Nature's Perfection

Going back here to around the mid-60's... so many great memories of going around town with my parents. My Dad's love of rocks and polished stones took us to many places and on trips dedicated to picking rocks.

Dave's Rock Shop in Evanston Illinois, neighboring my home town of Wilmette, was a frequent stop for us. My dad had mom pick out 'as close to matching' polished stones for him to make into earrings, by gluing on backs. Bill, my brother, and I wandered around fascinated by fossils and cool stones. The selection was endless, and displayed for touching. In later years, a basement museum of artifacts was added. What a great place to take kids!

When designing jewelry with stone, my aim is to 'honor the stone'; design is totally driven by what I love most about the stone. These pieces have been my favorites to date.

Here's a gem that I'd like to go back to sometime soon! Dave's Down to Earth Rock Shop.

Rich.

This was my Mom's neck piece. It's noisy, it's tribal, it's raw. I'm not sure where she found it, but she thoroughly enjoyed wearing it  - especially around my girls when they were tiny. I know she delighted in the impact of this piece, and I loved seeing her wear it. She would so easily drape it over my toddlers as they ran around the house, and I loved seeing it being shared and enjoyed.

I've been thinking about this piece lately. I am getting reacquainted with it and love it all over again. It has a great feel - hefty and substantive. The components are simple, but blend and mesh in a really great way. The pieces are strung on 'whatever was available at the time' - an old piece of fabric... and yet it endures.

This piece is an inspiration to me. As my Mom inspired me, she continues to inspire me. Remembering how she was with her many precious jewels and how she appreciated the most basic, is where it's at for me. Rich.

Wheat

The art that I make at this point in my life makes sense to me. Knowing the reasons for 'making' and why I make what I do has brought clarity to my designs. Having this clarity about design brings about clean and simple things that work...getting rid of the chaff. I am seeing and finding the wheat in my process. Finally.

I am not painterly with my work - my jewelry nor my painting. I thrive (yes, thrive) on formulaic structures and patterns. Knowing what comes next helps drive my processes of getting there, and I want to get there efficiently and cleanly. This is not to say that I don't want to get my hands dirty... I love the mess and smells and serendipitous twists and turns. I find comfort in walking into a space that smells like 'wax-clean', liver of sulfer, torched surfaces and shellac; toxic smells that center me... make me feel at home. After all these years, it's jewelry that continues to turn me on. My drawing and painting is always there ready and waiting patiently for my attention. My mainstay in the storm.

It is not surprising that I seek some chaos in my creative life. Studying and performing improvisational comedy has provided my brain a source of having no clue about what will happen next! Working collaboratively with NO control continues to be challenging and exciting. I appreciate this new avenue very much...as it simultaneously moves my creativity forward and scares the hell out of me. 

Hand Finished

MICHELANGELO Buonarroti
Dusk and Dawn
1524-31
(Marble
Sagrestia Nuova, San Lorenzo, Florence)

These figures adorn the edges of a sarcophagus. They are beautifully sculpted with Dusk almost featureless, with unfinished feet and hands. Dawn, is turning purposely toward the viewer, exuding power and vitality. (Surprisingly, this is the only female nude Michelangelo ever sculpted!) Both of these figures are beautifully finished... finished with that final extra step, to make the sculptures exemplary.

When I was 13 traveling with my family, we took many tours in many different places, and saw many beautiful things. I remember bits and pieces of information - ideas and thoughts that have been tucked away somewhere and remembered briefly here and there throughout my life. I remember the tour guide saying that these particular sculptures were finished by hands...hands rubbing straw over the surface of the marble for hours upon hours. The straw not only burnished a beautiful shine (almost skin-like) on the surface of the marble, but left a beautiful, warm tone over the stone. I remember looking at them, understanding in another way, why these artworks were exemplary.

Finished artwork, whether rough or smooth, figurative or not, has the touch of the hands. This is the intimate connection between the artist and the work. To finally touch, polish, and proclaim it done, the artist seals the end of the process. That final lingering is that final touch. Hand finished.

Shiny!

Back in the 70's when I was in high school, I had a very good-paying part time job - checker at the Jewel grocery store. I loved that job. It was a chance to get proficient at the cash register and challenge myself to beat my 'best time' in ringing up orders. It was always busy which made the time fly by. It was a chance to talk with customers... many of whom I knew. We had to wear uniforms but I was able to accessorize with extras from the Salvation Army store - beaded shrug sweaters, funky socks, whatever I could find to be artsy and unique. I wore jewelry. Always.

The best part of working was I had no obligations for the money I made. I got to save it and spend it as I pleased. I loved finding jewelry that caught my eye. Back in the 70's it seemed difficult to find highly-polished sterling silver pieces that had reflective edges and planes. It was my goal to find these pieces. I remember finding Italian chains and baubles that were shiny - a true 'find'. Around that time, Native American jewelry came into favor with the 'liquid silver' chains. Those chains were amazing to me. Those were the days when I thought of shiny silver as a beautiful accent in the hot summer sun, worn with blue denim and white linen shirts.

Times have changed and tastes have changed. I still love shiny sterling silver, but mostly love it when it's creases and recesses are patinaed with age. Jewelry that has been worn and worn and passed from one person to another...with it's dings and shine from life's buffing.

As I move into new work, I will make decisions to 'patina or not patina', but first my head will need to get out of my '70's.

Sentimental Jewelry

Whether I'm in my tent at an art fair, behind the counter at Veberod, or selling out of my studio, when dealing with a father looking for a gift for his daughter, I am in the selling groove.

My Dad knew how much I loved jewelry. When traveling, he listened and watched me, often purchasing things for me along the way. Some purchases were surprises, opened up after returning home.

While the jewelry is a 'thing', it represents how thought-full and interested my Dad was in me... interested in my interests. Jewelry is a really great father-daughter connection. We both shared a love of beautiful things and I am sure that's where I got my love and respect for the decorative arts. He was a detail, precision and craftsmanship man.

 Here is a gold rope chain I opened up one Christmas morning. When I burst into tears, he knew he made a fine choice!

Resonance Here... Art and Life

Well, I couldn't have said this more clearly.

"It is human nature to want to exchange ideas, and I believe that, at bottom, every artist wants no more than to tell the world what he has to say. I have sometimes heard painters say that they paint "for themselves": but I think they would soon have painted their fill if they lived on a desert island. The primary purpose of all art forms, whether it’s music, literature, or the visual arts, is to say something to the outside world; in other words, to make a personal thought, a striking idea, an inner emotion perceptible to other people’s senses in such a way that there is no uncertainty about the maker's intentions" - M. C. Escher

 
I believe that we (humans) yearn to connect on a 'soul-ful' level, to reconnect and re-establish our relationships on this Earth. Traveling along on the continuum, we share threads of common experiences that make us feel less alone.

(M. C. Escher at 15
1913)