September flew by and October is here! Autumn has greeted us with changing leaf colors and cooler weather! This month, I am happy to introduce you to Cuervo Negro (they/she), she is a mixed Chicanx artist, who mostly focuses on beadwork jewelry. She is currently living in Asheville, NC. I have interviewed her about her inspiration and work to learn more about her. I met her at a local market and was impressed with the color combinations used for her beaded creations. Since I also create some beaded work, I know the patience and rhythm it takes to string bead by bead to create a wearable piece. This is why I was so excited to learn more about her, and now you can too. Continue reading to get an insight into this artist’s creativity and to take a look at some of her outstanding pieces.
She says: “I taught myself how to bead weave in the winter of 2019 and fell in love immediately. Beadwork has been a way to connect with my roots and to fulfill my life long passion of being an artist.”
Visit her IG to see more of her amazing, colorful beadwork @cuervo.negro_
Carolina: What inspires your work?
Cuervo Negro: Everything around me. I’m really inspired by the colors of the seasons and the plants that come out during them. My work is usually very season based. I’m also very inspired by my culture. I love incorporating cempasúchil, monarch butterflies, and other cultural iconography into my beadwork, especially around dÃa de muertos. I’m also inspired by more random things like a pattern or color scheme I saw in a movie, TV show, book cover, textile, or just things I pass by in my daily life. Lastly, and very importantly-other artists are a huge inspiration to me. The Indigenous artist community is one of the most supportive communities I’ve been a part of, I love those people so much!
Carolina: What is your cultural background?
Cuervo Negro: My cultural background is very mixed. I grew up largely disconnected to every part of it, but mostly my background is Indigenous Mexican and Irish. My traceable family lines come from Coahuila, MX and Cork, Ireland. I’ve been doing a lot of work over the past decade reconnecting with my Mexican ancestry because I was afraid to claim it growing up in a predominantly white rural town in North Carolina. It’s something I’ve grown to be very proud of and I want my ancestors to know how much I love them. I want to shine a light on what’s been kept in the dark for generations due to colonization. I like to think of beadwork as decolonizing one bead at a time and weaving together all the stories of my ancestors.
Carolina: What are your hobbies outside of art?
Cuervo Negro: So much! Although a lot of things are other types of art. I love hiking with my partner and our dog Peppercorn, playing guitar, painting, cooking (I love cooking for people too! so come over sometime 😉) gardening, seed saving, and identifying plant, bug, and mushroom species, I also love learning about other cultures through music and film, reading, dancing, swimming, building things with friends, I’m sure I’m missing things, but this is a pretty good list.
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