My name is Roselyn Sanders Mendez.
I have been working in metal for over twenty years. I was not trained as a jeweler, rather I learned to fabricate in metal while working as a mount maker in museums. I trained under conservators, historians and artifact handlers and alongside skilled craftspeople. I had the unique opportunity to examine antiquities, while designing cradles to display them within museum exhibits. It was here I honed my design and fabrication skills in metals, plastics and textiles. It was a few years later that I began to utilize these skills as a working artist (though I have always been an artist).
For ten years I have been a member of Over the Mountain Studio Tour, a juried group of artists who open their studios once a year to the public. It is the oldest studio tour in WV and a wonderful community of makers.
I had the pleasure to be a part of The Bodice Project, which was a fantastic exhibit of sculpture designed as a fundraiser for Breast Cancer Research. It was a traveling exhibit that toured the US for 10 years. My sculpture, Battle Dress, was built from recycled metal and addressed the timing and the strength of those undergoing cancer treatments.
I regularly show my work at arts festivals, at faerie festivals and renaissance festivals.
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Hello. I am Roselyn Mendez. I am a mother. I am a gardener. I am a metalsmith. I am a collector of stories.
When I was a little girl, I loved to read, especially outside. I adored stories about elves and faeries. I loved to leaf through garden books and herbal journals. I loved to draw plants and flowers, musing over their beautiful shapes and telling myself stories about their lives.
I come from long lines of creative people and their stories simmer in my blood.
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My garden and the various lifeforms that live in it feed my creative impulses every day.
I sketch the things I see in my gardens and on hikes in our beautiful WV outdoors.
Using traditional metalsmithing methods and my own quirky design sense, I take to the shears and anvil and hammer. I take a turn with the torch and files.
My work is my homage to nature. Let yourself listen to nature’s stories and feel inspired.
