Walking the Gray Area

Dear Sebastian,

Thank you for this partnership in this project. Everything you said inspired me . I think we know each other a lot and we have a real complicity, even if we never have seen or know each other very much.

*I dedicate this work to my beautiful friend Astrid, who died this week.

Kiss,

Dani

Hello.

The book is called ‘Dark Side of the Light Chasers’ by Debbie Ford (she has written many many books and I chose to get this one.  They are all quite similar I imagine.  It is a bit cheesy at times (and American), but the message is meaningful, I think, and expressed with many different examples to make sure you understand what she is talking about).  I am sorry to hear about your friend.  It sucks to go through this because it shows you how vulnerable and ‘not in control’ we really are.  I am thinking a lot about all this kind of stuff right now, ie souls, that our bodies are like cars for our souls, what really matters and so on.  I think I have even come up with my own idea/concept on all of this.  I call it my ‘Light-Bulb Theory’.  In a nutshell (and I won’t get into it tooooooo far so you will fall asleep on your end, not to mention other readers out in the world), I am saying that every human being, when born, is like a bright burning light-bulb.  This light is our soul burning bright, bringing to us everything we need/want/desire.  As we get older, we disown aspects of ourselves, so we stick black electric tape over the bulb, blocking out the light.  After 30 years, there is no more light, only darkness, heaviness, etc.  We continue to spend all of our energy blocking out the light.  Spiritual awakening comes in and this is a process of taking the black tape off and letting the bright light shine through again.  So all in all (and there is more) everything we need is already here, in us, and all we need to do is let it shine out and to stop blocking it with our energy.

This morning I took pictures of the new work (titled ‘Environment’) and then arranged them like this in Photoshop.  It took a while and I am happy with this image.  My main source of inspiration has always been natural history museums, archaeological arrangements, findings, etc.  When I started with jewellery, everything was made in this kind of style (but that faded out and nearly disappeared because things had to be wearable).  I am glad that you want to add things to your work (always nice to set a whole scene).  I also love your top view photo, how all the elements blend together.  I am curious to know what our work will look like together.

Have a good weekend……bye

Hello Sebastian!

I loved this whole process you’ve been through, along with your work. It’s very symptomatic, don’t you think?

I feel very sad these days for a dear friend of mine is very ill. I want her alive and I’ve been placing a lot of energy wishing her recovery. Our work is about life, death, with generation of new cycles. All of these issues have been reflected – as in a mirror? – in my life lately.

I enjoyed your art installation. The way you tell a story leading to new ideas is very interesting. I feel it like an almost ‘archeological’ arrangement which compels me to think, trying to figure things out. What’s the title?

My jewel is also a small art installation. All of a sudden you open up new vistas for me, leaving me with a desire to add something more.

For now my piece is like this…

Bye, Sebastian!

ps: the book passage you sent me is fantastic. It is exactly what I feel and what I am trying to convey with my art piece. What is the title of this book? Who wrote it?

Hi….

So now I have decided on something new.  I have been doing and making for the past five days (a bit like a mad scientist down in the basement).  It’s an environment (installation) made of jewels, objects, things.  Here are some images.  I hope that this will make it to Holland without interruption (otherwise I will probably experience an eruption).  What and where are you at?

BYE

Hi Dani.

My work arrived with Valeria the other day and both pieces are broken (see image).  I thought I had packed it well and the box is still in good condition, so it is unbelievable that this has happened.  But I cannot help to think that this could be a good thing (hence the title of this post).  Maybe it all depends on how you look at it and given that we always have a choice, maybe it is wrong to immediately judge this has ‘bad’ or ‘unlucky’.  I have to admit that I am not happy with this incident yet because I feel annoyed (my workshop/kiln/stuff has been totally dismantled and I have thrown away years of materials/tools/things).  This work completed my cycle, it celebrated the end (or so I thought).

This incident also makes me think about the gold nugget in the block of coal.  Getting dirty represents the annoyance, irritation, negative thoughts, etc.  Now I will wait for the work to come back to me and then I will see what to do about it.  I will uncover the gold nugget, that is for sure, and I do believe that somehow this could be(come) a good thing, but that takes time.  I also see this as a cosmic joke, like the universe itself helped me to properly finish the work by snapping both pieces in two.  Things that make me go ‘hhhmmmmmm’.

