After yesterday’s small amounts of rain, we weren’t sure whether we could expect today’s forecast to come to fruition. Thus far, it has not: plenty of clouds, plenty of cold blustery winds, plenty of pollen and dust in the air, but not, as yet, a single drop of precipitation. Still, there is a small chance for this evening . . . and as you will read below, despite today’s unsettled temperatures and unpredictable weather, for us, it is at long last the true first day of spring.
Of course, spring here is like this regardless, although now it gets worse by the year. But no matter what the calendar asserts, nor the mercury on the outdoor thermometer, here, there is one true marker of the season.
And it’s one we haven’t had for two years
Until now.
This has been an extraordinarily difficult week, and the frenetic weather has had no small amount to do with it. Today has been at least as bad . . . and yet, the joy I felt early this morning, realizing that one of the offerings of spring’s first real day had at long last returned, is hard to describe.
Of course, there are all those other offerings, too, and while they may all be necessary, or at least unchangeable for now, their status as “gift” or “blessing” is sometimes harder to recall. Still, they all serve a purpose, even if it’s often an inconvenient one, and on balance, we will someday soon be grateful for what they have delivered.
This week’s Friday Feature embodies all of these offerings, these blessings and gifts, from the most joy-filled song to what the worst of the winds delivers. It also consists of three works, all from one of last year’s collections of on of Wings’s more recent signature series. Each group in that series consisted of a necklace, pair of earrings, and coil bracelet, all sold separately and capable of standing entirely on their own, but explicitly designed to coordinate with and complement each other. This trio is The Spring Elementals: Air: The full group is shown at top, and they are all clearly interrelated by season and place, by elemental force and Indigenous point of view. As always, we begin here with the necklace, found in The Beaded Hoop Collection in the Necklaces Gallery here on the site. It’s one whose identity and spirit are perfect for what this week has brought us — for here in this place, the winds have been nothing if not filled with pollen and sun. From its description:
Pollen and Sun Necklace
In a good year, the spring air is fresh with the scent of flowers and awash in golden light, pollen and sun conspiring to deliver this land an atmospheric gift of life. With this necklace, Wings braids together the golden dust of pollen with the glow of a radiant sun setting blue skies alight. The focals at the center comprise glossy terra agate barrels alternating with rondels of sunny yellow opal and the dusty glow of puffy smoky quartz. Moving upward on either side, the beads for a gradient of size and shade, the sky blues and warm orange tones of marbled impression jasper punctuated with shimmering iron pyrite rounds, thence flowing into segments of freeform yellow opal nuggets, bits of sunlight caught and frozen in time as though for good luck, pyrite alternating with smaller solitary impression jasper rounds, and and anchor segment of extraordinary old metallic glass tapered barrels in a shade that combines bopper fire with the gold of brass, each end studded with iron pyrite and sterling silver rounds. Necklace hangs 23″ long, excluding findings (dimensions approximate). Designed jointly by Wings and Aji. Another view shown att he link. Necklace coordinates with The Meadowlark’s Song earrings and Dustlight Sky coil bracelet. From the Air series in Wings’s new collection, The Spring Elementals (all pieces shown above and at the link).
Strand: Tri-ply foxtail plated with silver; sterling silver findings;
Beads: Terra agate; yellow opal; smoky quartz; impression jasper;
iron pyrite; old metallic glass trade beads; sterling silver
$400 + shipping, handling, and insurance
I love the yellow opal in this piece, particularly the way the more brilliantly hued freeform versions, like drops of molten gold, contrast with the cool spring blues of the terra agate. It reminds me of those breaks in the winds that sometimes occur now just before dusk, when the clouds have been driven hard over the peaks and marbled dark against a paler turquoise sky, the earth beneath it awash in the long shadows and light cast by the setting sun’s fire. The effect rarely lasts long, but it’s a respite for the spirit from the trickster fury of each day.
