Have you seen it? LK Ludwig has a brand new book out...just released...and it promises to be as awesome as her other books. I got a glimpse of it on my friend Sally's blog. From the peek I got, I can tell this book is filled with artistic energy and inspiration. The best part about it? It's based entirely on collaborative works; artists working together through shared visions of creativity.
"Midnight in the Valley of the Bones"
collaborative by Jen Worden and Deryn Mentock
photo by Jen Worden
Included in the book is this collaborative I did with the incredibly talented Jen Worden. I have to admit, this is one of my favorite projects of all time. Jen is not much of a horn-tooter so I'll do it for her. I've long admired her spectacular work. Her style is way beyond "rustic", delving into the funky and fantastic...I love it! I'm honored to have been able to work on this project with Jen and thrilled and grateful to be included in LK's inspiring book.
photo by Jen Worden
Part of the fun of working on a collaborative project is being inspired by each other's work. While I'm immensely inspired by Jen's work, I didn't have the advantage of seeing her work in progress. I had approached Jen with a few thoughts and sent her a couple of rough sketches and went to work on my end. The idea was for me to create a neck piece that Jen would incorporate into one of her amazing assemblages. And she did just that, with incredible style and craftmanship.
photo by Jen Worden
My necklace is based on a Biblical story of Ezekiel. I don't know how familiar you are with Ezekiel. He was a Jewish priest and prophet, living during a time of great social and political upheaval, almost 600 years before Christ. Much of his prophecy was based on God's divine judgment of His people, which takes form in the fall of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Lord's temple and the exile of the Jewish people.
photo by Jen Worden
Other of Ezekiel's prophecy was based on hope; the Lord's restoration and redemption of His people. This time of hope was to occur after the fall of Jerusalem and the temple and after the people had been carried off into exile by the Babylonians. God's judgment on His people would ultimately reveal His grace and teach His sovereignty over all of creation.
photo by Jen Worden
My piece was based on one of the prophecies of hope, from the book of Ezekiel, chapter 37. In this prophecy, Ezekiel has a vision in which he comes into the middle of a valley full of dry bones..human bones. I was fascinated by the thought of Ezekiel coming into the middle of this valley filled with bones. I could imagine heat, radiating from the valley floor...the sun pounding down...the dust and dry bones. In his vision, God commanded Ezekiel to speak to the bones, and God would bring them back to life. When Ezekiel spoke, there was a noise; the bones rattled and became covered with flesh but were not alive. God commanded him to speak again and, this time, God breathed life into them and all those bones rattled back to life and stood...a vast army. The vision is one of a dead people; separated from God...brought back to life, and given hope...by God. I started to think about what it must have been like for Ezekiel in that valley and began to form an idea for a jewelry piece that would include things he might have found during his time there...
...bones, of course. An animal skull, dried from the sun and weather...
...feathers from a predatory bird, gliding overhead...
...stones and shells from the desert floor...chunks of carnelian...petrified wood...
...and a collection of other things: a butterfly wing, sand, soil, egg shells, tufts of grass, tiny shells. These bottles contain remnants of things Ezekiel may have found in the valley. There are twelve bottles; six at a time can be hung from the necklace.
photo by Jen Worden
The others fit into cleverly designed compartments in a special drawer Jen created in her fabulous assemblage.
photo by Jen Worden
Jen added a few other, interesting artifacts to the drawer as well.
The clasp for the necklace was created with leather cord and a bone fragment. A "tassel" hangs from the bone, made from a bone bead, bullet casing, feathers and ribbon. Above the clasp, I added two pieces of snake vertebra (thank you Kay!)...cause snakes live in the desert, right?
Every part of the necklace has meaning of symbolism to the story...
...and the story SO speaks to me. There are times when I feel I've wandered into that dry valley myself. Times when the dust and heat of this world seem to take over but, we should take heart! The One who created us, also restores and refreshes us...with the breath of life.
Huge thank you to Jen and LK.
