Each handmade necklace features an 18-karat yellow gold chain, and was crafted to resemble twisted vines. “We took the little stems off of maple leaves, tied them into a link, and casted those to make the links for the necklace,” says Gibson. The style also features—and get ready for this—three hand-carved white horns made of bones; an acorn made of wood and 18-karat gold; blueberries, strawberries, and maple seeds made of gold and enamel; a blackberry made of gold and dark blue sapphires; a raspberry made of gold and cabochon rubies; and a pussy willow branch made of gold and keshi pearls. “We strung fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, and then digitally scanned them,” says Gibson, to get the shapes just right.
The extremely-precious piece also features nods to Gibson’s own longtime love of jewelry. Since he was a teenager, Gibson has been collecting vintage jewelry, so he completed each of his 10 necklace designs with three found silver heart charms, as well as a vintage bee broach, all personally sourced by the artist. “I’ve been collecting vintage charms for years now, especially when I travel,” says Gibson. “Charms are a form of memory.” Even the necklace packaging can be considered art. Gibson enlisted the Anishinabe birchbark artist Patrick William Kruse to create a special birch box for the necklaces.
With every detail heavily considered, it was an ambitious approach to creating wearable art—and one that proved fruitful (pun intended). “It was a challenge, but a completely joyous challenge,” says Brooke Garber, the owner of Sydney Garber, who crafted the pieces in New York. “There was lots of back and forth, and I wanted to make sure we realized Jeffrey’s vision. In the end, it was like making 17 separate pieces of jewelry, because the necklace has so many different components, materials, and colors.”
For Gibson, the creative process served as more than a new way to reflect his viewpoint of the world; it was also a way to create a tangible product that someone can wear to present themselves to the world. “Jewelry is a way to adorn and collect ourselves, and to place ourselves in the world,” says Gibson. “If you look at Indigenous history, there were these incredible men in flamboyant jewelry—it was a form of acculturation to take all of that away.” As for the question of whether Gibson will create more valuable jewels in the future? “I’ll always design something for myself,” he says. “But this was very much a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
#Time #Artist #Jeffrey #Gibson #Creates #Jewelryand #Rooted #Storytelling
