Thoughts on Twigs and Trees

March is here and so is the beginning of the third and final year of my residency. Needless to say, time flies and I can’t believe I only have a year left. I would like to share my thoughts on this subject with all of you, but honestly, there is just too much to say and I'm not able to quantify or define it succinctly in words yet. Instead, I want to talk about the twig necklace pictured above.

I took my first Penland class in the summer of 1999. The class, “Intimate/Monumental,” was taught by Heather White van Stolk and focused on casting. I cast many natural objects over those two weeks and made a series of rings, necklaces, and brooches. On the first day Heather asked us to collect materials around the Penland campus and to make a wearable piece of jewelry using them. This twig necklace is the piece I made that day and is very special to me. It marks the beginning of my relationship with Penland and is the ultimate souvenir from a pivotal moment in my life. Looking at it now, it also symbolizes some of the fundamental interests that are still important to me now: line, asymmetry, and simplicity.

As I embark on these next 12 months I will be looking at this necklace as an important reminder of so many things. I will also be thinking about something a friend said once about looking at one tree at a time instead of the whole forest. One tree keeps things in perspective, while the whole forest can be overwhelming. I believe this will be my mantra for 2011.

Thanks for reading.