If you are an artist, inspiration can be found everywhere you turn. I designed these 18k rose gold weddings rings for pastry chefs, well known in Brooklyn (Dumbo and Cobble Hill) for their incredible cookies. Their store is One Girl Cookies.
One of them, I won’t say which, lost their ring in a batch of butter and flour and I had to make another, but no matter, that’s the benefit of knowing the designer!
The pattern of their rings was inspired by an exhibition of Australian aboriginal art at Christie’s in New York many years ago.
The paintings reminded me of everything in the natural world…
The wind, the surf and the dunes at the seashore.
The mountain mesas in the Southwest where I grew up.
The rolling hills of Tuscany, and the farmlands spread out across the United States that tie our cities together.
Rivers that twist and wind their way to ocean shores and deltas and bays to the East and West and South.
The red clay hills of Northern New Mexico.
Crop circles.
Hidden horse thief meadows high in the Sandia Mountains.
Lakes and oceans and sea tides.
The Sun.
The Moon.
The Stars.
Designing wedding rings is one of the greatest honors and pleasures of my creative life. It is a collaboration and therefore a lot of trust is invoked. Not unlike a relationship between lovers themselves. If you have that trust, much beauty can emerge from it.
Yet, underneath it all, there is the original inspiration. I remember the day I walked into Christie’s galleries to see those stunningly beautiful aboriginal paintings, many of them by elderly artists who had begun their careers late in their lives, hanging on walls of white, the whorls and whirls and circles and lines and patterns of the paintings blending into one another and becoming etched forever into my brain.
I went home and designed these Whorl Wedding rings and they make me happy.
I love being reminded about the past about artistry, about the birthplace of personal creative inspiration, and this morning I woke up to an article in the Times about an aboriginal artist named Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, whose work is currently featured in an exhibition at Salon 54.
I wish that I could have included not only a photographic link to the article, alongside of which I would have shown my rings, which would not now exist had I not been wowed, inspired, humbled and compelled by the artistry of men and women who live in a country I long to visit, whose painterly expressions are unlike any other that I am aware of around the world.
I had to debate which to include as a photograph – my rings or the article – the rings won (forgive me!) but below is the link about Mr. Tiapaltjarri’s work for those of you who would like to see his splendid work.
I want to sit with Mr. Tiapaltjarri under the Australian stars and contemplate being alive. If you know him, kindly pass that message along.
An Aborginal Artist’s Dizzying New York Moment:
#WarlimpirrngaTjapaltjarri #AboriginalArt
September 20, 2015 at 4:51 pm
Thank you Randy Resnick. That was quick! I’m sitting outside wondering why the Hummingbirds haven’t migrated yet. Maybe they think they can escape the ravages of the coming winter…. Hmmm….
September 20, 2015 at 5:23 pm
Those are absolutely beautiful! Thanks for sharing Giselle Minoli
September 20, 2015 at 5:56 pm
Fabulous, thanks. Good evening
September 20, 2015 at 6:07 pm
I’ve always been partial to your Vine design, especially in platinum, but this Tingari whorl and what looks like a jeweled nest are special too.
September 20, 2015 at 6:54 pm
Hi Roland J. Ruttledge and Elizabetb Mckee and Bill Abrams. Thank you. Some of the happiest times in my life have been just sitting quietly and designing. And I often think that if I could choose what I would do every day if I didn’t have to earn money…it would be designing, flying…and then cooking for friends in the evening! Today is our anniversary and instead of going out, that’s exactly what we are doing…fixing dinner for friends. It doesn’t get any better than that!
September 20, 2015 at 7:43 pm
Giselle Minoli Wonderful – have a terrific evening:)
September 20, 2015 at 7:59 pm
Giselle Minoli hope you have a terrific time!
September 20, 2015 at 9:07 pm
Hi Sheri ONeill that is very sweet. No…I didn’t design our wedding bands. I wanted to, but the process from start to finish takes many months – about 3 to be conservative – and Brian didn’t want to wait. So we bought them. Compared to what I designed they are simple, simple, simple. Mine very very thing, like the rim of a dime, while his is much bigger because he has a surgeon’s hands!
September 21, 2015 at 11:40 am
Ha Sheri ONeill. A little Asian man with small hands vs. the orthopedic surgeon with big hands! I’m glad for you too that having your children was your only hospital experience. Giving life…how lovely…the other experiences can be not so, well, um…creative.
Happy Anniversary to you and your husband as well. I disconnected yesterday. Two of the people at our dinner were a little 3 year old girl who calls me Gizzy (shhhh, don’t tell anyone) and her little sister, who is 6 months old. They rather command attention, time and focus when they are around. The internet is no competition for their big-eyed sweetness!
I do think I will design rings for us one day. And funny you should mention that because I’ve been thinking about it recently. Ideas enter, take root and then often take a long while to germinate. Perhaps in the Spring!
Have a lovely week.