You talk of spirits,
Magic and power
While baubles tumble within your hands;
Faceted, plastic totems seen only by blind eyes.
If your pride would have acquiesced,
I could have shared my crown.
Forged by fire and alchemy
It glitters with the very jewels you seek.
In elementary school I had an elaborate rock collection. Polished pebbles meticulously chosen from the wooden bins of our malls' nature store littered my bookcase- artfully arranged between fluorescent haired Troll dolls, everyday river rocks, and weathered copies of the Boxcar Children.
I loved how they sparkled, how intricate the colors and patterns were, and how substantial they felt in my hand. As time passed, I grew fascinated with their hidden meanings and stories as well.
Stories like how the Apache tribe, who believed turquoise bestowed gifts of skill and strength, would attach bits of the stone to their arrows so they flew straight. Or how the ancient Greeks believed that Garnet stones represented the pomegranate seeds Hades gave to Persephone to find her way back to him and therefore would bestow love and passion to its wearers. In Burmese culture, rubies were said to protect the wearer against evil- a story I found particularly amusing given the speculation that Queen Elizabeth specifically wore her ruby tiara during Trump's visit for that very reason.
Of course, Buckingham palace squashed those rumors, but it brings an important fact to light. Whether or not a stone actually possesses a power or gift isn't very important. The greatest importance lies in whether or not the wearer and/or those around it believe it does. The Jasper stones Ancient Greeks tied to the thighs of laboring women probably did nothing to lessen their pain, but the belief that it could very well caused a placebo effect that lessened the women's anxiety. The belief itself was the power.
For GEMSTONES, I wanted to highlight the mysticism that surrounds precious and semi-precious stones- the beliefs, the folklore, and the superstitions- and combine them with their counterparts in flowers. (Just like gemstones, flowers have long held secret meanings of their own.)
As I weaved together color and line, I combined their myths and meanings to craft personal visual narratives. The resulting paintings are not only as captivating and beautiful as the gemstones and flowers they represent, but are also enchanting pieces that whisper of their own hidden stories and beliefs.