Something for Me

I've been making and designing jewelry for a long time, but most of what I make ends up at a gallery for sale. Very rarely over the years have I made something for myself. Recently, I designed some pendants just for me. They are sentimental talismans about two important people in my life who are no longer living.

 The pendant shown above is a photograph of my grandmother, Alice Clement Worden, at age 40. My grandmother believed in me and paid for my college education. She loved good clothes, fine leather goods, furs and jewelry. She also traveled by herself at a time when married women didn't do that sort of thing. Below is an image of the back of this pendant, just a touch of mink.

Another pendant is about my sister, Linda Worden Moon. This image is the two of us when I was about 4 and Linda was about 2. We were together all the time then and my mother often dressed us in identical dresses. Since those were the days of hand-me-downs, that meant Linda got stuck wearing both hers and mine.

On the back I put a lock of her hair under plastic. When I wear the pendants, everyone from grocery cashiers to stock brokers comment on them with enthusiasm and they have inspired several commissions.

So how much would it cost for us to make a custom pendant for you? They start at about $1200. depending on how much work we have to put into the photo and the material choices. These two pendants happen to be made in brass, but we are making some in silver too. The original images are scanned and Photoshoped to clean up the image and size it for a pendant. If you are thinking about something special for Christmas, send me an email at wordenjewelry@gmail.com. We need at least three weeks lead time to make a pendant. 

How I spent My Summer Staycation

Last month I took some time off to rest, recharge and be a tourist in my own area. I went to four museums; the new Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, the Future Beauty exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum, Buster Simpson’s retrospective, Surveyor, at the Frye Museum of Art and twice saw Patti Warashina’s retrospective, Wit and Wisdom at Bellevue Arts Museum. 

Baindrdge Island Museum of Art, Winslow, WA

The new Bainbridge Island Museum of Art is really easy to find, just take the ferry to Winslow, drive out of the parking lot and there it is on your left. I went especially to see the work of the late Heikki Seppa, an internationally known silversmith who taught at Washington University in St Louis for many years and retired on Bainbridge Island. Unfortunately, the display of his work is in a cramped hallway and one third of the work was in display cases too high to view properly. The other exhibits are a survey of Northwest art and crafts with no big surprises. In fact, the actual building and grounds are so gorgeous that they kind of upstage the art.  Check it out, I think they have the best museum shop in the region.

Junya Watanabe Comme des Garcons

Future Beauty at the downtown SAM is only up through Sunday Sept. 8^th and it is a stunning and thorough selection of Japanese fashion in the 1990’s. Even if you don’t care about fashion, you will love this exhibit as the clothes are more sculpture than wearable. My daughter Avery and I ooohed and ahhhed our way through it and bought the catalogue. Hurry down if you haven’t seen it yet.

Buster Simpson Secured Embrace

Buster Simpson has definitely earned a retrospective at the Frye, but this show isn’t for everyone. The unfortunate reality of much conceptual art is that the documentation of an event or temporary installation rarely does justice to the original experience. What I liked about the show was the memories it brought back of the Belltown neighborhood in the 1970’s and 1980’s before that area of town became gentrified. Buster’s awareness of the challenges in that neighborhood and others are an important historical record, interpreted through his unique voice.

Patti Warashina Bottom Feeder

Patti Warashina’s retrospective Wit and Wisdom is hands-down my favorite museum exhibition of 2013.  I have been through it from start to finish and finish to start two times now and will undoubtedly go again. It encompasses her student work from the 1960’s through to the present day and covers the entire third floor of the museum. It would be hard to name a more prolific artist; the woman raised two kids while teaching full time and has made more art than anyone I know. The ceramic sculptures range from miniature to huge with thoughtful narratives frequently implied. My favorite objects were the sake sets, many with political overtones. Wit and Wisdom continues through October 27, 2013. Do Not Miss This Show!

Tacoma's Jewel Box

Nestled in the heart of Tacoma Art Museum is one of the best public art jewelry collections on the West Coast.  It all started in 1997 when TAM  produced a retrospective of Ken Cory's artwork,  entitled, Play Disguised: The Jewelry of Ken Cory.  At that time Ken's family gifted a large group of his work to the museum, including this belt buckle from 1975, entitled Autumn Sunset (aka Candy Corn).  

  When TAM  made the commitment to collect jewelry made by Northwest artists,  a local collector made a generous contribution to endow a jewelry purchase fund in honor of well-known jewelry artist, Ramona Solberg.  Gifts began to flow in and now the collection has 200 pieces, including promised gifts.  With so many jewelry artists in the region, it was time for a regional museum to collect this work.

The collection Also includes jewelry by nationally known artists who have influenced the jewelers in our region, like this beautiful gold and silver brooch with rutilated quartz by Eleanor Moty from 1992,  called Torsion Brooch.   

