Rodrigo Ormachea
He/Him
Ventura, CA, U.S.
I am a 4th generation jeweler from Cusco, Peru. I reside in Ventura CA where I help run my family's jewelry shop of 30 plus years. I am also a painter, ceramist and interdisciplinary artist. I live with my 7 year old son who provides a constant sense of wonder when we create art.
“My practice in jewelry is the foundation for all other mediums I engage in. My most recent work uses clay and other materials to create forms that are shaped by personal history, pulling from silhouettes that are at once familiar and forgotten. The resulting work becomes entangled in a dialog between the monolith, the artifact and the body. As I pull and borrow between various practices it seems that the title of interdisciplinary artist feels the most appropriate for the current work that I make.“
www.rodrigo-ormachea.com
How does your work relate to the theme of flourish(ing)?
“"I created "the cracks we sow" in particular for flourish to highlight my unwavering support for the Palestinian people. Witnessing the continued genocide alongside the constant barrage endured by queer people world wide, it became important to draw the correlation of oppression amongst all marginalized communities. It feels that even as the world burns and falls apart, even in the most desolate of places, we witness seeds growing. Using the broken earthenware as the broken cracks that house the seeds, the gemstones and gold represent the testament of perseverance and the solidarity amongst neighboring communities.”
"the cracks we sow", Sterling Silver, 14k Yellow gold, earthenware, ceramic glaze, diamond, black diamond, tsavorite, sapphire. 2" x 4" x 1/2", 2025, Photo : Gabriel OrmacheaHow does your creative practice allow you to flourish (grow, thrive, blossom)?
“My practice consists of mediums intertwined. I make jewelry alongside my father while continuing a generational lineage in the context of a shop. The security of this environment allows me to branch out into other mediums like painting and ceramics. I have allowed myself to bring elements of other practices into the structure (also literally) of metalsmithing. As the work blurs the lines of jewelry and sculpture I grow. I grow my vocabulary, I grow my practice, I grow myself, and ultimately continue to widen my capabilities as I work toward defining what I do, or rather who I am. “
As a queer+ artist, what would you like to see and/or what do you need in order to flourish during this time?
“What I want to see is a communal continuation of elevating the spaces we carve out for ourselves. Getting a seat at the table is no longer enough. I want my peers to push each other to define and refine their work into new heights. I think flourishing in another's garden is overdone. I want us to not only water our seeds, but define our own soil in which we decide to grow, so to speak. “
Anything else you would like to share about this work? This can be an important part of the process, sourcing materials, or research.
“I think it's important to note that figuring out the mixing of ceramics and metalwork in this particular piece took some help from my father who mostly does NOT work with unconventional materials. So this process allowed him to flourish a lil bit too. “
[queerphoria]v4 @ ECU Symposium