At long last, it appears that we might be granted a perfect summer’s day.
Here at Red Willow, that does not mean a day free of storms; indeed, the opposite is true. But summer in this place is a season of hot mornings beneath an indigo sky alive with towering white thunderheads that, by the early hours of the afternoon, will begin amassing into something darker in color and immensely more powerful. It’s a time when the land comes alive, and the light with it — earth and sky, wind and water, storm and light conspiring to hold our small world here in an elemental embrace.
Wings captured the images featured here today some dozen years ago, on a day much like this one: hot, bright, all blue skies and red earth before the rain. On this day, the world outside the window looks nearly identical, thunderhead towers rising steadily above horizon and peak, above the tops of the trees and the posts of the arbor, medicine accumulating deep in their still-white walls. Below, our own home sits at one with the earth, the same red-gold shade of adobe as the ancient homes in the village, wooden vigas reaching outward between turquoise-trimmed windows and and doors. Living here carries with it the feeling of living in a very old way, for however modern the amenities, the architecture and materials are as timeless as that of buildings that have stood for a millennium and more.
And that is part of the magic of this place, too. Here, shelter comes in different forms, earth and wood and a wedding of the two into one of the the strongest, oldest, most energy-efficient, and most timeless ways of living. Adobe is the perfect material for high-desert habitation, rich local clay blended with water and straw to form natural bricks that cool in summer as well as they warm in winter . . . and that stand the test of time and season and severe weather with it.
The same is true of today’s three featured works rendered in sterling silver. These are not wearable art, at least not in the usual sense; they are, however, susceptible to being used as well as displayed. All three are found in the Collectibles Gallery here on the site; each manifests aspects of our natural world at its summer best. We begin with the one that embodies the very earth itself, and the wood the fossilizes to become one with it — ancient, timeless, home and shelter simultaneously, so elemental that we take its presence for granted, yet in truth precious beyond any price. From its description:
Precious Earth Collector’s Spoon
The map of our world is inscribed upon a precious earth, one that yields the shimmer of silver to the light. Wings brings together earth and light and the lines, long and lasting, writ by time, in this traditional collector’s spoon. Cut freehand of sterling silver as a single piece, its surface is hand-milled in an earthy pattern of layers and lines that tell the world’s story. On one side of the bowl’s surface, occupying the interstices of these gently flowing strata, seven tiny crescents are stamped freehand, moons gathered in a sacred number to illuminate the way. The spoon is 5-3/16″ long; the handle is 5/8″ across at the widest point; the bowl is 1-1/16″ across at the widest point (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver
$375 + shipping, handling, and insurance
This work reminds me or our landscape here: not the clay of the adobe, but the cliffs and mesas and the great gorge, their walls and surfaces etched eons ago to marble their surfaces with an echo of the water’s flowing path. It’s an effect replicated in the old hardwoods of this place, too, trees felled by lightning or simply age, petrified and fossilized, their rings manifest in similar concentric paths, internal roads their spirits follow on their journey as they transform from wood to stone.
But such lines reproduce themselves in the clay, too. Over time, wind and water, heat and cold abrade the surface of these ancient walls, webbing them with fractures large and small. They crack, yes, but if you want to learn longevity, ask the adobe to teach you, for such walls can stand and withstand for generations after such fissures appear. They welcome the water even as it weathers them, their construction designed to channel its power and send it earthward where it can do good.
An essential component of the adobe, of course, is the straw: the binding agent that holds earth and water together. By the time it becomes a part of the adobe, it’s no longer living, but it’s a reminder that the plants encompass a whole world of great gifts to us: food, shelter, medicine, ceremony, clothing, art. The second of today’s featured works assumes the graceful outlines of the plant spirits, tree and branch, leaf and petal that brace our world, hold it upright to dance in the light, adorn it with beauty even as they permit it, and us, to breathe. From its description:
Scattered Petals Collector’s Spoon
The winds bring a gift to Mother Earth, adorning her robes with scattered petals of high-desert wildflowers. Wings gathers the petals, and a few whole blossoms too, to shimmer in the light along the length of this miniature collector’s spoon. Cut freehand of sterling silver in an old traditional style and shape, the piece features a wide bowl and a flared handle scalloped at the end. The entire piece is hand-milled on its top surface in wildflower pattern, petals scattered across it in sparkling relief. The spoon is 5-1/8″ long; the handle is 9/16 across at the widest point; the bowl is 1-1/8″ across at the widest point (dimensions approximate). Side view shown below.
Sterling silver
$375 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Within this work, the plant spirits assume the form of stalks and petals, great flowing, looping lines that stand our in graceful relief. But they are part of a larger clan of related spirits that ranges from grass to food crops to herbs to shrubs to flowers wild and otherwise to the red willows that give this place its name . . . to the trees, the aspen and piñon, the cottonwood and Ponderosa pine.
In this place, these ancient sentinels have life, and give life, too, far beyond what we ordinarily understand as their “lifespan.” Ancient trunks, most felled naturally and dried just as naturally over time, become the vigas of our homes, the latillas of our fences, the posts and roofs of our arbors, the rails and rungs of our ladders.
And they are spirits that reach for the sky.
The tall straight trunks of ancient pines, of fir and other trees, bound parts of our world at its corners and beckon to the clouds. On days such as this, when the thunderheads hang heavy and low, it’s possible to believe that the posts pierce their fragile mass and cause the rain to fall.
The third of today’s featured works takes the form and shape and flowing lines of that ultimate gift of summer — water, the first medicine, delivered at this season as the rain. From its description:
Medicine Water Collector’s Spoon
Like that found in mineral springs and sacred lakes, rivers of rain bring medicine water to the world. Wings calls together clouds and rainfall and watershed alike in this miniature collector’s spoon, sized to deliver its medicine at a personal level. Cut freehand from sterling silver in a classic traditional shape, both bowl and handle are hammered entirely by hand, creating the effect of a rolling river, its waters racing downstream to pool in a shimmering lake. Along either edge of the handle, Wings has stamped a repeating pattern in a graceful flowing water motif, imparting a sense of motion and the feel of falling rain. Spoon is 4-5/8″ long; the handle is 1/4″ across at the widest point; the bowl is 15/16″ across at the widest point (dimensions approximate). Side view shown below.
Sterling silver
$375 + shipping, handling, and insurance
I love all three of today’s featured works of silver, but this one is my favorite. It’s in the flow of the stampwork down the edges, rain running fast and free; it’s on the hammered silver, like the rippling surface of the waters shimmering in the light.
And now, as in the final image that ties all the elements together, the thunderheads have moved overhead, their bases violet above the peaks.
A few drops of rain have begun to fall, storm and sun playing hide-and-seek across a cobalt sky. The posts sand sentry; the earth awaits.
And our small summer world holds us in an elemental embrace, safe and sheltered and wholly alive.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
