My goodness, it’s been busy! I have been making new pieces in the new series, already, which are about to get cast, have met with my banker regarding RRSP’s (it’s that time of year), worked with my book keeper on Year-end, and I have also been meeting with my ‘trade mentors’ Kisserup International to work towards being totally export ready. Never a dull moment!
But what you want to know it what new shiny things I have been making!
So here is the rest of the new work, all of which is music inspired:
The “Allegro” pendants have been inspired by the vivaciousness of dances found in baroque music, such as the gavotte (in 2/2 or 4/4 time) and saraband (in triple meter), etc. I studied these thing in highschool, when I attended the – at that time experimental- version of public high school called ‘Musisches Gymnasium Marktoberdorf” , ‘musical highschool’.
Really , it is easy to be attracted to baroque music, because it makes so much sense; it is very logical, like math. Our tests in class would consist of listening to a piece of music (in this case, by the way, baroque music being the easiest by far!), and taking it apart: “what was the main theme and what were the variations? Which instrument played which part? Now write out the main parts and variations”. Et cetera …. Much like taking apart a complicated Latin sentence into its parts in order to decipher it (I studied Latin for 9 years; we SPOKE it in class!)
But I am getting carried away. The following pieces (of jewellery!) are called the “Allegro” pendants, because they are busy and brisk, playful (I really wanted to call them ‘vivace’, pronounced ‘vee-vah-chay’, Italian for “lively” and “vivid”, but that would have been WAY too hard for people to figure out in terms of pronounciation, plus the term is much less familiar).
The pendants are suspended on very long chains (30″); I love this extravagance. And, if a wearer so desires, the chains can be doubled up , and the pendant worn at the neck, almost like a choker.
Again, each ‘Allegro’ pendant is unique, each one exists only once. And, having made several more waxes today, I can tell you this with conviciton: they will continue to be unique!!
Then, the brooches. These are a bit harder to describe .. The name is “Cadenza” brooches. Each one will be unique, just like a Cadenza is …
I am no musical scholar, but to my best recollection of playing violin in the school orchestra etc., a cadenza is a place where a soloist will free-flow on a theme given just before; these are not written out but improvised.
This is how I feel about these brooches: they are based on what I have been doing, but are much more free-flow, without subscribing to rhythm or line exactly; instead, they are my own interpretations. For examle, one of them has a lovely sparkling mysterious labradorite set in it; other don’t. Stones will show up as they seem appropriate. Sometimes they feel to me like those drawings I did in art school, where you only look at the object, never at the paper. The result is a drawing more of what it feels like than what it looks like exactly.
I love being able to be this free …
Speaking of baroque music, check out these amazing people and their whimsical fun: Tempest Baroque Ensemble
It was Kirsty Money of that ensemble (violin/viola), who came by to play with the first “Seuss” casts with me (see earlier blog post and photos)!
