On Wednesday, we looked at Wings’s newest piece as an embodiment of a gift bestowed, in all the imagery that that description evokes: the notion of blessings that trail gently downward from high places and sacred spaces to enrich the lives of those who spend their days on and in this world. In that instance, the metaphor of blessings falling downward as though from the sky was more or less literal, assuming the form and trajectory of fine silver stardust. It was also an elemental metaphor, one in keeping with our ways of understanding the universe.
But sometimes “downward” is relative, itself more metaphorical, even if the mechanics are no less elemental and powerful.
Today’s featured piece is more an exemplar of the latter, of blessings descended not from heavens to earth, but from higher points on the earth itself to those who live at lower elevations.
It’s one of Wings’s more recent ones, finished as Winter began its slow metamorphosis into Spring. The element it embodies is water, one related to the air of the sky but not precisely of it. Its name comes from the phenomenon by which smaller streams, running downward, join together to create a flow of water that together is greater than the sum of its parts, a dynamic of life-sustaining import in this mountain desert land. From its description in the Bracelets Gallery:
Tributaries Cuff Bracelet
Like the shining silver ribbons of the Quartzite and the Red River tributaries as they feed into the rapids of the Rio Grande, this solid sterling silver cuff of hand-rolled triangle wire parts one line into three and then merges them into again into a single flowing line. The band is simple and spare, with no stampwork or other ornamentation; milling has flattened either side into smooth silken ribbons that rise in the center to meet in a graceful peaked wave. Florentine finish. Another view shown at top.
Sterling silver
$475 + shipping, handling, and insurance
It’s one of his simplest, sparest designs, and that is by design: It allows the essential form and flow to speak, unencumbered by unnecessary flourishes, not silenced by the chatter of too much effort to impose new identity from without. in that respect, it is like the water it represents: at its healthiest, most harmonious, most life-sustaining when in its purest form.
Sometimes Wings’s work, pared down to its very essence, is what holds the most elemental power.
~ 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 owner.