I also read something interesting in a book yesterday:

‘Within each of us lies a solid gold treasure.  This golden essence is our spirit, pure and magnificent, open and glowing.  But this gold has been covered up by a hard shell of clay.  The clay comes from our fear.  It is our social mask: the face we show the world.  Unconcealing your shadow reveals your mask….’

On a different note, how are you?  How is everything?

B Y E

Hi Sebastian!

I like to read what you write. I like the way you express your feelings. Your words inspire me. I don’t know if I can do that. But I try, through my work. I think it’s modesty. The idea of modesty is strongly related to this object made of coal, gold, idea and feeling. As the heart and brain in their shells that distract those who do not seek to know me more deeply. This object is black. I think I’m working with your negative, a sort of shadow.
In this project there is also a celebration of love as a union. White love, like a big light, like a white fire, with all the colors of the spectrum.

I like a lot  your object and your brooch. I like the fragility and at the same time the strength they have. Transitional objects, full of meanings. It’s pleasing to see our conversations materilized.

I’m still working on object-jewel,  that require attention because they are very simple. And fragile ..I’ve been covered with coal these days!

Here is a picture where you can see two second-hand alliances that  to fuse together and then it will place this new object, within the block of coal. I’m still thinking if I make a transparent box, where there will be a mirror in the base and a sky map on the cover … I must try this!keep in touch!

xxx

Dani

Hello Dani.

How are you?  I am OK.  I finished my work for the WGA exhibition (see images).  I made two pieces, one object and a (2 part) brooch, based on reflection and phoenix respectively.  I wasn’t sure if I could do this and as silly as I think this sounds (because of my work block) I am happy and relieved that I could add ’something’ to this whole international-creative-amalgamation.  Sometimes it is not so easy to do simple things.

On another note, I am currently collecting shadows, or rather ‘my’ shadows.  It is a process in which you take things that annoy/irritate/upset you about others and you see where in your own life you have exhibited these characteristics or done ‘this’ to someone else.  After looking at this, you see the gift in doing this (and as negative as something may appear to us on the surface, there is always a golden nugget hiding in there somewhere because we always seem to do the best we can at any one time.  Reminds me of your charcoal/gold piece!).  This whole process is based on the idea that we project our negative aspects, the shadows, onto the world (like a mirror) so we can see what we need to see and reclaim parts of ourselves.  Interesting process and this has now become part of my journey to become whole again.

I also read a beautiful quote:

Perfect love is to feeling what perfect white is to color. Many think that white is the absence of color. It is not. It is the inclusion of all color. White is every other color that exists, combined. So, too, is love not the absence of an emotion (hatred, anger, lust, jealousy, covetousness), but the summation of all feeling. It is the sum total. The aggregate amount. The everything.

- Neale Donald Walsh

I love white and this has probably been the colour I have used the most in all of my work (and even now, as you can see)…..

Have a nice weekend….B Y E

Hey Dani.

What you wrote sounds interesting in several ways.  I like how the jewel becomes embedded in something else (the way I see moments or experiences embedded in the layers that make up our lives).  I also like how you have made the jewel inaccessible (I have always loved that about jewellery—in the way that it becomes non-jewellery or an object, blurring the lines between things and smudging them like a charcoal drawing).  I could probably write a lot more here and I think I will stop (too much information is not necessary).

I have also been ‘thinking’ about what to make.  I move in very small thought circles (reflection, fire, mirror, illusion, last piece, no more jewellery, what do I make?, mirror, reflection, maybe silk, transformation, silk, cocoon, phoenix, red thread, moth, silk, cycles, ending, beginning, jewellery…..just to give you some idea).  This time is very strange.  I am cleaning out things, my work area, old stuff, throwing bags and bags of old stuff away, taking old jewellery apart, really going into it, the dismantling of the last 10 years of my life to prepare for the new cycle that is starting now.  And by going into the things I also manage to move into the energy within myself, cleansing and clearing, that is why I have to do this slowly (step by step, no rush), and it feels thick and heavy.

