hand skills of decorative arts/crafts are crucial to my studio practice. She crafts art jewelry pieces to enable herself to process the exotic-to-her, southern Floridian landscape that she currently finds herself in, while also digging into the roots of who she is as a maker. Raised in rural western Pennsylvania, her upbringing revolved around survivalist and naturalist concepts. The memories and lessons– though not entirely practical in modern society where the idea of true “wilderness” has practically vanished– have now become anecdotal, romantic notions of how she analyzes the world around me.