Once in a while, I’m afforded the honor of sharing in Wings’s work in a way that is especially wonderful. Today is one of those days.
This is a piece that’s been in the works for some weeks, and I’ve been privileged to watch it take shape. More, I was given the opportunity to play a role in its creation at the earliest stages, a rare chance for a non-artist like me. Today’s work emerged from a gift, and became a gift itself in other ways.
A few weeks ago, Wings acquired an incredible collection of stones from a dear friend, among them a selection of stunning labradorite cabochons. He rapidly turned the first among them into one of his newest works, a cuff bracelet entitled Light In the Storm. But the two largest cabochons, extraordinary in size, color, labradorescence, and spirit, he placed on his drafting table, next to the sunny studio door. These two stones, the ones that found their way into today’s work, captured my attention, calling to me, insisting that I see them as a greater whole, a spirit unto themselves. I told Wings what I had seen in them, and he asked me to show him.
Wings took that rough idea, sat with it, turning it over in his mind and heart until he had a feel for who this katsina was, who she was supposed to be. He then summoned the spirit of the light in this place and birthed it into tangible form: a spirit of stone and silver that nevertheless comprised that very radiance, one whose identity was bound up with its existence as a dancer in and of the light. She is more than an ancestor spirit, she is a part of the world itself, and she need not bring us gifts or blessings beyond her very existence; that she is is all we need.
As she took shape, she altered only slightly from his original vision of her. One seminal change was in the physical structure of her body, albeit not the shape: Instead of a single solid setting, he adjudged it better, more accurate to create her whole self as two conjoined pieces, head and body, on a joint-like hinge that would allow her to sway and dance as she does in the larger world. He also excised the reverse sides of each pendant, top and bottom, so that the light might pass through her body to the wearer beneath.
It is a work to take one’s breath away. From its description in the Necklaces Gallery here on the site:
The Light Spirit Necklace
Here, the light is a living thing, a spirit being all its own: one that dances through our days as a child of Father Sun, aided by the powers of the elements and the four directions. Wings gives life to this spirit being in an extraordinary figurative piece wrought in sterling silver and ethereal labradorite. The upper oval cabochon, which forms her head, is of the blue-green form of the stone, evoking air and water; her body is a teardrop lit with golden brown, the colors of earth and fire. She wears a tablita headdress in the traditional stair-stepped shape. At its center rests a stylized Morning Star formed of arrows pointed to the Four Sacred Directions; the star is flanked by a pair of flowering sun symbols, themselves reaching to the cardinal points. The reverse is excised in an ajouré geometric shape that hints at both the sacred directions and the guiding Eye of Spirit, also flanked by stylized freehand motifs of the cardinal points. The teardrop-shaped lower pendant similarly features an ajouré oval on its reverse, so that the stones may rest against the wearer’s skin. Both pendants are set into scalloped bezels trimmed with twisted silver, against a subtle outline of stampwork in sunrise symbols to emphasize the power and effect of the light. The two-piece pendant connects via an adjoining hinge, allowing the work to move and dance in the light; changes in background changes the hues of the stones slightly, allowing the figure to move along the spectrum. The entire piece hangs from a hand-made bail hand-stamped in matched thunderhead patterns that point to cardinal and ordinal points simultaneously, and is suspended from a necklace composed of graduated combinations of sterling silver rondel and round beads, tapering to lengths of round Florentine-finish silver beads, and ending in short segments of glossy gray hematite rondels. The whole pendant, including bail, hangs 5.75″ in length and measures 2-5/8″ across at the widest point; the upper cabochon is 1.75″ across by 1-5/8″ high; the lower cabochon is 1-7/8″ long by 1″ across at the widest point (dimensions approximate). Reverse shown below. Second in Wings’s new series, The Light Collection; coordinates with the Light In the Storm cuff bracelet found in our Bracelets Gallery. Joint design by Wings and Aji, in honor of Griffin, who was our spirit and our light.
Sterling silver; labradorite; sterling silver beads; hematite beads
$2,800 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Due to size, weight, and value, extra shipping charges apply
Reverse:
It’s rare that I am at a loss for words, even when it comes to Wings’s work, but this piece brings me very nearly to that point. Every glance in its direction shows me something new, lights, uncovers, makes visible some facet of its existence that I hadn’t noticed before. One of the most wonderful (in every sense of the word) aspects of this work is the effect of the ajouré settings in combination with the stones: These cabochons display an absolutely spectacular level of labradorescence, and because they are partially exposed on the reverse, they pick up and transmit a bit of whatever color is behind them at any given moment. On black velvet, as shown here, the shades deepen; on the bright yellow cloth where he allows finished works to rest a while, they appear to be lit with the sun itself.
As I said before, this is a piece that has been in the works for some small time now. It is perhaps fitting that he completed it now. The final line of its description was included at his express request: Although she is clearly a feminine spirit, she carries within her the same force and power that animated the small spirit we called Griffin, with whom we have shared our lives for too many years, a being whose departure on Saturday has drained too much of the light from our world now. He has four legs, a tail, and velvety floppy ears, but he was his own force of nature, his own source of light, and I think he would understand what it means that Wings would dedicate such a work to him. With him, after all, we spent our days dancing with the spirit of the light.
~ 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.
