Emily Spykman | Shifting Sands

Artist: Emily Spykman, New Mexico Materials: sterling silver, Oregon sunstone, black spinelSize: 6.25 Artist Statement: The Kangaroo Rat is highly adapted to the intense desert environment. You won't see it hopping out and about during the heat of the day, that little critter knows to hide in burrows in the cool sand, letting the wind whip and the sun bake above, while it munches little seed treats and waits for sundown. Once the air cools, it peaks it's little nose out, and hops out of it's burrow in search of seeds that it will stuff in its cheek pockets for later- there's no water to be found, but that doesn't bother the Kangaroo Rat at all- it may never drink a drop of water its entire life! Leaping and hopping around on its long hind legs, avoiding rattlesnakes and badgers, hiding under bushes, camouflaged and curious, living its best life in and on the shifting sands of White Sands National Park. The rippling sands of the ring band are silver cast into cuttlefish bone, the Kangar