Yesterday, we featured Wings’s one current work in inventory that is made with picture jasper: a gift of the earth in terms both literal and metaphorical. It is not, however, the most recent work he’s created with that particular stone. That distinction belongs to a commissioned piece, one created two months ago that has not been seen by our broader clientele until today.
It was born out of a recent post on this blog: the April 28th entry in our Tuesday Jewels and Gems series, which explored the identity and characteristics of picture jasper. Because it’s a stone that Wings uses relatively rarely, the posted included only a few images of finished pieces. It is, however, a stone that he loves for its ability to manifest in what seem to be desert landscapes, and he has several cabochons in his inventory of stones, awaiting the right subject and inspiration. I included photos of several of those cabochons in the post, as a way of illustrating the depth and breadth of its patterning.
Among the cabochons I included was this one:
I used it as an exemplar of the stone, one that makes immediately clear how it got its name. As I said then:
A classic example appears in the photo immediately above, one that looks very much like the red rock desertscapes of the Four Corners region. In this variant, the host rock is a classic earth tone, most often gray or one of many shades of brown or tan. Over eons of time and the attendant geologic-scale pressure accompanied by weight, water, and heat, sedimentary layers compress into the beautiful patterns you see here, each band usually lighter in the center and more intensely colored at the edges. Depending upon the minerals that are compressed in a given chunk of the rock, the bands may appear pale yellow to deep bronze, various shades of tan and brown, other grays or taupe, and reds that range from pale copper to almost blood red.
A dear friend of ours on the other end of the country, a woman who has also been a client for many years and who is regular reader of the site, saw the stone and fell in love with it. She contacted me to find out whether it was still available, and commissioned a piece with it. She preferred that it be made into a necklace, but beyond that one specification, she asked Wings simply to create as he felt led to do. We know her well enough to know what imagery and motifs have particular symbolic and spiritual significance for her, and he has made enough pieces expressly for her over the years to have a by now instinctive feel for what will most speak to her spirit.
When I first passed her request along to Wings, he mentioned a number of design possibilities that came immediately to mind. However, when he at last sat down to begin sketching out the piece, he said that he knew instantly what it should be: The imkage came to him, virtually fully formed and complete.
In creating it, he didn’t consciously make an effort to incorporate our friend’s personal “symbols” (among them, themes of water and women’s power) into the design. Yet, upon completion, it was evident that they were part and parcel of the entire work. The finished piece was entitled Earth Mother, an homage to Grandmother Turtle’s role in some of our origin stories and a tribute to the stone that serves as the work’s focal point.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the story of how Grandmother Turtle created the world, I’ve written about it here before:
You see, when one of the Spirit Beings was tasked with finding a way to keep the First People, who walked on two legs and would not survive the transition through the deep waters of this world, alive and safe, he did not go to Turtle.
He called all the animals together and explained the predicament, and asked who among them could help save The People. He expected volunteers from among the most powerful animals, and was not disappointed: Bear; Wolf; even Hell-Diver, who, as a water bird, might have been expected to succeed.
The situation became increasingly fraught, with much chatter among the animals, who became increasingly competitive in hopes of being selected for this charge from the spirits. But none of them possessed the qualities and skills necessary to this one task. Always, some element was missing, and it was clear that the First People would not survive.
Suddenly, beneath the din, a a soft, calm voice spoke up, quietly and modestly. “I can protect the First People,” said Grandmother Turtle.
The bigger, stronger, flashier animals laughed. “You? You’re small and insignificant. you crawl upon the earth.”
“I can hold them on my strong, sturdy shell,” Grandmother Turtle replied. “There they will stay safe and dry, close to the waters they need to survive.”
The Spirit Being halted the chatter among the animals. Acknowledging that she was right, he gave to Turtle the charge of protecting the First People. Ever since, it is she who carries our world on her back.
And that is how our world came to be called “Turtle Island.”
A spirit that straddles the realms of two elements, Earth and Water; one who is strong and deliberate and long of life; one whose gift to the First People was nothing less than life and this land upon which we live it: That’s a lot of power captured in one piece.
And in Wings’s hands, all of those aspects of power came through clearly. The reptilian scales of Grandmother Turtle’s body were all created entirely by hand of tiny circles, images of life’s sacred hoop, each of the hundreds of hoops struck individually with a tiny hammer. She is suspended from a hand-made bail, its center chased with Eyes of Spirit. And the entire pendant hangs from a collection of coordinated beads: leopardskin jasper in mottled earth tones, cut into rectangular shapes; traditional olivella-shell heishi in graduated sizes and several equally earthy shades; and small faceted barrel beads in copper, a very old style. The necklace itself is about nineteen inches in length; the pendant hangs a few inches longer yet.
It’s a powerful piece, not least because of the symbolism it evokes. Our friend told me early yesterday that she’d just worn it again, and that it is powerfully centering for her. I had already intended to make it today’s #ThrowbackThursday feature; her words seemed like Grandmother Turtle’s own endorsement of that decision.
When it comes to things of the earth, much is beyond our control. But occasionally, it is given to artists like Wings to create the world in miniature, just as Grandmother Turtle did for our ancestors in a time beyond memory.
~ 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.
