Tomorrow I leave to exhibit at Intergem, and if you are near the Dulles Expo Center in the DC Metro Area, I hope you'll come see me! Today is my last day to get my act together, so I'm reposting an article I wrote for Softflex, who makes excellent beading wire, my favorite wire cutters, and other wonderful things. Some of you may have already seen it, but here it is again.
A lot of my blog readers have been fascinated that I wasn't brought up in a creative home. My first eighteen years were predominantly spent with my head buried in a library book or trying to stay unnoticed in school hallways. To say I dreamed of packing up and moving out would be an understatement. Life in southwestern Virginia held little for me, and after my hard scholastic work meant nothing in the face of a non-existent college fund, I joined the military.
In this post, I wrote about my experiences in Korea and how all the different things I did there shaped my eclectic approach to jewelry design. Today, I'm going to take you on another journey -- my journey to Venice, Italy.
Once upon a time, when I was 23 and out of the military, I ran away from home. The circumstances why aren't so important as the fact that I did. I sold everything I owned except for what would fit in two suitcases, a few boxes, and a 5x10 storage unit, and bought a one-way ticket to Venice, Italy. I knew one person in Italy, an old friend from my years in Korea, and with a credit card, the promise of a job teaching aerobics around the cities and towns, and a couch to crash on, I made the leap from misery to happiness.
Ironically, I lived in the birthplace of handmade glass beads, but at the time, I had yet to make a single piece of jewelry. I had no idea I'd end up living a creative life. All I knew was I had a love for beautiful surroundings and a devotion to soaking in as many memories as I could.
That was nearly twenty years ago. Recently, I started scanning photographs in preparation for writing memoirs about my travels, and I realized that my many journeys to countries around the world have shaped my jewelry designs far more than I knew.
On my first excursion into Venice, I happened to glance down a side street and noticed this little flower market. With my cheap point-and-shoot camera (this was way before digital cameras!) I snapped a quick shot. I love flowers, and the house I lived in at the time had massive rose hedges, but I loved all the different colors this vendor offered.
Color has become incredibly important to my work. Not only is my jewelry colorful:
But my studio is colorful as well.
I spent a lot of time in Venice-proper, but I lived in a small town in a more pastoral part of northern Italy named Marsure. Marsure is a lovely, quaint little village on the outskirts of a military base. Even though it's close to an air strip, it didn't take very long to get lost in the quiet, old-world feel of simpler times.
One of my favorite past-times was exploring the countryside's roads, wandering the narrow streets with my camera and journal. Everything was a verdant green in my neighborhood, with grape arbors and houses nestled against the base of the Italian Alps. Here's a photo of a street near my home, complete with a natural fresh-water spring and a grape arbor:
The influence of being surrounded by all this glorious vegetation and clusters of grapes and ivy can be seen in the lush charm bracelets and necklaces I love to make.
Finally, a trip to Italy wouldn't be complete without a tour of a castle. This particular castle looked like your standard fairy tale palace with turrets and impossibly high walls, but when I climbed to the very top and looked down, I discovered a beautiful Escher-esque pattern that seemed almost modern -- clean lines, sharp angles, and an architectural purity.
While I love whimsy in my jewelry, I do make an occasional foray into classic lines with geometrically repetitive patterns.
Not only is this bracelet representative of clean lines and distinct patterns, but it's made via chain maille techniques, a method of making armor back in the time when this castle was actively protecting its city. (Although this particular pattern is an Asian style rather than a European Style).
It's interesting how things in our lives -- whether they're travels, books we've read, or even people we've met -- can stick with us and make a home in our brain until something triggers a reaction and there's an "a-ha!" moment. While traveling Europe, I never thought about making beads or jewelry, but nearly twenty years later, I can definitely see the influence of my experiences. Even without a single Venetian bead, I've managed to add a taste of Italy to pieces in my current adventure in life -- making pretty things.
