In 40 Days

It’s hard to know where to start. So much has happened since my last blog entry. Too many ideas to remember, and too many places to absorb. This morning I spent an hour looking at the Caravaggio show at the Kimbell museum in Fort Worth only five days removed from perusing Caravaggio’s work at the Prado in Madrid. Same hand, different venue, one traditional and one unthinkable at the time the work was made. I love Fort Worth as a museum town and especially enjoy knowing that it didn’t even exist when the much of the work I see here was created. There is something fractious about that reality that appeals to me. I’ve always been a bit uneasy with the fact that my work does not always have a consistency that you see in established lines. It bothered me that sometimes it’s difficult to tell that pieces of mine are made by the same person. However, I’m getting over that. I’ve seen in the last month a number of Picasso shows in every corner of the world.  What is encouraging about the diversity of his work - which include the blue period, the rose period, and the cubist amongst others – is that it would be very hard to identify the same artist as the creator of each of these genres. Within individual periods there is a journey that distinguishes the beginning from the end stylistically. What that tells me is that he was making individual art pieces as opposed to a collection.   I have always preferred to make art in one piece before I even think about the next piece. Nascent stages of understanding can be the most alluring. That time before practice makes perfect tends to have a very fresh honesty. I was fortunate enough to spend Halloween evening in Madrid. After a number of bottles of Rioja I walked to my hotel through nearly the entire city. The Spanish are terrible at Halloween – yet terrible in the most wonderful way. Children are dressed in their outfits and walk through the the old parts of town with their families and engage in what is essentially the cross between the Paseo and the Opera. It’s a happy social occasion. Against the backdrop of fabulous architecture – I admit a certain fondness for Halloween in the states especially the skimpy outfits that you see everywhere in Greenwich Village. However, the change of pace and freshness of watching a new tradition being born in Europe from an American tradition was inspiring. The cultivation of new ideas in old places or even old ideas in new places is my favorite thing. It the beauty of  Ideas taken out of context. Seeing great European art from the 16^thcentury in Fort Worth is that same feeling of tradition taken out of context. What did Fort Worth look like when Caravaggio actually painted his paintings? Was there anything there? In my jewelry I try to take things out of context as well. I am getting a lot more comfortable as I mentioned with the idea that it is not always going to look like a congruent line. Each piece is different as is each woman I make jewelry for.

I turned forty this summer and as a birthday present gave myself the obligation of going and doing everything I wanted to do and saying yes to every invitation. One thing I didn’t count on in doing so is the level of loneliness that goes hand in hand with a heavy social schedule and the excitement of seeing and going to wonderful places.  For every high I guess there is a low. However, I also found that if you are in Hong Kong or Italy or Mexico or wherever they speak a language you do not understand – there is a vernacular at Museums that bridges all gaps of human language. Anytime I was in a funk, I was brought out of it by walking through a museum and seeing all the beautiful colors. It has become my home away from home. There is a painting of Pope Innocent X by Diego Velazquez that hangs in Rome.  The painting has been sampled by Francis Bacon, an Irishman, as well as Julio Larraz, a Cuban, along with numerous other famous painters. There is a great way to see dialog between cultures on paper or on canvas.  Art is its own language. I am so excited about this season and the work that I am making and will make. I’m slowly coming to terms that I’m a colorist when I’m at my best. Choosing shades of color in natural stones and applying my thought process to unique color combinations has become even a greater pleasure than I have ever expected. Peach tourmaline with lavender jade; Nephrite and Santa Maria aquamarine; Zircon and Momo coral, Banded  Namibian agate in cream colors with spinel; are all examples of finding the perfect color tones together. Color is the fantasy in jewelry. And the dialogue between stones transcends borders. I have always been fortunate to be surrounded by people who recognize the importance of making things beautiful. Jewelry may not save lives and certainly doesn’t balance the budget, but is one of the perfumes that make life so wonderful. I love my work and all the simple foolish things that make it rewarding.

I have included an image of my new Porta Nuova bracelet – it is named after a train station in Verona, Italy, and the design of the bracelet comes from the design on the floor of that train station. This is the same design displayed in Vicenza where I went to gemological school. I have always wanted to make a bracelet with this motif since my school days and I was reminded of it recently on a windsurfing excursion to Riva del Garda – I hope you like it. Ciao bella.