We recently connected with Cathi Rivera and have shared our conversation below.

Cathi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

The name of my company is Flowing with Pearls. It is a name that lends itself to storytelling and creation.  It reflects the many facets of living in South Florida, the flow of the wind, the movement of water, the constant changes of light both brilliant and shadowed, and the story of how many cultures flow into each other creating a mixture of origins leading to more stories. I love taking a hard material like metal and making it move softly and smoothly around other materials. Pearls have always been my favorite gem. They are created in the sea by nature, symbolizing calmness, wisdom and serenity. While there is movement around them, they are the stability that makes me reflect on the story being told by each piece that I create.

The name of my company was suggested to me by my daughter, Lauren, who is a graphic designer. She also designed my logo and my website. This is very serendipitous because she was the daughter who I went into labor with at an outdoor art show. She was honored by the front page article and photo of my empty booth in the Sun Sentinel and now she is also an artist.

Cathi, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Each piece that I create begins with a story. It could be a social issue, personal issue, a reflection of places I have been and things that have inspired me on a daily basis. What makes me unique is that I will often create a piece of wearable art that uses something that a customer brings to me that tells their own story. It could be a shard of pottery, a fossilized shell found on a trip, a momento of something that reminds them of a place or experience that they have had and want to remember, or something special that someone, who is no longer with them, has given them years ago. It may be a particular shape or form that describes them or reflects on their personality. I feel that jewelry should be a personal reflection of your story, not just something mass produced that everyone wears. Just like your home and the clothes you wear tell a story of who you are, your jewelry should do the same. I think of my pieces as personal wearable art. On my website https://www.flowingwithpearls.com I have many examples of commissions that I’ve done as well as my own inspired pieces. I like to work with glass because of it’s luminosity and the colors that it brings to a piece of monochromatic metal. Before the pandemic, I travelled extensively and brought back pieces that I have incorporated into my jewelry designs. During the pandemic I created a series around the Art of the Circle: Everything/Nothing. The circle represents completeness, repetition and nothingness. During the pandemic I and many others experienced all of these emotions both personally and as a reflection of current events. I turned to nature to give me solace from the constant onslaught of the media but still found myself influenced by the circumstances that surrounded me. Incorporating fused glass, resin, stone, pearls, fiber and metal I am able to capture a moment in time. Working with customers on a personal jewelry piece, I am able to collect materials, create sketches and fabricate a wearable work of Art. Each piece captures a moment, and inspires remembrance of people and places that have touched their lives.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is having the time and freedom to be inspired and then having the ability to create from that inspiration. When I was younger and had more immediate responsibilities of raising a family and providing for the needs of everyone else around be, it was difficult to make time to be creative. As a seasoned creator, I have had the opportunity to travel, meet many different people and see the great expanses of possibilities in front of me.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

Forty five years ago, after getting my degrees in art and education, I began travelling around the country doing art shows. At the time, I worked for a University that allowed me to have the summers off to do this. During the year I created jewelry pieces and during the summer, I travelled and sold them. This was very exciting because I met so many people who mentored me and became my biggest supporters. I studied with countless jewelry instructors and business people who started me on my creative journey. Then I got married and wanted to start my family. As a woman, being pregnant and on the road was not a comfortable experience. Being naive, I thought that I could completely control my narrative. When I went into labor with my first child at an art show and had to leave to go to the hospital, I put a sign on my booth saying that I would be right back. I made the front page of the Sun Sentinel. This was another beginners mistake, thinking that childbirth was as easy as delivering a baby and then resuming all other activities. Consequently, I learned a lot about being a female creative and being responsible for another human being who needed food, shelter, stability, school, and health insurance. When my second child was born, I stopped doing art shows for months before she came. I went back to my original plan which was to teach art in the public schools. This gave me stability, more money and insurance but less time to create my own work and travel. While I was teaching, I often worked side by side with my students, teachers,and administrators developing art curriculum that was relevant to today’s world. I moved to Florida which did not have a middle school art curriculum and began writing one, collaborating with others who thought like me and advocating for a new and improved way to teach children art. The result of that journey has been a Florida standardized middle school art curriculum, much recognition and many awards for my work both on a state level and nationally. For forty two years I taught middle schoolers, travelled to art education conferences and taught other teachers how to create, with an opportunity to travel to teach in Vietnam, Cambodia and Hong Kong. It was exciting. While I was doing this I was also collecting objects and creating my own jewelry pieces. Thankfully, my husband and family were always supportive with child care. There were also many other women and artists along the way who supported my need to create. I no longer had the time to do the outdoor art show circuit. I decided to show my jewelry in Art Galleries and Museums, in a frame and on the wall, just like painters do. This has not always been well received. There is a stigma that jewelry is only a craft and does not have the same value and significance as painting. Many Gallery owners wanted to relegate my work to the gift shop. It has been an up-hill battle re-educating them. It’s still a large part of the stigma that female creatives carry. I have been very selective which my exhibitions. The Galleries and Museums that show my work understand that it is a one of a kind piece of wearable art that tells a story. Each unique piece has value that is not only measured monetarily.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.flowingwithpearls.com
• Instagram: #flowingwithpearls
• Facebook: @flowingwithpearls.com
• Other: e-mail [email protected]

Image Credits
All photos were taken by the artist: Cathi Rivera