Pearl Stories, No. 3

Virginia Hungate-Hawk sent me three faux pearl necklaces that she found amongst "all kinds of things one keeps but does not move away with." Her metalsmith mom had just turned her childhood room into a studio and Virginia had to sort through things she had left behind when she moved away years ago, things like ticket stubs and old jewelry. The change seemed bittersweet for Virginia. As she wrote in the note she included with her contribution, she had encouraged her mom to make the change, but it had caused her to realize one "never can really go home." This got me thinking about all the times I moved and all the things I left behind, got rid of, gave away, held on to, or put into storage. Objects mark time. They remind us of people and places and our attachment is personal and often rooted in emotion. I have a huge collection of jewelry and there are many, many pieces I haven't worn in years, but I choose to keep because they remind me of something or someone. As I thought about my jewelry, I remembered my own faux pearls including a bracelet I wore at my prom when I was 16. I know exactly where it is in my childhood home and I think I'll have my mom send it to me here in San Francisco. It needs to be a part of this piece. Virginia said she can't remember details of the necklaces she sent, but perhaps she wore one of the strands to her prom, too.

Read the other stories here and here.

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Necklace No. 12, For My Dad

Necklace No. 12 from Collected Memories: 1974-Present

My dad's birthday is today. He would have been 70. This is a necklace I made about him and a pair of earrings he gave me when I was 17. Each color represents a stage of his life: childhood, his life with my mom, my brother, and I, and his life with Alzheimer's. The shape of the folded fabric pieces represents the shape of the earrings. My father had been recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's when I made it and this knowledge weighed heavily upon me. I could not help but consider how he was losing his memory as I was trying to recreate mine through my work. This necklace represents a key moment for me and my understanding of my use of memory.

In honor of my dad's birthday I will take a long walk along the ocean, a place he loved. I will also eat some cake.

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Intuition

Choices are made with a combination of cognition and intuition. In addition to my "Tools for Making Decisions," "In Between" includes 1000 paper bows which represent accumulated experience and memory, or the basis of intuition. When I was considering this aspect of the piece, my first thought was to make the bows in metal and maybe paint them white, but after talking with my students and Curtis Arima, one of the instructors at CCA, I realized metal was not appropriate. Curtis asked me "Why metal?" and I answered by saying I felt "obligated," and I knew right away, that obligation was not a good enough reason. Instead, paper was the right choice, a light-weight, ephemeral material. I used large Canson sheets in white with a bit of body to them and cut a few bows in different sizes until I found a size that felt right. I picked monofilament to hang them from and suspended long lengths from the skylight in the elevator. I left the ends of the monofilament uncut and tied the bows closer together as I reached the bottom.

It took two days to hang the bows, and at the end of the first day, I found myself delightfully surprised by what was happening as the bows moved and interacted with light from above. There was an unexpected gray-scale and a graphic quality, while the monofilament added extra visual detail and subtle light effects. The changes in light from day to night were also interesting to observe. I chose to pile several hundred bows on the floor of the elevator, as well, and hung a few pieces underneath the table itself, all to add to the feeling of accumulation. I wanted my memories, my intuition, to hover and surround the cognitive tools arranged on the table.

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Departing Ship

In addition to "Forget Me Not," I made a second piece about my father titled, "Departing Ship." This piece is based on a button from my dad's Navy pea coat and the popular image for Victorian mourning jewelry of a departing ship. When I was working on ideas for a piece about my father, I made a list of objects I associate with him that have some sort of personal significance to me: storage boxes he made for our camping supplies, his chef hats, his perfectly white Reebok sneakers. I asked my mom about all of the things on my list and nothing is left, except for one of the original buttons from his Navy pea coat. I wore this coat in college and somehow still have a button, even though the coat is long gone. At first I was very disappointed that nothing was left, but then I realized it was actually a good thing and truly appropriate given my father's illness. So I worked with the single button, toying with the idea of casting it, but then decided to really play up trying to replace it or recreate it by finding buttons that were almost the same. I made 68 pins for this arrangement/installation, my father's age now. Over time as pins are purchased, this number will diminish or disappear much like his memory, and eventually his life.

