Duende, Art & Emily Armenta
"Art has taken me on a journey from here to somewhere else – somewhere out of the ordinary."
- Emily Armenta
Emily Armenta
When the world began to shut down last year, Emily Armenta and her team continued working and creating. With ready-access to materials suddenly up in the air, her team began re-imagining the materials they already had. Through all the uncertainty, they still managed to create two impressive new collections. Emily and her team remained true to the brand’s DNA, keeping the rustic, old world, romantic charm with a distinct point of view.
Armenta Jewelry is known for using materials that are far from ordinary. Along with 100% recycled gold, Emily explains, “We use a lot of artifacts, ancient beads and glass, ancient diamonds and gemstones, materials that have been above the earth for hundreds or thousands of years. Many of the artifacts we use have a meaningful historical reference, whether they were used as currency, protection, armor, etc. We have reimagined and incorporated them into beautiful unique pieces that continue to tell stories and play homage to history.”
Emily Armenta
While in the midst of our current history-making era, how do artists like her find the desire to keep creating despite the challenges?
“Even through the uncertainty, difficulty and sacrifices along the way, my team was unaverred in the mission to support one another and our community – gaining a sense of empowerment and strength from weathering the last year,” Emily says.
For her, the drive to create art is an internal and intensely personal force that keeps her artistry going. The force that motivates her is called duende.
Duende does not exist outside of an artist like a muse or an angel, she says. Instead, it is a sleeping force deep within an artist, asking to be roused. “The artist creates to awaken the duende and begin the necessary but difficult journey that leads us to follow our real selves, the one we barely recognize – but the one that is our authentic self.”
“True art comes from the struggle to dig deep within and transcend into a world that is beyond the physical realm. Skill and technique can even be unimportant because talent can only get you so far – one must have the courage to express themselves. Simply said, art allows the soul to feel,” Emily says.
TIVOL has partnered with Emily and Armenta Jewelry for nearly a decade and looks forward to her in-store appearance during the 90th Annual Plaza Art Fair to showcase and celebrate her new Armenta Jewelry collections.
“Art has taken me on a journey from here to somewhere else – somewhere out of the ordinary. TIVOL has given me the honor to intertwine our stories and has given me a voice so that I can share my art with those who encompass their world. I’m excited to be with the TIVOL team during the art festival which is a time to celebrate art and each other.”
[Emily Armenta will make an in-store appearance during the 90th Annual Plaza Art Fair on Saturday, September 25 from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. at TIVOL on the Country Club Plaza.]