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First Friday Firsts: Popcorn and a Movie in a Ring

Posted on by Nancy Lee

First Friday is my one and only Open House per month. After eight years of being on deck most every first Friday of that month, I mixed things up a good bit late this summer. I had entered a piece in a juried exhibition at Gallery 924, the fine art gallery run by the tremendous people at the Arts Council of Indianapolis, and it was accepted. But how to be two places at once? I really wanted to go see my work in a fine art gallery setting, and knew that I also harbored the desire to meet the woman behind the idea for the exhibition: Sara Urist Green of the PBS online show The Art Assignment. So, I decided it wasn’t an either-or situation. It was going to be BOTH.
Friday’s excitement started with my escape plan – a few minutes before 6:00PM, I ran out the front door of my building, and smack into two dear friends who lived hours away – only to find out they had moved back to Indy! Into my studio we went, and chatted for a good twenty minutes. Sublime. Then, off to Gallery 924!
Upon arriving, I saw several people I knew and said hello, then went on the hunt for my work – a ring names “Popcorn and a Movie,” dreamed up just for this show. There it was, in the locking display case I had scoured the earth for (thank you, Aronstam Jewelers!).

Popcorn and a Movie Ring, Sterling, gold, pearls

Only someone else’s work was sitting next to mine. A shock, for sure, but what can you do? I survived my ego attack and moved on. Then I spotted Sarah Urist Green and moved in to introduce myself. I was saved from that by a friend I had worked with at the IMA – she gave me a brilliant introduction. Thrilling and a tad bit starstruck, I still managed to hold up my end of an interesting convo on the arts, most especially women in the arts and opportunities to make work, make fun work from The Art Assignment prompts, and actually showing that work in a curated gallery setting. Non-traditional work in non-traditional venues is the wave of the future, however, getting people together in the way we were together on Friday evening was a rare and wonderful treat for me.
Hoping to be involved in some way with a future Art Assignment! To learn more about the Art Assignment that led to the making of Popcorn and a Movie, read on…
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Pearls – Did You Know?

Posted on by Nancy Lee
Lavanessence Silver Pendant with Freshwater Pearl on Gold Wire
Lavanessence Silver Pendant with Freshwater Pearl on Gold Wire by nDesigns Metal and Jewelry

In honor of Elizabeth Taylor, I’m repeating an article that contains a tidbit about her “La Peregrina” pearl necklace. She was a woman with enduring style, grace and beauty. May she rest in peace.

Here are ten (or more) things about pearls:

10. Pearls are said to be ruled by the moon, are symbols of purity and femininity, were once adornment for nobility alone, were consumed as medicines, worn as protection for knights doing battle, have influenced Steinbeck and financed wars.

9. The Persian Gulf was once the richest source of saltwater and freshwater pearls in the world. The discovery of oil in the 1930’s spoiled all that.

8. Cleopatra dropped a pearl earring in her wine cup and drank it, proving to Marc Antony that Egypt’s richness was unequaled in the world. That act would cost about $13.5 million today.

7. Pearls are mentioned in the Bible nine times, and the kingdom of heaven is often described as being protected by “pearly gates”.

6. Fine freshwater pearls have been found in the United States since the early 1800’s, including the “dogtooth” pearls in the Chrysanthemum brooch, created by Tiffany & Co and presented in 1904 to Hollywood star Lillian Russell.

A chrysanthemum brooch made of gold, platinum, and diamonds demonstrates a creative use of freshwater Mississippi River pearls in a design by Paulding Farnham for Tiffany & Co. (1904). Collection of R. Weatherly © Wartski, London Image Courtesy: American Museum of Natural History and Royal Ontario Museum
A chrysanthemum brooch made of gold, platinum, and diamonds demonstrates a creative use of freshwater Mississippi River pearls in a design by Paulding Farnham for Tiffany & Co. (1904). Collection of R. Weatherly © Wartski, London Image Courtesy: American Museum of Natural History and Royal Ontario Museum

5. The “Queen Pearl” was found by a carpenter in a stream in New Jersey and sold to Charles Tiffany, who sold it to Princess Eugenie of France, who used it to buy her freedom when fleeing that country in 1870.

4. Kokichi Mikimoto and his wife, Ume, looked upon the world’s first cultured pearls on July 11, 1893, spent decades perfecting the art, nearly creating the capability “… to adorn the necks of all the women of the world with pearls.”

3. “La Peregrina”, a large pear-shaped white pearl discovered in 1513, became part of the Spanish Crown Jewels. In 1554 the pearl was given to Mary Tudor (“Bloody Mary”), the daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon, by her future husband Philip II, Crown Prince of Spain. Fast-forward 415 years, at which time the pearl was purchased at Sotheby’s by Richard Burton for Elizabeth Taylor, who still owns it. She almost lost it to her Pekingese the very day she received it in 1969 – she had to pry it from her dog’s mouth. Dumb mutt! (Dog story from My Love Affair with Jewelry, by Elizabeth Taylor.

Elizabeth Taylor Wearing La Peregrina
Elizabeth Taylor Wearing La Peregrina

2. Princess Diana’s 1981 wedding dress, designed by Emanuel, featured 10,000 pearls and sequins. She later commissioned Catherine Walker to design a stunning pearl-studded white gown and jacket for her visit to Hong Kong in 1989. The Princess seemed to glow in pearls, and wore simple, single-strand chokers to pearl ropes to the exquisite “Swan Lake Suite” of South Sea cultured pearls and diamonds, so named after her tragic death in 1997.

1. And finally, Pearl is the symbol for the 30th wedding anniversary and birthstone for the month of June. And it’s my birth month, too!

Perlmutt Australian pearls
Perlmutt Australian pearls

 

Today, freshwater and cultured pearls have virtually replaced natural pearls. China, Japan, and Australia are the largest exporters of pearls. There is little availability of natural pearls on the market today – they are extremely rare and prohibitively expensive! Fortunately, most can still enjoy the beautiful simplicity of pearls at a reasonable price.