In a week when we have featured work by Wings in shades of silver and black, works shot through with shimmer and light and here and there a flash of other brilliant hues, another of his newer pieces seems ideal to close out this edition of our weekly series.
It’s fitting for other reasons, too.
On this morning, the clouds are dark and lowering, holding the promise of snow tantalizingly just out of reach. The forecast storms of the days past have failed to materialize here, marked by sound and fury but producing only the occasional dusting upon the earth.
To points not far south, however, the world is very different on this morning: Areas that have never, in recorded history, seen more than a few inches of snow, and that often only rarely, are awakening this morning to find themselves buried under a blizzard’s blanket. The winter storm that has swept through their lands overnight has not yet taken its leave.
If we are fortunate, we will yet be caught by the edge of the storm’s spinning northern spiral. The land needs the snow desperately, and we are in the position, perhaps odd to most people, of praying for winter weather.
Today’s featured work embodies the force and feel of a winter’s storm: colors softly muted, black and gray clouds and shimmering shades just off white, raw elemental power coiled into a lithe, sinuous vortex. From its description in the Bracelets Glery here on the site:
Winter Whirlwind Coil Bracelet
It is the season of black stormclouds and white snow, of muted tones in earth and sea and sky. Wings brings them all together in an elegant, elemental whirlwind of shimmering shell and fiery metal around opalescent vortex. Segments of small hematite doughnut rondels, gunmetal gray with a near-mirror sheen, alternate with lightly polished nuggets of chunky abalone in ivory and taupe and gray, each nugget refracting the light in glowing whorls of rose and violet and indigo. At the center rests a free-form oval of Peruvian opal, all snowy translucence shot through with smoky wisps of dendritic black matrix. “Memory wire” retains its shape, expanding and contracting to fit nearly any wrist. Joint design by Wings and Aji.
Stainless steel; abalone shell; hematite; Peruvian opal
$225 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The symbolism of this piece is fitting for other reasons, too — reasons that, for us, a deeply personal. It was on this day two years ago that a warrior walked on, a man we were honored to call brother and friend.
Looking at this piece today, through eyes veiled by tears, I’m reminded of the smoke sent spiraling skyward for his spirit, in memory of his life and work and his great strong heart. I’m also reminded of the fundamental lesson that life is a hoop: The beginning is not the beginning; the end is not the end.
That’s a message to carry with us as we prepare to leave behind one year, as the modern calendar reckons it, and cross the threshold into a new one.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
