For us, circumstances have perforce turned the last day, and the next few days to come, into a time to reflect: on family, on community, on culture, on tradition. In our communities, these define gatherings of any sort.
Such gatherings are also defined, in part, in another way: by what feeds the body, and the spirit.
In the fields surrounding the village, crops are now standing tall and growing fast. Harvest is now only weeks away, and with it, the gathering of the foods that will sustain the people through the winter. In the meantime, we all pray for the blessings of the spirits, in hopes that the harvest will bring the gift of abundance.
Today’s featured work embodies both aspects of this gift, physical and spiritual, tangible and symbolic: the embodiment of that most indigenous of foods, Indian corn, and Wings’s reconceiving of the spirit who represents and is, in turn, represented by, this staple of our cultures and history. From its description in the Necklaces Gallery here on the site:
Indian Corn Spirit Necklace
Wings has reimagined the Corn Maidens in a whole new yet wholly traditional way: No metaphorical Mona Lisa, this; this is Maiden as the very embodiment of the Indian Corn that sustains our peoples. A large single ear of a corn is hand-cut from sterling silver and set with fifteen tiny jeweled kernels in an array of brilliantly intense hues. At the stem, a single oval cabochon of agatized onyx, black with delicate white bands, forms the Maiden’s face; an overlay of hand-wrought, hand-stamped corn husks caught by the wind flow around her face like long locks set fee from their traditional bun. She hangs from a hand-made sterling silver bail suspended from a strand of old turquoise doughnut-style rondel beads interspersed with segments of highly polished sterling silver rondels; toward the each end, a series of round sterling silver beads in a Florentine finish alternate with four small round onyx beads. Bead strand hangs 18″ long; the pendant, including bail, is 3.5″ long by 2-1/8″ across at the widest point (dimensions approximate). Close-up view of the pendant shown at top.
Pendant head: Sterling silver; agatized onyx
Corn kernels: Lapis lazuli, denim lapis, blue turquoise, green turquoise, gaspeite, jade, onyx, garnet, moonstone
Bead strand: Sterling silver; Florentine-finish sterling silver; green turquoise; onyx
$2,000 + shipping, handling, and insurance
We’ve already been up for several hours, having risen in full dark. The sky was gray and heavy with clouds, the air full and damp. Now the clouds are clearing, at least temporarily, and soon the air will be warm again. The cornstalks, now bright green, rustle and sigh in the breeze, as though just waiting for their own opportunity to dance.
Today, we bid one spirit farewell, its journey already begun. Meanwhile, as spirits gather to sustain us, even as we gather in turn, we have occasion to be thankful, once again, for the Indian corn spirit, and for her sisters.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
