Entering mid-August, and these days our storms are mostly metaphorical. The air is clear, if hazy, and the world glitters in the light of the morning sun. The forecast has steadfastly predicted only high heat and a complete lack of any real chance of precipitation for the remainder of the month . . . until last night, when suddenly, hope returned.
We know better than to depend upon, of course; by now, the only reasonable approach with regard to the rain is to believe it when it happens. But after a drought-ridden season marked by a daily struggle to keep the land alive, it offers hope, real and genuine: a gift of the spirits, offering shelter from the storm, and a space to grow.
Today’s featured masterwork, one of Wings’s newest, embodies spirits, shelter, and space, all three, in beautifully traditional and elemental form. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
In the Space of the Spirits Cuff Bracelet
The storm dances and the First Medicine flows in the space of the spirits. Wings summons storm and rain and sacred space together into one wide shining band of hand-wrought sterling silver. Each edge of the band is hand-scored in a single deeply stamped line to create twinned borders. Within those edges, traditional thunderhead symbols point inward in a repeating pattern from either side, each one impossibly even, each throwing the negative space into sharp relief. Down the center, thunderhead symbols were initially stamped in a conjoined pattern, creating a motif of sacred space that points to all directions, then the silver within was excised, freehand, ajouré-fashion, to create an internal band of negative space that holds the mysteries of storm and spirit. At either terminal, a flowing water pattern sends the gift of the rain to its rounded, hand-smoothed ends. Cuff measures 6″ long by 1-3/16″ across (dimensions approximate). Other views shown below.
Sterling silver
$1,500 + shipping, handling, and insurance
This piece became an instant favorite for me: not merely momentarily, but across Wings’s entire body of work. It’s not the first wide-band ajouré cuff, but it’s one of his most impressive and complex. It’s an example of what inspiration, and the guidance of and animation by the spirits, can do in hands as experienced and skilled as his own.
And it is, of course, the saw-work that makes this piece: the extraordinary, meticulous cutwork, so bold and consistent in such a small space. But it’s the stampwork, too, the design as a whole: flowing water at the ends, linked by inward-facing bands of heavy, deep, regular thunderhead motifs, whole lines of storms within hand-scored borders, pointing toward the negative representation of sacred space, linked all the way down the center of the band.
We have a few clouds today, but as yet, at least, nothing that could hold any rain. It’s unlikely we’ll see any before Sunday, at the earliest; the remainder of this week is expected to be unseasonably hot and dangerously dry. But in a season when, in this place, sacred space is central now, the promise of the rain holds a deeper meaning.
There are storms all around us now: the dust of a world on fire; the dangers of pandemic; the colonialism that seeks to be the death of us all. The sacred markers of this season reorient us, reassure us of the protection and gifts of the spirits: shelter from the storm, and a space to grow . . . and perhaps, a world to rebuild for the better.
~ 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.
