I have learned that there is a feeling to an important inspiration piece. They glow in my memory with a joy and affinity that stands out from the rest of my memories.
I had not discovered this yet, however, when I found myself as a high school senior on a rain soaked marble street in Athens. I just knew that I loved the little Aegean replica statue I had clutched in a plastic shopping bag. I loved him with a fierceness I thought was strange for a tourist trap remake.
And, I clearly recall the sense of shock I had when I realized platform flip-flops do not grip soaking wet marble sidewalks. I remember the loud crack I heard as I tumbled to the ground and the head was split off my little statue.
I remember the hope l had as I tried to reapply the little man’s head with a special stone epoxy. I remember my annoyance over the years when I looked as the very visible crack through his neck marring his clean, cool, smooth surface.
I thought my love and the importance I placed on him was unduly large, after all he was not rare or one-of-a-kind. But every time I looked a him I had that same glow… So I carried him with me as I moved to Colorado, to Hawaii, to New York.
Then one day my conscious mind caught up with my artistic instinct and I started really looking at him.
I started researching carved faces found around the world and throughout time. As I really dug into the concept, I realized that glow was inspiration and I started exploring carving my own faces from wax. Those carvings developed into my first collection of rings.
That first piece of inspiration has traveled with me as I share my jewelry around the world. He reminds me that a single piece of inspiration can seem small and unimportant, but if you see something, and dig into it, you can create an entire world. Sometimes that glow is not just about that moment, or a single image, or statue - sometimes it is a doorway to a world of possibilities...if you are only to recognize it.
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-Brenna
