More About Me

Journey into the unknown?

Hi, my name is Karina. I was born in 1994 and I have been in Maryland pretty much my whole life. During my childhood, I was surrounded by people who were creative. Some of our close family friends were more musically inclined while others enjoyed traveling and seeing the world.

My mom, Rosa Alvarez was always an inspiration, both in and out of the hospital, when she was making art or not. She was always making jewelry, painting or finding some sort of creative endeavour. For her, art was always some sort of outlet, distracting from life in the hospital. My mom had leukemia, and spent most of her days meeting new people and making friends wherever she went, whenever she could. 

That is where I guess you could say it all began. The hospitals' walls were like a massive canvas to me. Sheer white with absolutely nothing on them. I began to draw, pretty much nonstop. I wished to fill this blank canvas for two reasons: One, so my mother wouldn't be lonely surrounded by the empty walls. The second being, to fill the walls so that there wasn't a 'void'. At least that is how I saw being in the hospital. Emptiness. But unfortunately one can't always escape a void in their lives.

My mom passed away back in 2009. I was a sophomore in high school and threw myself into my schoolwork as well as into my art to escape this 'void' that I felt. And before I knew it I was already graduating high school and enrolling into college.

In college I found myself fascinated with both science and art. I majored in Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Art history. (My school combined the departments). Once I graduated I felt something was missing. I no longer had schoolwork to do, no tests to study for anymore. Soon I realized that I had fallen out of love with art during my time in school. I feel that this was due mainly because I had 'majored' in art in college. It suddenly became this thing that I 'had' to do. It no longer was what I 'wanted' to do. Whether for fun or not.

But that is no longer they way I see art anymore. Art is not just for fun, it's not just a hobby. Which, is unlike how I used to think. When I was younger, I was often asked if I wanted to got to school for art, and my answer was always no. I believed that studying art would make it dull and boring if I did go to school for it. But art is so much more than that. It evokes feelings and emotions that other things just can't. I truly do see it as a sort of escape from the world. 

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So why jewelry?

Part of it I have to attribute to my mother. I love wearing her pieces. Over the years I've needed to repair parts of the jewelry made by her. For various reasons, but mainly because I didn't know how to store her work properly. 

Sorry mom! 

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Over time I began to do more than just repairs, I started to make pieces of my own. At first it was mainly as gifts for family and friends and than it expanded from there. I soon found myself inspired to create more and more pieces. I currently find myself being inspired, as opposed to not knowing what I should do with my life especially after having graduated college.

Life is a learning experience, art should be like that too.