What is really cool about this collection is that a lot of it is accessible.  When you get off the elevator from the parking lot, the first thing you see is a display case with art jewelry. Then, wander up the ramp to the galleries, where there is a special gallery just for jewelry with open storage. Open storage refers to the cases, custom built for the collection, with special display drawers that the public is invited to open and view more jewelry. Every drawer offers new delights, a little voyeuristic adventure like snooping through somebody's closet. Come to Tacoma and snoop!

Nancy Worden 2004, Frozen Dreams Necklace on stand

People and Cars

What is it about people and cars? I've been looking through a lot of old family photos and there is a whole category of people photographed with cars.

   Above is an image of me from around 1957 sitting in a toy car posing with neighborhood kids. 

I'm glad I enshrined this photo in a box I made in 1974, because I lost the original print.

 Whatever the reason for this popular genre, it is very useful for dating a photo. Above is an image of my mom, and her sister and brother standing in front of a car captured in a brooch we made in 2012. I'm guessing this photo was taken in 1946 or 1947 as my mom looks about 12 or 13 and the car looks like the late 1930's or maybe 1940.

 I don't know the people in the photo above but they were old friends of my grandmothers'.
 I can date it to the late 1920s from the clothes and the car.

Here is a picture of my grandmother Alice Clement Worden, standing in front of a Buick from about 1939. She would have been about 40 years old. Grandpa switched to Fords in the 1960s.

This is Alice's great grandaughter Avery Reed at age 3 in front of my first Dodge caravan that I bought new in 1991. For the sake of family history, please take some photos with cars this summer and don't forget to PRINT them out on paper.  

Memorials and Mementos

Memorial Day came and went while most of us enjoyed our 3-day vacation doing chores around the house or kicking back with friends and family. In April my friend Mary Ann and I were in Washington DC touring the memorials there. At the Vietnam War Memorial we listened to a volunteer veteran explain the notations after the names and watched him help people take a rubbing from the wall. The Lincoln Memorial was very crowded with people from all over the world. The new Martin Luther King Memorial is quite grand and the word monolithic came to mind.  This larger-than-life full-length portrait of King is carved from stone reminiscent of Mount Rushmore or Stone Mountain in Georgia. He is looking towards the water and the Jefferson Memorial, surrounded by a wall carved with quotes from his speeches.

The one that was the most poignant for us, however, was the new Korean War Memorial. The day we were there, a Sunday, we ran into a large group of older veterans, called Honor Flight from Montana, making the rounds. Many of the vets were in wheelchairs and one Korean War veteran was telling the story of landing on the beach in Korea the same day as Gen. MacArthur. A female representative of the VFW recorded his oral history as he talked and asked him questions.  I was absorbed in his story and keeping it together until I turned and saw a group of Koreans leaving a wreath and wiping their eyes and then I shed a few tears myself. Mary Ann took these pictures as mementos of that day.

Korean War Veteran with figures of the Korean War Memorial in the background.

http://www.koreanwarvetsmemorial.org

A memento is an object made or saved to remember a person or an event by and it can be a piece of jewelry. Queen Victoria is frequently credited for starting a fad for mourning jewelry. Her reign from 1837-1901 coincided with the development of photography and mass produced jewelry making it possible for ordinary people to own a photograph or a locket.  She loved jewelry and when her husband Albert died, she went into mourning wearing black clothes, black stones and jewelry made from his hair for the rest of her life.  You can still find Victorian hair jewelry in antique stores today though not all of it is about death. People exchanged locks of hair for many reasons including friendship and betrothal.

 Queen Victoria wearing a bracelet made with the hair of her late husband, Prince Albert.

I have integrated hair in my work off and on for many years. A brooch I made in the early 1990s intended as an amusing comment on hairdressers has inadvertently become mourning jewelry for me as it contains a lock of my sister's hair. Hair doesn't rot and preserves the DNA of the person it came from.

No More Bad Haircuts, 1994, brooch, silver, gemstones and found objects. Copyright Nancy Worden 

Dull at Dulles

I have just returned from a trip to our nation's capital and I had many experiences worth blogging about there, but the one that comes to mind today is the difference between how Washington DC and Seattle display art. While in the other Washington we went to the memorials and saw plenty of art at the different museums in the Smithsonian. However I can't recall seeing any public art on the street and certainly there was none to be seen at Dulles Airport. Dulles was renovated three years ago and everywhere you look there is glass and steel but no art. We did see a sculpture stand with a plastic box on top, but there was no art inside. Instead, there were wax models of the food that can be had at McDonald's on display.