Normally, I would not bring up selling my work in a post like this, but the purchase of these pins is something I really want because it is the continuation of the piece. I want them to disappear… it adds to the meaning. If you are interested in having one for yourself, send me an email (atavern@gmail.com). They are $50 each.

More images on Flickr.

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We Walk on the Same Ground (because) I am With You, You are With Me

We Walk on the Same Ground

In addition to my family, the house I grew up in and all the places I have lived as an adult, my ideas of home come from my friends and community. I am fortunate to have friends all over the place, and not just acquaintances, but very close, dear friends. I also have a network of artists around the US in jewelry, art and craft. "We Walk on the Same Ground" is about all of these people and reflects my feelings towards them and the memories I have of each person. I also wanted to show generosity because my friends are incredibly generous people and I feel a wonderful, balanced "give and take" between us. Through a multi-layered ritual, I collected dirt from 23 different friends and based the main form of the piece on the reliquary, a container for sacred objects. Later I added spoons to symbolize generosity and to create visual balance. Once the piece was complete, I made an accompanying necklace with a cluster of spoons. This piece is also a brooch and should be worn with the spoons pinned over the heart. 

I am With You, You are With Me

The ritual included participation from 23 different people from a number of cities, as well as my input both in the US and later in Sweden. Next week I'll get into the details of this process and show some images. 

detail of the reliquary

packages of dirt from 23 friends

Please visit my Flickr page to see some images of process. 

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Never Let Me Down

pocket watch detail

Growing up, my brother and I were close. We fought occasionally as siblings do, but got along really well and had a lot of fun together. We remain close today and I still admire him as my "big brother." "Never Let Me Down" is about our relationship and the many moments when we looked to each other for advice or to simply commiserate. It's also about how I admire him and how he has influenced my life over the years.

Never Let Me Down

When we were teens, Mark carried a pocket watch. It set him apart from everyone else and I admired this, although I may not have realized it at the time. "Never Let Me Down" includes a pocket watch, cufflinks, tie tack and handkerchief and the papers underneath list the song titles from mix tapes he had as a teen. I used to sneak these out of his room when he wasn't around and it was those tapes that changed my perspective on music.

cuff links detail

In addition to the objects you see here, I also recreated the mix tapes, song for song. I was talking to Mark on the phone months ago about the tapes and he told me then he still had them. After we said goodbye, he sent me images of them via text messages. I hadn't seen the song titles since I was 16 and it was pretty incredible to read them again. It also felt like reading pages from a book or like reading a poem. I put together the mixes shortly after and then listened to them in their entirety back to back. It was even more mind-blowing to here the songs again! Later I listened to them while carefully writing each title in Cursive handwriting on practice paper. If you would like to listen to these mixes, you can find them here and here on Spotify. 

handkerchief detail

tie tack detail

I posted lots of process pictures on Flickr. I have also added images for "Silently (I Saw a Robin Today,"  "Wayfinder" and "Forget Me Not," pieces I have written about here already. Please take a look.

Thanks for reading.

Collected Memories Back in the Shop

Necklace No. 6

My recent press in Metalsmith made me look at Collected Memories: 1974-Present again. I have the remaining pieces here in my studio in a box. I don't want them to be in this box. I want them to be out in the world. I want them to be seen and enjoyed…so I have re-listed them in my Etsy Shop with a new price and would love for you to take a look and get one for yourself or as a gift. They are wearable but also look beautiful hanging on a wall, like a drawing or photograph. These pieces are all one-of-a-kind, made with collected materials that I found or were given to me. They are based on my own collection of jewelry: they respond to specific pieces, people or moments, as well as patterns in my collection. 

Brooch No. 1

In 2011 when I made this work, I photographed every single piece of jewelry that I own and then studied the work and the images. I tried to remember how I acquired each piece, I thought about the people who gave me the work, and I noticed how I have collected since I was a child. Between the memories of the materials and the memories of the jewelry, events and people in my life were drawn together to create new memories. The following is from my statement for the series.

