2012
In The Eye Of The Beholder
Battle Of The Beadsmith Entry
Beautiful? Eerie? Scary? Surreal?
In The Eye of the Beholder is exactly that. Everyone will have a different take on it.
For me ...
In The Eye Of The Beholder is the piece that features all my current favorite materials; a piece that is dramatic yet surreal; the piece I had always wanted to make but never found a reason to until now ...
I was honored recently with an invitation to participate in The Battle Of The Beadsmith. We were tasked with creating a piece of jewelry to do combat in the Battle Royale along with 80 other artistes from 22 countries. A very scary and daunting venture considering that many of the artistes I am now doing battle with are the same ones I have admired for many years.
In creating this piece I wanted the eye to be central in the design. I wanted the piece to immediately stop one in his/her tracks. Take a second look. Then a third, then a fourth, .... After all you don't often have an eye looking at you from someone's chest.
Real beetle wings fan out below the eye almost like a peacock showing off its glorious tail. You must admit that the colors of these wonderful beetle is really quite peacock like. Shimmery, flowing, luminescent, luxurious, rich - adjectives that come to mind easily when describing these gorgeous creations of Gaia.
Glittering Swarovski Tabac crystals provide the perfect counterfoil to the colors of the wings. To continue with the "unreality" of the ensemble, the necklace that the eye hangs from is made with baby Czech spikes and embellished with daggers. The colors of these beautiful beads are as close as Man can approximate to Gaia's undoubted masterpiece with the wings.
You have an eye looking out for you from the front. It is only apropos that you have another looking out for you from behind. Hence a second eye guards your back hiding a seamless double toggle that fastens the entire necklace.