LC: You are a working artist in sculpture and jewelry who has been widely exhibited in this country, and you also have experience as an arts educator and curator. How do you view the interconnections between different aspects of your practice?

MJ: My practice operates at the intersection of artistic production, curatorial research, and educational engagement. These three modes are interdependent, each informing and enriching the others. Each different area functions as a source for the other aspects of my practice but also provides different spaces and opportunities for experimentation and engagement.

LC: You are a member of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe and grew up in a family that valued the physical craft of making and fixing things. How have your Native American heritage and your familial experiences influenced the direction that you took in your artistic career?

MJ: My interest in object making stems from my youth in Northern New York and viewing the self-sufficiency of the matriarchs. My grandmothers on both sides dealt with the loss of their husbands but continued to give their children and future generations the best possible lives. From them — along with a mother who was consistently doing carpentry and refinishing — I learned how to create, repair, refinish, and remake objects that were vital to survival. Snowshoes were not just ornamental; they were how you went from the farmhouse to the mailbox. Baskets were used for laundry and harvest time. Within Indigenous communities, art, craft, and culture are intertwined and not separate as you often see in Western society, so making, creating and working with my hands was always close to me and it was natural for me to study art in college. In undergraduate, I studied mixed-media sculpture, photography, and scenic design. Immediately after graduating, I discovered steel and soon fell in love with the material alongside its connection to the Mohawk Ironworkers who built skyscrapers through New York City. This historical and familial connection to this material was an added pull that offered additional narrative opportunities and meaning to my work. I've been working with metal ever since.

LC: One of the striking qualities of your exquisite steel sculptural work is the contrast between the beautiful bouquets of flowers and plants and the hard and powerful strength of the steel, which requires tremendous physical intervention to tame into such delicate and organic forms. Can you talk about how you came to concentrate on metalsmithing and some of the specialized processes that are involved in creating these works?

MJ: Metalworking has long existed within Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) communities through Haudenosaunee Silversmithing and Mohawk Ironworking, and my practice extends this lineage. As a maker, I remain open and curious about new methods, tools, and techniques. The act of learning is inseparable from the work itself. In each piece, I strive to honor the precision, care, and cultural grounding embedded in Kanien'kehá:ka craft while exploring how metal can hold Indigenous knowledge, presence, and sovereignty in contemporary form.

My artistic process involves steel fabrication techniques that intermingle traditional blacksmithing tools and techniques — primarily forging and hot forming with a forge — with more present-day metalworking fabrication processes. This is a unique process that makes the steel feel alive and organic. I have a strong interest in continually expanding my knowledge of metalworking. Whether it's jewelry, sculpture, casting, or fabrication, each discipline employs distinct techniques and processes. The more I understand my material, the stronger my relationship with it becomes, enabling me to work with greater intention and shape it more skillfully.