Necklace No. 14

In “Collected Memories: 1974-Present,” I analyzed the jewelry I own to discover patterns and to gain further insight into my history with jewelry. The completed installation serves as a timeline of my life with jewelry and a vehicle for intertwining events and people. The works are made using materials I have collected and are assembled in such a way as to emphasize the impermanence and incompleteness of memory.

Installation view from my exhibition at Velvet da Vinci

Of the original 34 pieces, there are 17 left…

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Lost and Found, One More Necklace

I became fascinated by rope while living in Skagaströnd. There were bins full of rope, piles of rope, and bits and pieces on the ground. I collected some of these and arranged them in my studio to look at and think about. They are like drawings to me. Then I found a long piece in this wonderful seafoam color and knotted it into a long necklace. 

 

More images on Flickr.

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Alone/Together

Last week I posted a glimpse of a new embroidered necklace and now here it is in full view along with its companion pieces. I call this new series "Alone/Together" and each necklace is made of wool sweaters scraps I found stuffed in a garbage bag here at Nes. I love working with what I have and using materials that echo my environment. I felt compelled to work with these pieces as soon as I found them, which, I think, was the first week I was here. I tried some different things out once June arrived but nothing seemed quite right. Even when I started stitching together the first necklace I continued to struggle. I knew it would require a lot of time and I was feeling impatient. I also knew I did not have enough thread and, although I usually like the challenge of using what's available, the lack worked against me. I tried negotiating a compromise as both limitations felt bigger than they actually were. However, one evening very late at night I knew I had to push forward, I knew I had to commit to the time and to obtaining more thread. So the next day I jumped in a friend's car and drove to Reykjavik just so I could go to Erla for more white DMC floss. Over the course of a few more nights I stayed up very, very late. As I stitched I knew I wanted to make a third piece, but there wasn't a third sweater pattern. I struggled with this for a bit, too, but finally decided to try combining the patterns as alternating links. This final piece will be three times as long as the first and feels rather decadent to wear even as a work-in-progress. I will complete it when I return to the U.S.

I realize now these necklaces are all about the forgotten, the discarded, the unused...They are a vestige of something that once was and I find all of this incredibly appealing and relatable. By turning these throw-aways into jewelry, I'm giving them identity and purpose and I'm remembering them. They are further inspired by the iconic Icelandic wool sweater itself, the cold weather I have experienced here, and the stark color palette of my surroundings.

The pieces measure approximately 66" x 3"x 3", 120" x 3" x 3", and 204" x 3" x 3".

More images on Flickr.

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Beyond Fashion Week Part 3

The other group of work I have started in my sweet studio at Beyond Fashion is based on walks I have taken around my neighborhood, in Antwerp, and in Brussels. I rely on maps more than I ever have since arriving in Belgium and I'm getting really good at reading them, with help from the handy compass I wear around my neck everyday. (Thanks Galen!) I am also relying on observations to help me remember where I've been so I can get myself back instead of lost. These points are often street names or landmarks, but can also be anything from graffiti to something unusual that gives me pause. I make special note of these things in my mind; I deliberately commit them to memory. Recently I researched the meaning of the bow and remembered that it is often used to remember things, i.e. tying a bow around one's finger to remember something important. Realizing this was a big moment for me since my work has become about memory and I already use the bow. I have studied my maps and written down the details of three different walks and the specific points that I chose to remember. The pieces about these walks will be necklaces of bows and chains with each bow marking an important place. 

More images on Flickr.

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Beyond Fashion Week Part 2

So what's going on in my studio at Beyond Fashion? I'm working on two groups of pieces with thoughts of a third in the back of my mind. The first group focuses on observations which I've been collecting visually and then documenting with photographs whenever I can. (Occasionally, I observe something from the window of the bus and there just isn't time to snap a picture. These I try to commit to memory or sketch in my notebook immediately. See last two images.) The pictures and notes I take represent not only the observation but also a moment/memory from my life as I live in this new place. Here are a few images of some of the pieces so far paired with their observation:

More images on Flickr.

Thanks for reading.