Reflections on the Continuing Process of Getting Older and Making My Work
I have always felt that when I sit down at the bench, there would never be a time when I did not know what I would be making. I would never experience a block in the flow of those juices that carry me forward into my work.
I am in a fallow period right now, at least as far as making my jewels is concerning, having been spending a significant amount of time simply clearing out the detritus of 40 years of making jewels and 20 years of teaching.
Don’t get too worried, alarmed or excited as you read this. I am not stopping, just getting rid of the clutter of fog that has been looking over my shoulder has I work. This process is an ongoing beast and I’m not pausing until I accomplish a clarity in my studio that allows me to make my pieces with a clear vision.
Several factors have contributed to this energetic activity.
One, I’m getting older (I’m already old dammit) and the weight of the ‘stuff’ was really a drag. . . i.e., it was dragging me and not letting me move forward with what I really love to do. . . make jewels.
Two, most of the deaccessioned lovelies were from my period of teaching workshops. If you who are reading this have taken a class with me, you know that I brought an extreme amount of ‘toys’ for you to play with. Those are, hurray, gone (mostly)! Still planning to teach private lessons in my studio, one on one. Interested? Private message me on facebook.
Three, I am a shameless book collector and, yes, I admit it, hoarder. I have forced myself (and Evan) to look fearlessly at those volumes that are no longer, though loved, of value in our lives. Voila from all this. . .four empty bookshelves in the studio, and some spaces on the living room shelves, which I will definitely not fill again. Still have a number of cartons of these ready for a ride to a great book dealer near me.
Ahhhh, taking deep and satisfying breaths. Weight gone from my mind.
Now, on to the collections of ‘artifacts’ that I have been storing on shelves in the studio. These have been held close for many years, and can be sorted, I hope easily, into piles of what I will use in the near future ( I feel a new jewel plus enclosure on the horizon…) and what I won’t use ever. Those goodies, well, wait and see if I can manage it, and I will offer it to the world in some form or another (that’s a pretty amorphous plan, isn’t it?) in the very near future (probably by end of Summer). Anyone doing assemblage should by now be champing at the bit. Oh well, wait and see, wait and see. I’m gettin’ there.
