Ajijaakwe: By Wings: Eight new works in silver and stone.

All right, I've been promising these for two days. The primary obstacle has not been the silverwork, but the Internet connection, so since we have one at the moment, I better get these up while I still can. By Wings: eight new works in silver and stone. It's a mix of one extraordinary necklace and seven pins, three from his Warrior Woman series (one of which is already sold but I'll show it to you here anyway) and four from his Pueblo pin series.

First up is the necklace, shown in full above, with a close-up of the pendant here:

This is the latest in one of Wings's most phenomenal signature series, The Mona Lisa on the Rio Grande. No, it has nothing to do with the Tish Hinojosa song of almost-but-not-quite the same name, since it predates the song by a good number of years. It's something that comes out of his artistic experience, finding a common sense of feminine mystery between the famed painting that hangs in The Louvre and that of the Maidens of his own tradition. Each of his works in this series follows a basic common form, an outsized gemstone cabochon forming the Maiden's face, set into a sterling silver setting in the shape of her traditional tablita headdress. Each also embodies a different spirit, and is named accordingly (for our peoples recognize Spirit, and spirits, all across the natural world). This one is entitled Great River Spirit and is eponymous, in a sense: The river to which the name refers is the same one in the name of the series itself, although its true name has long since been obscured by both colonial versions, and is kept hidden here from those to whom such knowledge is not given to know.

This masterwork is wrought in heavy sterling silver, and in a giant cabochon of agatized chrysocolla in malachite that looks for all the world like the river's own headwaters merging with the wider flow. No amount of photographing the stone shows its phenomenal natural beauty, rich and glossy and impossibly bright. The tablita is traced with tributaries formed by Wings's home-made stamps, filled in on either side by his favorite wave-like stamp repeated in a tight and endless rippling formation. The beads strand is formed of ultra-high-grade materials: rainbow moonstone; faceted aquamarine; chatoyant apatite; old natural chrysocolla, intensely hued and richly textured; spiderweb turquoise in two sizes; banded malachite cubes; and sterling silver in both smooth rounds and diamond-cut miniatures. You can read its full description here.

Next up are the Warrior Woman pins:

We begin with one that incorporates a stone found in the bead strand above: aquamarine. This one is entitled The Medicine of the Skies, and featured that shimmery, star-like cabochon along with stampwork in celestial designs and motifs of protection and healing. You can read its full description here.

The second one is animated by spirits of the waters, too:

This is The Moon, the Storm, the Waves, and the Tides, and it pays tribute to the feminine forces of the moon and the waters and the links between them. It features a rainbow moonstone in her right hand, waves upon the moon in her left, and a storm deliberately adance down the front of her dress. You can read the full description here.

The third and final of this grouping is the one that has already been sold, but it's worth seeing all the same:

This one is called We Walk the Way of the Earth, and it's my personal favorite of the three. Her dress bears an orb, a representation of Mother Earth at home on her axis, spinning in the proper rhythm. Her left hand holds a moon traced with the footprints of the ancients, leaving us a path to follow; in her right is a glowing garnet, as red as blood and flame and identity itself. He won't repeat the design exactly, but he can create a wholly unique version with the garnet cabochons. You can read the full description here.

Next come the four in the Pueblo pins series:

They appear here in the same order they appear on the Web site. First up is Ascending to the Night, featuring a onyx cabochon in the glossy jet-black of the night sky at this season. Like the others, the pin is cut freehand in a stylized version of North House, the old village's most famed structure, with windows hand-scored and vigas hand-stamped. The traditional pine ladder here is an overlay, sterling silver triangle wire for the posts and round wire for the rungs. You can read its full description here.

The second in this series' new group reflects the garnet fire of the final Warrior Woman:

This is Emerging Into First Light, and the garnet is the color of the sunrise now, turned scarlet by the early-morning cloud cover. The pin is similarly cut, scored, and stamped freehand in the same classic image, its structure slightly different and always unique. Again, the ladder is formed of sterling triangle and round wires and overlaid at the front of the pin. You can read its full description here.

The third pin channels the light of the heavy weather:

This is Rising to Meet the Storm, set with an amethyst the same shade as the violet snowclouds of a late monsoon or an early snow. Again, the pin is cut, scored, and stamped freehand in the same archetypal architectural style, but with its own unique arrangement of parapets, windows, and vigas. The traditional ladder is also formed of sterling silver triangle and round wire and overlaid, propped at the side of the pin's front. You can read its full description here.

Fourth and finally, but by no means last, is the one that honors the daylight:

This is Climbing the Steps to the Sky, wrought again in the same iconic North House image. Once more, the aw-work, scorework, and stampwork are all freehand and unique in arrangement to this particular pin. The ladder is again wrought of sterling silver triangle and round wire and overlaid on the front; a single brilliant cabochon of sky-blue Kingman turquoise is offset from the center. You can read its full description here.

As always. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. Also as always, we URGENTLY need to make consistent sales to cover upcoming new medical costs and other expenses and make it through the rest of this terrible second pandemic-ridden year (one that has already been bitter indeed for our communities), so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2021; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Ajijaakwe

Wednesday, November 10, 2021

By Wings: Eight new works in silver and stone.

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