But I will make something and I still think that the points we came across are still very relevant.  I am also keeping in mind your charcoal, the dirty-ness, the hidden because it would still be interesting for the work to complement each other, somehow connect.  Up until now I thought about making a ceramic phoenix brooch connected to a mirror brooch (two brooches connected, one representing rebirth and the other reflection).  Then I thought about burning old stuff and using that has a patination on a structure of a brooch, making the wearer dirty.  And lastly I thought about taking a lot of small elements from the past 10 years and placing them together in a piece to represent the work cycle I am now ending (my only concern with this is that I think this piece might look ugly and I have a problem with that because I am probably too vain and my ego won’t allow it (so maybe I should try this!!!!)).

Have a lovely Sunday………B Y E

Hello, Sebastian!

How are you?

I think I got an idea about the work I intend to present, based on our conversations, especially on the issue of recycling, the rebirth by fire, the illusion that the brightness of a jewel can cause …

As I had told you, I want to do something with coal. My object is very simple: a lump of coal (those used in jewelry for welding) and two rings of gold which will merge into one and that will take the form of chance. I will make a hole in the center of the block of coal and will put these alliances merged inside, then I will seal the coal again. The gold is there, hidden. It can only be found by the action of breaking the coal. Alliances merged, in turn, are like “seeds of jewelry”…

What do you think about that?

Kind regards

Dani

Your charcoal idea sounds fun and dirrrty.  Check the work on Dinie Besems (chalk necklace) and Mah Rana (ring in bar of soap).  These works go along the lines of what you are looking into.  I like charcoal because it is, in essence, what a diamond is also made of.  I think most basic materials hold a great gift and serve in a way far more humble than materials with ‘value’ added to them.  At the end of the day, the little things make life worth living and not the big things (with the added bonus that when the little things go wrong, we don’t really notice so much because they are little).

I think that we got to a lot of interesting topics on our posts, especially the latter ‘fire’ and ‘rebirth’.  I wrote to Valeria about my ‘ending’ and I decided that I will make one final piece for this project, based on our communication.  I am not sure what, how, etc, but I will keep you posted.  I was going to send you some stuff, but actually that is not relevant anymore (as I was planning to send you stuff that I made which you could incorporate into a piece…the lazy way for me due to my lack of energy).  But since that is not longer the case, please ignore and forget!

Enjoy your day……B Y E

Dear Sebastián

Hi.

I hope you had a nice x-mas period.  I am glad that it’s over and I am getting comfortable in the year 2010 (a year of change and adventure).  Last month I decided to stop jewellery.  It marks a 10 year cycle of continuous disappointment, stress, struggle and irritation and I realized that I really strayed off my path with contemporary jewellery and I should have pursued costume/performance/dance, the path I was on before.  There are still a lot of questions, which remain unanswered, but the decision to end my jewellery cycle feels 100% right (it couldn’t feel more right).  Now I am gathering clues and uncovering the red thread that runs through my life.

In regard to out collaborative piece, I will send you something, so I am happy to make something with you (but perhaps it will be a bit limited from my point and I hope that this doesn’t limit your creativity and the enjoyment of this project).  As before, I have no desire left to work, to make, and while I thought that this was a phase, I now know that this is not a phase.  I will let you know.

Bye for now…..
Sebastian

Hi Again.

Thanks for understanding my position.  It’s all unstable right now and anything can happen!  Let’s do what you said, see what comes up.  Maybe we will be pleasantly surprised.  The other night I watched a super cheesy movie from the 80s, called Dreamscape.  I remember that this movie tormented me when I first saw it, when I was little.  These images come from the beginning and it’s all about fire…..

Don’t worry, Sebastián! I can understand this state of mind… When you have some ideas, tell me. We could think about our project together… or by ourselves! … I’ll show you everything that goes through my head.

I found this image of a phoenix and it seems she is being reborn in the bowl of the photo you posted…

Até a próxima! Em breve, espero…

Hey.

Nice work.   I like it.  I got nowhere thus far and I am sorry for my lack of enthusiasm.  But what I want to try is still in my head (candle brooch that you light in order to complete it, in other words ‘burn your own jewellery’ or ‘light your own jewellery’).  How did you make the links?  Can you make interlocking links, like a large chain?  Could be funny to make a large chain necklace that is set alight.

I also thought about the phoenix as something to work with as a symbol with, perhaps, wax and fire (I like what the phoenix represents, what we already talked about, rebirth, which is also what I think that whole gray area is about!).  Hhhmmmmm.

