Assemblage

About my jewelry work:

Early triangle neckpieces dealt with the basic elements of design and nature: line, shape, form, repetition, and balance, etc. These were used to express movement, direction, and the forces of nature. The power of a moving ship as the bow forces the water along it’s sides; against the power of the water in the Colorado River carving out the Grand Canyon.

Later triangle neckpieces built on this concept with more layers of meaning. I read The Poetics of Gardens, by Charles Moore. Discussed was the five elements of a garden “site”; sun and shade; stone and water; leaf and blossom; sound, scent, and breezes; and architectural structure.

My interest in the garden comes from my home environment, where my wife, Anita, has created an extensive landscape. The subsequent process and development, and its eventual self perpetuating evolution have been a great inspiration to my art. The garden is a microcosm of the total expression of life. 

The “triangle” and “tetrahedron are the Architectural structure for my neckpieces and are influenced by African metal work. There is a specific traditional gold emblem of high office worn by an Ashanti chief. The format of a large triangle is connected to a circular necklace. The necklace is wrapped in colored thread reminiscent to the thread wrappings on pool cues at Viking Manufacturing where I worked during graduate studies in Madison, Wisconsin.

The other four elements of my “life garden” (sun and shade; stone and water; leaf and blossom; sound, scent, and breezes) are surrounded and enclosed by the Triangle or frame. In ballroom dancing the man leading the woman is the frame (architectural structure) and the woman follows his solid connection to express synchronicity in graceful movement between the two of them. She is the picture; the element of beauty in the frame.

Since I was very young, the triangle has been a dominant feature in my art work because it looked modern to me. In some primitive cultures the triangle symbolizes the soul or spirit, fertility, and life. The tetrahedron symbolically involves the quaternary of four principles (earth, wind, fire, and water) and is associated with the concept of a site, an intuitive sense of spacial order.

The juxtaposition of “geometric” form and “organic” or “ephemeral” elements expressed with the combination of “fabricated metal” and “found objects” sets up the challenge of various transformational visual relationships in my work.


Early triangle neckpieces:

Later triangle neckpieces: