Today’s title may speak to different people in different ways. The French exclamation of exasperation. The divinity of musical expression, of its ability to capture emotions in a way that other media cannot. The emotions themselves, of the role of melancholia in life. The symbolism associated with the color in cultures the world over.
It’s all of those things, and none of them.
It’s a cultural manifestation of the sacred, given form and shape on the anvil, brought to life and infused with the breath of spirit in its expression of Wings’s understanding and experience.
Sometimes, materials will sit for years, unused, even untouched. And then he happens across them again, and suddenly the image begins to form in his mind. Sometimes the image arrives whole and complete; more often, it appears in stages, and even then, its outline may be hazy, not fully realized until it appears in the finished piece.
And so it was with this collection, one I’ve taken to calling his “Sacred Blues.” Wings created it as part of his recent exhibition, but it was always also its own collection in miniature, as well: a series of four deep blue lapis cabochons, each stone cut into the same domed rectangular shape, all clearly pulled from the same vein in the earth, and all clearly meant to be used together.
Together, they filled a particular role in the show, one exemplified in the photography component of the exhibition by a piece entitled The Real Sacred Space, a title repeated in the show’s silverwork component for this collection. From his interpretive commentary that accompanied these specific pieces:
Today, we have no choice but to walk in two worlds. But the second world has been imposed on us from without, by a culture not our own, and our people have endured by steadfastly maintaining our connection to our own world and to the real sacred space of our traditions. This sacred space is a tangible place, such as our Blue Lake; it is a spiritual space, where the Water Bird flies; it is the intangible space between earth and water and sky and all the blessings of the spirits in between; it is the space that lives forever in our hearts and spirits and ancestral memory. My art sets magical stones amidst mystical symbols, to capture these sacred spaces in all their infinite variation.
Today, I’ve chosen to highlight the biggest piece, the cuff bracelet; tomorrow, I’ll feature the matching earrings and solitaire.
The name of the cuff shown above is “Sacred Space,” and it’s a melding of culturally and spiritually significant symbolism with a gift from the earth in the deep blue shade of his people’s most sacred site. From the piece’s description here on the site:
We walk in two worlds, maintaining our connection to our own world and to the real sacred space of our traditions. This space is tangible, intangible, and wholly spiritual: the space that lives forever in our hearts and spirits and ancestral memory. This cuff manifests this space in all its forms. The magical, mysterious lapis cabochon, drawn from the Earth and the color of our sacred waters, rests atop the band in a scalloped bezel trimmed in twisted silver. The sky symbols that are the harbingers of rain and other blessings, of life in the desert, trace the center and edges of the cuff. And the thunderhead symbols are brought together, conjoined in an ancient pattern that evokes the steps to the sacred space of our kiva.
Sterling silver; lapis lazuli
$775 + shipping, handling, and insurance
This is one of those rare pieces that captures my glance, my attention, my spirit every time I look at it. In a climate where rain is literal life, the symbolism of the sacredness of water becomes inescapable. Coupled with the naturally occurring varied blues of the jewel at the center, it evokes the feel of another mountain jewel, another pool of sacred water that is a part of his people — and of Wings himself, body, mind, and spirit.
And it is indeed an exclamation, music, emotion, symbol.
Tomorrow: Sacred Blues, Part II.
~ 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 owners.
