The Pearl Piece Update #2

Whenever I make new work, I do a lot of research. I've mentioned how I read books, study articles, and listen to podcasts on the topics I want to illustrate in jewelry, objects, and installations. I like gathering information and adding knowledge and depth to my ideas. I tend to start with Wikipedia or a general Google search and things begin to open up. I look at the books I own and try to find new titles. I talk to friends and colleagues and often our conversations lend interesting thoughts and sources. Recently, a friend recommended a book titled Jewels: A Secret History by Victoria Finlay. The book details various kinds of jewels including pearls and I fiercely read each page of this chapter. It's a fascinating combination of history, lore, and personal experience, describing the origins of the name, how pearls are cultured, and a variety of stories about pearls from Julius Caesar to Mikimoto. This lead me to remembering my own experiences with historical pearl jewelry during my travels from the British Museum to the Victoria and Albert to the Palazzo Pitti. Here are a few pictures:

seed pearl jewelry

hand-shaped pearl pin

pearl and garnet necklace

Thanks for reading.

Evidence

evidence of process: the lemon I peeled for "Smell,"printed thoughts and research, amethyst beads I didn't use

Process is very important to me and I do love documenting it. However, time during my residency was limited and I did not really use any of it to stop for photos. There are a few, though, and I'm grateful that I have them. I spent three weeks at CCA, arriving each morning between 9:30 and 10. During the first week, I developed my ideas through reading, thinking, writing and sketching. I also visited the gallery to spend time in the elevator to understand the space directly, both physically and mentally. By the end of the week, I had formed a more concrete idea and plan. During the second week, I started to collect the various found objects and I made nine chains. I also started to make the all-metal pieces, like the ear trumpet for "Hearing." Then, in the final week, the bows were made, the metalwork was completed and the necklaces were put together. The whole process was a mixture of constant planning and just allowing the piece to unfold. I was keenly aware of time but tried to hold it loosely. Thinking back, it's interesting to me that the creation of the work itself was mirroring the finished piece: that balance of cognition and intuition that I presented with a collection of tools and 1000 paper bows. 

morning light on my first day

some books I used for research and reference

I tried things that didn't work out…

I spent hours making hundreds of jump rings

The day before I finished the work, I cleaned up my space and arranged the pieces both finished and still in-progress on my table so I could walk into an orderly studio and look with fresh eyes the next day.

my bench at the end of my residency

paper remnants from 1000 bows

See more pictures of process on Flickr.

Thanks for reading.

Installation Beginnings

Ache

I'm preparing to create an installation in a working elevator at Velvet da Vinci in San Francisco. I've been researching installations inside elevators and thinking about how I can best use this symbolically-loaded space. I've also been looking at my own work and revisiting ideas from the past, studying the why and how behind each piece and looking for the things I would like to expand upon. My first installation happened at Velvet in 2011 as part of my solo show, "This is How I Remember It." Later I created "Ache" and, most recently, I showed "Silently (I Saw a Robin Today)."  I've been reading and writing a lot and but have nothing concrete yet, but this is just the beginning...

Collected Memories at my solo exhibition at Velvet Da Vinci

Silently (I Saw A Robin Today)

Thanks for reading.

Reading and Listening

the corner of my childhood home and site of my earliest memory

My work begins with a vague idea, a translucent thought and/or a broad question based on my memories. Then I read a lot and I also listen, and as I do both, I think and take notes. The following list includes links to articles and podcasts that made an impact on me while I was developing ideas for "I Live Here Now":

The Psychology of Home: Why Where You Live Means So Much 
by Julie Beck at The Atlantic

Home, Dismantled by Olivia Judson at The New York Times

Personal Identity is (Mostly) Performance by Jennifer Ouellette 
at The Atlantic

“Is there an afterlife?” Ghost-Hunting at My Grandmother’s House by Ben Shattuck at Salon

In Grief, Try Personal Rituals by Emily Esfahani Smith

The Definition of Home by Verlyn Klinkenborg at the Smithsonian

Lost and Found on Radiolab

No Place Like Home on This American Life

Away from Home on This American Life

On Not Going Home by James Woods on London Review of Books

porcelain escutcheon cover of the front door 

of my childhood home

lava fields covered in moss, my favorite place in Iceland

Thanks for reading.

Winter Reading List

I gave myself a book list for the winter and I am steadily reading my way through it. Here are the titles I am in the middle of, planning to read, or have finished since December:

Evocative Objects (above) edited by Sherry Turkle includes essays from artists, scientists, and humanists about the importance and meaning of favorite objects.

The Artist's Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love by Jackie Battenfield details information for creating and keeping a successful career in the arts.

Dorothea Pruhl: Colliers edited by Florian Hufnagl with text by Renate Luckner-Bien describes the necklaces of one of my favorite jewelers, accompanied by lots of huge, beautiful pictures.

Bernd and Hilla Becher: Life and Work by Susanne Lange discusses the life and work of the Bechers who photographed an industrial landscape including water towers, factories, and grain elevators.

Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Fashion in Detail by Avril Hart and Susan North offers an almost scientific view of costume details like darts, draping, and pinking.

The Language of Ornament by James Trilling discusses the history and meaning of ornament.

Do you have a title you think I might like? Please send me an email (amy@amytavern.com) and share your recommendation. I am always on the look out for good books!

Thanks for reading.