The Pearl Piece

As I mentioned on Tuesday, I'm developing work for my Sienna solo show here in Iceland. One of the pieces I'm working on will be made with pearls, which I am completely taken with right now. I love their luminous quality and the many shapes they come in, but I also love them for the way they are formed. A pearl begins with some kind of irritant and, over time, layer upon layer of iridescent calcium carbonate builds up around this irritant as a defense mechanism. I see pearls as glorified callouses or scars, forms of protection. They also represent years of hard work and tenacity, and when complete, they are a rare, beautiful thing. I see pearls as a symbol of the experience of life.

My pearl piece will be made using a variety of white and off-white pearls, both real and fake, round and natural, that I've been collecting for years. And this brings me to the most exciting part: I would also like to collect pearls from you.

packages of dirt from 23 of my closest friends

We Walk on the Same Ground

Last year I made the piece "We Walk on the Same Ground" for my exhibition "I Live Here Now" in which I asked my closest friends to send me dirt from where they live. I love the participatory aspect of this piece and I believe it makes it more compelling and personal. It's a combination of the experiences of dear friends and me. I would like to try this concept once again now by combining my own pearls with pearls from friends, family, colleagues, strangers, and people who like my work. I like the idea of the materials coming from a myriad of sources from places far and wide. They will bring beautiful, complex layers to the work, and mimic the process of how a pearl itself forms.

So, please join me now... please send me one pearl. It can be white or off-white, real or fake, round or natural, something you own already, or something you purchase for this piece. It can be a bead or it can be whole. You can mail it to me in the U.S. to the following post office box:

Amy Tavern

P.O. Box 1895

Richfield Springs, NY 13439

USA

If you would like to participate please mail your pearl to me by March 4, 2015. I will return to my studio to make this piece shortly after that and will collect all the pearls then. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at atavern@gmail.com. I do hope you will consider participating!

Thanks for reading.

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. 

Thanks for reading.