Until sometime in the very near future….Ciao

Hi Sebastián!

Fire, fuego, fogo, feu, 火.., brand, feuer, פייער .., lửa, oheň, φωτιά, نار

I only think of fire…

this necklace is made with the small plates that hold the wicks of the candles.

each person i placed the necklace i added a wick and asked to think a wish.

when i considered it finished, i took the necklace and lit the wicks (not to burn anyone!) to fulfill the wishes…

Hey.

Once again you have been a busy bee and I like your ideas.  Unlike you, I didn’t get very far from last time at all.  I thought about fire and wearing fire (but that is also wearing danger as the wearer could get ‘fired’).  I didn’t think of wax and when I saw your sketches, I thought that it could be interesting to have a candle brooch (for example), which you light and allow to burn to the point of perfection, meaning when you, the wearer, thinks it is at its most beautiful.  Perhaps it starts out stiff, white and odd looking, but as the wax melts, the whole piece re-shapes organically.  I think I need to draw this idea.  The wax would also create a mess, probably, and I like that too.  Jewellery isn’t normally allowed to make things dirty and messy, especially the wearer.

I did find this on the internet yesterday, linked to fire, heat, etc.  The text for the image is underneath.

“This porcelain bowl was found among the ruins of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb explosion on 6 August 1945, at the end of World War II. It is a typical piece of Japanese tableware used for pickles and chutneys. The heat of the nuclear explosion caused the glaze of the bowl to melt, and it has fragments of brick and other pottery embedded in it. The family which used the bowl would have been obliterated by the blast; some 80,000 people were killed immediately and a further 60,000 were to die from radiation sickness and other after effects.”

…..

I also like the shape of the void that the fire leaves…And you?

Hi Sebastián!

Even though we do different things we have many points in common…So, let’s play a little!

Lygia Clark

Deep’s masks, 1968

The Xiuhmolpilli or Ceremony of the New Fire was a ritual performed the last day of every cycle of the Aztec calendar (52 years) to save the world from destruction. All fires in the Aztec realm were put out and everyone looked towards the summit of the Huixachtla volcano, where priests from the fire cult of Huehueteotl sacrificed a man, placing a firedrill on his chest; the resulting bonfire marked the New Calendar Round.  Torches were carried then from the bonfires to the temples in Tenochtitlan and a new Cycle would start with the certainty that the world was safe. The last ceremony of the New Fire was performed in 1507, when became forbidden by the Spanish conquerors.

Huehueteotl, or Old God in Nahuatl,  a mesoamerican deity figuring in the pantheons of pre-columbian cultures and associated to fire, was portrayed by the Aztecs as a very old man, hunched over with a wrinkled face and a toothless mouth, who carries a large brazier over his head.

Hello Sebastián!

I found this images on the web and I thought you might like them. These  are viking lighters. Unfortunately I don’t  have more information about them.

I’ve had a lot of ideas and I’ll send you tomorrow some drafts of what I’d like to make. We’ll look for a contact point between our objects and thoughts to produce a first spark.

I’m particularly interested in objects that create comunication with others persons, that provoke interactivity and have a symbolic sense. There are not often jewel that you can use for gala night…

I have sought inspiration in Lampião and Maria Bonita, a very famous couple of brazilian bandits ( in the tradition of R0bin of Sherwood)

Look what I found on the web…

( a Glauber Rocha film)

About Lampião and Maria Bonita

( a Benjamin Abrahão film, 1936)

A demain!

Dani

I love the first image you posted under ‘how to make fire’.  I love the prehistoric tools, things, stones, rocks, objects (all filled with purpose with the benefit of making fire).  Makes me wonder if we could make jewellery that can actually be utilized to make fire, but in the wrapped prehistoric kind of way, instead of a matchbox and match necklace, even though that would work too….

Hi!

Nice pics and thoughts on fiery work (you are a creative ball of fire).  I am not sure what to do, make, think exactly.  I think I will start soon (I always say this and I mean it, yet I do not work on creative things a lot anymore.  It is like a wall exists between me and creativity and I somehow need to respect that dull-large-stagnant-energy-block).  But I like fire, it feels appropriate and suitable.  Maybe I will start with burning things I do not like to transform them and to see what happens!

…..