This is sharp contrast to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. There is art everywhere at SeaTac, on the walls, above the elevators, in the restrooms, on the ceilings, in the windows, and above the baggage carousels, I mean EVERYWHERE. It is as if Washington DC believes that art belongs in museums whereas in Seattle we believe art should be seen in museums AND everywhere else.

Traveling Light by Linda Beaumont, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

Here is the reason why. 40 years ago, in 1973, the city of Seattle and King County both adopted legislation creating the 1% for Art program where 1% of certain project costs are set aside to purchase and display art that visually enhances public facilities. In 1974, the state of Washington established the AIPP program to acquire artwork for K-12 public schools, colleges, universities, and state agencies, funded by one half of 1% of the states portion of construction costs. This is why we have art all over the city of Seattle, King County, and the State of Washington. If you Google on Dulles Airport you will not see art listed anywhere on that site. However, click on http://www.portseattle.org/Sea-Tac/Passenger-Services/Airport-Art/Pages/default.aspx, and you will see a link for a map of all the artwork at SeaTac Airport and there is A LOT of it. The Port of Seattle, who oversees the airport, actually started buying art in 1969 when the Port Commission voted to set aside $300,000 for permanent works. When the Port remodeled and expanded Concourses B, C, and D in 1990, 1% of the construction budget was set aside for art. The Port invested an additional $1.8 million in art with the opening of Concourse A and the expansion of the South terminal area.

As an artist who creates work for the human body, I haven't applied for any commissions at the airport, but I have made one public art piece. In 1994 I was selected to create something for the City of Seattle Portable Art Collection.  I came up with, The Importance of Good Manners, a collection of tiaras celebrating different aspects of the culture of Seattle. The three tiaras celebrate philanthropy, hospitality, and political correctness. The crowns live in a beautiful gilded display case and travel around to different public buildings and offices in Seattle. Can you guess which is which?

So who chooses this stuff?  In 2008 I was asked by 4Culture, formerly known as the King County Arts Commission, to serve on a jury to select artwork for a new county employee office building and parking garage in Seattle. The jury was made up of me, two county employees who actually worked in the building, and a representative of the contractor who constructed the buildings. We went through more than a hundred applications over several days and weeks and finally agreed on two artists who would create the work. It was a difficult process and I learned a lot about how public art must integrate with the lives of real people. Similar committees were formed for all of the public art that we enjoy.

Next time you are visiting an airport, look to see if there is any art. My guess is that the ones that do have art also have legislation to finance it. 

What is a hero?

What is a hero? 

The tradition of decorating heroes is very old and common to human cultures all over the world throughout time. Joseph Campbell spent his lifetime studying the hero archetype in mythology and defined a hero as an individual who leaves the community to embark on a difficult quest or adventure and then returns home to share knowledge gained from the journey.  The concept of hero is often confused with athlete or pop culture role models in contemporary America, however the US military clearly defines a hero. The military hero is an individual who has performed above and beyond expectations and risked or gave their life to save the lives of others.  Special jewelry is awarded for extraordinary conduct. For instance, the Purple Heart is awarded to members of the military wounded or killed in combat. It is the oldest medal still given to members of the US military. It bears the profile of George Washington because it began as the Badge of Military Merit, initiated by General Washington in the Revolutionary War.  Why is it purple? During Revolutionary wartimes, firearms were made of both iron and wood and the preferred wood for rifle stocks at that time was the Purple Heart wood.

The highest medal given to a member of the armed forces for valor in combat is the Medal of Honor aka the Congressional Medal of Honor. It is sparingly bestowed, especially on living soldiers, as most recipients do not survive the action they are awarded for.  It is the only military medal worn around the neck and is always presented by the President of the United States. Different versions of the medal are designed for different branches of the service, but it is always in the shape of a star and usually includes the figure or profile of the Goddess Minerva, wearing a helmet in the center. Minerva was the Roman Goddess of War.  I have seen an Air Force version on display at The Museum of Flight in Seattle made of gold with pearls and enamels, a beautiful and fitting tribute to the airman it belongs to.

                                                      Former Staff Sgt. Clint Romesha

This morning's Seattle Times had a front page story on one of the last living Medal of Honor recipients from World War II. The post office is issuing a stamp today with an image of the medal and faces of 12 of the WW2 recipients on the boarder of the stamp sheet. Four have died since 2012 when the USPS began designing the stamp and only two are in good enough shape to travel to Washington, D.C. for the ceremony.  Here is a link to the Seattle Times article about one of the two who will be honored today:

http://seattletimes.com/html/home/index.html

In 2000, Helen Drutt asked me to create a medal and I came up with a decoration for the Order of the Ear. This medal is to be awarded to a politician who demonstrates an extraordinary ability to listen to their constituents. So far, it has not been bestowed.