ABOUT RAïSSA
I believe there’s wild variety in our human experience and there should be many ways to externally convey some small bit of the beauty of our inner lives. I’m an artist, mother, educator, writer. As a maker, I focus on both one-of-a-kind and collections of jewelry, fueled by how humans show up in our days, how we present ourselves, and the rituals of everyday life with special objects. Through teaching, facilitating, and writing, I offer ideas and practices about jewelry and knitting technique, creative process, professional practices (including atypical ones related to wellness, mindset, habits) and how they all integrate with our day-to-day lives. My intention is in supporting others to flourish and build both sustainable habits and rewarding endeavors.
I grew up in the Hudson River Valley, spent some years in the Berkshires and many more in the Bay Area. I newly reside in Portland, OR with my husband Jonathan Anzalone and our daughter. I hold a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and studied with Giampalo Babetto at Alchimia in Florence, Italy. I’m a quietly strong leader in the field of Art Jewelry and advocate for its advancement; for years I’ve volunteered on the board of Art Jewelry Forum, including being Board Chair. I naturally look at the big picture and am not in a rush - resolute to stay engaged for a long time, to take an everyday approach that invites slowing down to notice, allowing time to note that small acts add up to make a difference. I bring patience, compassion, and attention to detail to all of my endeavors. In 2015 I founded Reset, whose mission is to educate others to be attentive to their bodies’ signals and provide them with practical Self-Tuning techniques so that they can continue creating.
My jewelry, both one-of-a-kind pieces as well as edition collections, is widely collected and has been included in various Lark Book publications and in the pages of Metalsmith magazine. I exhibit with galleries such as Sienna Patti Contemporary, teach workshops at Penland School of Craft, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and others. Poet and essayist Lia Purpura’s words about my jewelry express much of what I feel while making: “Though meant to embellish the body, contained within her jewelry is the utility and liveliness of essential tools – a quality that might suggest we reexamine the beauty of tools, and by extension, the aesthetic properties of raw materials (the gentleness of silver, the liquidity of diamonds), the organic delicacy to be found in urban landscapes, the mathematics of the natural world. We might, with her guidance, experience the multiple expressive selves that take up residence in a single glorious object.”
Click here to read all of the words Lia wrote about my work.
Click here to view a more extensive CV.
CONTACT: raissa@raissabump.com
Reset's Story
I am a maker by trade and by nature, and love what I do. For years, I’ve spent hours each day at my worktable making jewelry. Over time, my body started to feel the stress directly related to my work habits. My fingers locked up, and my jaw, upper back, and neck were extremely tight. I became aware of my posture and how much time I spent in a stressful position. Once I acknowledged this trend toward dysfunction, I had no choice but to make changes. Real solutions were needed that could be incorporated without much time or money.
In 2008, I became certified in Forrest Yoga. Within that practice, I found stretches that were easy to incorporate into a daily routine while sitting at the workbench. I got curious and sought out and investigated others. At first, my focus was on my personal issues and how stretches and small shifts could profoundly change my experience. It was wonderful to feel relief of my strains and aches, and I noticed additional benefits of these new habits—increased focus, shifts in perspective, and a heightened connection to my creativity. It wasn’t long before I observed and heard about similar strains in other people. I had the epiphany that these techniques would benefit all types of people suffering from repetitive strains and stresses, and from there, the goal of Reset became clear.