Cheryl Eve Acosta

When looking at Acosta’s work, I find it so obvious that her inspiration and references come from the ocean. Acosta grew up along the coast of Puerto Rico. In her book, ‘Hidden in Nature’ (2009), she discusses how growing up by the sea has influenced her design direction from an early age. She looks at sea life from a scientific point of view, using aquatic processes to fuel her work. She feels that this gives her work the appearance of being from the ocean, without being directly from it. She uses a variety of materials for her jewellery, some of these being: silver, copper, gold, enamels and fabric.

Acosta, C. 2009. Synaptic Coral: Gap. Gold Plated

Acosta, C. 2009. Healing. Copper, Organza

Acosta, C. 2009. Brooch. Enamel, Gold Plated

Acosta, C. 2009. Birth. Copper, Enamel, Organza

Exhibition at Colombo

When reflecting on this exhibition and deciding what worked and what could have been improved, I thought about this...

Each person could see a collection of jewellery or any kind of art subjectively. So displaying my work in context helps the viewer understand the background and enhance the actual collection. The sand and water further hinted that my jewellery was 'from the ocean'. For my final exhibition I should explore this display idea further by creating a similar display that allows my pieces to be picked up and explored (not in bottles).
Feedback that I recieved about my display was that the jars forced the viewer to engage with my work. Because people had to bend down and look into the jars it demanded more attention. Another comment that was made was about the water and how it distorts the shape and colours of the piece once submerged.


Photo: Jenni McKenzie
Photo: Matthew Stroud
Photo: Jenni McKenzie
Photo: Jenni McKenzie
Photo: Matthew Stroud
Photo: Jenni McKenzie

Completed Necklace

Sea 'Feeling' necklace

Ocean/Jelly Ring

Moving on from my 'Jelly fish' brooches, I decided to continue with the concept of an ocean 'feeling'. I did this by taking certain aspects from previous pieces such as enamelling, hidden detail and traces of the manufacturing process. The idea was to create a piece that wasn't directly linked back to any sea animal or creature, but rather has the feeling of something that could be found either on the ocean floor or living along a reef.