Vanessa Ortiz Alcaraz is a first generation Xicana multidisciplinary Artist & Jeweler from San Diego, California and Tijuana B.C México. Currently she is a guest resident artist on the island of O’ahu, in the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Her mediums encompass both handcrafted metalsmith Jewelry Collections and Cyanotype fine art prints. Exploring themes such as our primal connection to nature and our role as humans to protect both land & people. Her ancestral Mexica heritage is greatly rooted in her jewelry through the use of Mexican Peso coins, traditional gemstones, and metal design techniques. Providing a vessel of connection and empowerment for herself and the wearer of her pieces.
Her Cyanotype artworks feature her own photography as well as Indigenous Xicano history and symbolism of her people. Cyanotype alchemy harnesses the power of Tonalli (Sun in Nahuatl) and all the natural elements Earth, Air, Water, and fire. Plants play a vital part in her art practice and lifestyle as she forages and preserves plants she learns their histories and properties both medicinal and spiritual. The pressed botanicals are then exposed over her visual offerings.
Tonalli Made (formally Combine&Create Studio) launched in 2018 in Barrio Logan the arts and cultural district of San Diego.
“My hope is that when you wear a piece of my jewelry or view my art, you feel a little more connected to your own cultural spirituality and to the earth around you.”
-Vanessa
Residencies & Education:
2016 BFA - Cornish College of the Arts Seattle
2017-2025 - Resident Artist Barrio Logan Arts District
2019-Current - Resident Artist San Diego Museum of Art
2020-2024- Photography Art Teacher Museum of Photographic Arts
2022-Current - Resident Artist Chicano Park Museum
2025-Current- Resident Artist Hook&Hide Studios Oahu HI
Publications:
2020- San Diego Union Tribune: Local Style Article
2022- San Diego Voyager: Artist Feature