The earrings from this collection in miniature represent the true marker of the first day of spring here — one that we were never granted last year, yet one more casualty of climate collapse. And yet, despite having chosen this trio last weekend for this week’s Friday Feature, it seems that I chose wisely, because when I first stepped outside this morning, I was greeted by none other than the meadowlark’s song . . . for the first time in two years. It’s a song (and the spirit of a bird) that finds expression in this pair, found in The Standing Stones Collection in the Earrings Gallery. From their description:
The Meadowlark’s Song Earrings
In this alpine desert land, spring does not arrive until the first time we hear the short melodious notes of the meadowlark’s song. With these earrings, Wings makes it possible to keep the sound near year-round. Each long, dangling strand of beads is strung on slender sterling silver, with sterling silver round beads forming the base of a color and size gradient anchoring top and bottom. Moving inward are Chinese writing stone and brown-marbled natural howlite rounds in the shades of Meadowlark’s wing, tail, and back feathers. At the center, yellow opal alternate with larger Shiva’s Eye shell rondels, holding in their embrace a single puffy freeform yellow opal, glowing as golden as the breastplate of the songbird’s own regalia. Earrings hang 3-1/4″ long, excluding wires (dimensions approximate). Designed jointly by Wings and Aji. Earrings coordinate with Pollen and Sun necklace and Dustlight Sky coil bracelet. From the Air series in Wings’s new collection, The Spring Elementals (all pieces shown at top and at the link).
Sterling silver; Chinese writing stone; natural howlite; yellow opal; Shiva Eye shell
$175 + shipping, handling, and insurance
I looked in vain this morning, trying desperately to spot the meadowlark whose clear, bell-like notes danced upon the cold and blustery wind. It remained resolutely hidden from view, perhaps on a post too low for me to see. But the sound was clear enough, recognizeable enough; there may be mimics, but there is no mistaking the real song.
And the real song is a gift in a time when so much the season gives us causes pain.
Which brings us to the third and final work, the coil bracelet — one whose identity fit with the early days of the week, but also with the effects of today evening’s gale-force winds. Indeed, a trip to the post office presented us with not only a dustlight sky but a wall of dust drifting through the atmosphere as well, as the winds rage around us beneath intermittent cloud cover and traces of turquoise blue. This work is found in The Coiled Power Collections in the Bracelets Gallery; from its description:
Dustlight Sky Coil Bracelet
Spring here is the season of trickster winds, of powerful dry gales that birth a dustlight sky. With this coil bracelet, Wings summons the signifiers of sky, wind, dust, and light to the vortex to dance as one. The center focal segments of the coil consist of quartets of large round impression jasper in marbled sky blues and earthy clay shades punctuated with the occasionally-stormy azure of solitary terra agate barrels. Extending outward in the embrasure of single yellow opal rondels like the rays of dawn and dusk, the impression jasper gives way to the clay-and-dust colors of Red Creek jasper, thence flowing into alternating cloud jasper and Chinese writing stone rounds, earthy hues given dusty form by the wind, then smaller impression jasper rounds anchored by alternating orbs of iron pyrite and sterling silver, small suns backlighting the haze that hangs in the afternoon air. Bracelet consists of four full coils of beads strung on memory wire, which expands and contracts to fit nearly any wrist. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji. Another view shown at the link. Coil bracelet coordinates with Pollen and Sun necklace and The Meadowlark’s Song earrings. From the Air series in Wings’s new collection, The Spring Elementals (all pieces shown above and at the link).
Memory wire; terra agate; impression jasper; yellow opal; Red Creek jasper;
cloud jasper; Chinese writing stone; iron pyrite; sterling silver
$350 + shipping, handling, and insurance
This is perhaps my least favorite of the three phenomena manifest here, and yet, I love this work. The colors spiral past in pastel hues, a bit like marbled Easer eggs . . . or nascent petals just beginning to open, beneath golden sun and blue of sky. The textures of the beads, too, remind me of these days: rough bark and rich soil occasionally rendered smooth with a fresh layer of ice, one that lasts only as long as the sunrise.
And in that is a reminder of the transient nature of this season’s hardships . . . although the deeper ones of climate collapse will be here with us much longer, and will be much less susceptible to our efforts at repair.
Both are truths, truths that make it incumbent upon us to recognize them, acknowledge them, honor what must be honored and work to repair what must be fixed, to rehabilitate and renew and, yes, to reclaim. Right now, it begins with gratitude for the offerings of spring’s first real day here — and then a commitment to the work of saving season, space, and place for generations still unborn.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
