This series comes from a very simple routine: walking to the University of Oregon (UO) and passing the Mill Race every day. The ducks are always there. Sometimes they land, sometimes they float, sometimes they dip their heads into the water. Nothing dramatic happens, but I keep noticing them.

At UO, ducks are both a literal presence and a symbolic one. As the home of the Oregon Ducks, the figure of the duck already carries a strong identity on campus. Encountering actual ducks along the Mill Race creates a quiet overlap between this institutional symbol and the everyday environment I move through.

Each ring holds a moment: Landing, Floating, Dabbling. The metal surface acts like water, reflective, slightly unstable, and never completely still. The ducks sit on top, but they do not fully settle into the surface. There is a slight awkwardness in how they meet, as if the moment is paused rather than fixed.

The duck figures in these rings are sourced from thrift stores in the Eugene area. They are small, mass-produced objects that have already circulated through other lives. I reposition them onto hand-fabricated silver forms, allowing their existing character to remain visible while shifting their context. The sterling silver is also recycled from my previous studio practice, embedding another layer of material history into the work.

This work is part of my Rejewelry Project, which explores reuse as both a material and conceptual approach. By working with found objects and recycled metal, I am interested in how meaning shifts through relocation and recontextualization, how something familiar can become slightly estranged, and therefore newly visible.

Nothing in this series is extraordinary. It comes from repetition, from passing the same place every day, and choosing to pay attention.