As an artist, after decades of designing jewelry for my personal use, I began selling necklaces to my admirers. It was not a medium I entered into with a great deal of foresight.
I soon found that my experience as a sculptor gave me the insight to understand the structure a successful sculpture required was the same needed to produce a stunning object of adornment.
My assemblages have always used a variety of refined materials coupled with common objects. So it is with my jewelry, as I mix glass, acrylic or resin beads with semi-precious stones, creating a work that makes no distinction between the worth of materials. The ability to re-invent the standards of color, design and value make my pieces more than just personal decoration, as they offer the wearer a necklace that becomes a part of their persona. ‘Magic,’ a word used to describe the sculpture from my first gallery exhibition,also defines my work as a designer of body adornments.
The power and impact of antiquities and ethnic objects has enabled me to create jewelry that refers to, but does not copy great ethnic pieces. My passion and respect for the past contributes to what I create as both a sculptor and designer. At my very core, I simply love making objects of beauty. I see what I do as forming one long skein of creativity without one medium being regarded as ascendant to another. Creating beauty is my life’s work. I accept the challenges and difficulties it poses in a world that all to easily settles for less.
As a true aesthete, I am required to use my talent and ability to touch all that surrounds me. I invite and encourage viewers to share and inhabit all that I have invented. No real lover of beauty wants to hoard it only for one’s self, for the sharing of that beauty is the gift that takes us where we did not expect to go - and that is the hallmark of great and good work.
Backward and Forward
In late 2010 my jewelry began to change, almost against my will. After designing and selling necklaces for nearly a decade it was time to make use of my past experiences in order to move into a new level of work. Increasingly, the materials I used told me where I should go. To redefine how I wanted to be perceived through my jewelry I needed to start looking at my resources in a different way. Power, simplicity and sophistication became my mantra.
The power comes from my intensified interest in antiquities and amulets. Looking backward reminds me that these objects of authority have survived because time has in no way diminished their capacity to inspire wonder. The necklaces on pages 22, 23, and especially page 35 refer to the glorious and ancient Goddess Necklaces that meld the distant past with the customs of our time.
Simplicity has always been an essential part of my repertoire, but the way it is made manifest changes with time and age. A necklace may be grand and simple at the same time. It can also be successful with the least, or most, amount of materials. Intent is the necessary tool. Compare the works on page 29, where simplicity is achieved by massing hundreds of beads in a similar color- way, while the necklace of large Labradorite specimens on page 6 shows a quiet ease that represents both high style and confidence.
Sophistication is a state of mind that allows the wearer to take a necklace and make it hers alone. The terms I have taken as guide lines in creating a new collection are strong and interchangeable. The necklace on page 22 is an example of great sophistication with a seemingly effortless nod to the past.
Jewelry is joyful theater. One can use a piece to be quiet and demure, powerfully heady or breakout exuberant. The real magic comes when we can do it all with a single piece, the ultimate definition of true style.
The Power Of Antiquity
I have chosen the piece below to represent the power of antiquity. The dark stone discs bound together are Macedonian spindles dating from 4000-3000 BCE. They were acquired from Abdul Wais, an Afghani dealer, now living in Castro Valley, California. He has become both a friend and mentor, increasing my passion for magic artifacts. Without his knowledge, experience and all but continuous travels, this necklace would not exist.
For me, it is a high point in that it embodies all that I strive for in my work. This is a power necklace, imbued with energy, grace, simplicity and sophistication. It carries the weight and import of great age, yet it is also a creation of, and for, the present day.
No. 813 Faceted 27mm Rutilated Quartz rounds with Sterling free form spacers and pendent 82mm long,
of two stone spindles, Macedonia, 4000 - 3000 B.C. Sterling clasp.
