Yearly Archives: 2019

1”x.5”, vitreous glass tile

In honor of tonight’s display of breast-pumping photos and stories at Somerville city hall I’ve made this breast-like pendant.  Milk is sustenance.  Milk is life. Milk is hard to produce (I can tell you I needed a LOT of donuts each day that I was lactating) and hard to store.  And we don’t talk about it enough.  There’s still a long way to go before working women in the U.S. have the support, space, time and encouragement that they need to continue to breastfeed after returning to their jobs.

1”x .5”, found objects

It might seem like sadness couldn’t be part of health, but every emotion has a flip-side, and feeling them all is healthy.  This pendant is shaped like a tear, and the green ceramic tile that sits at its point echoes the same form.  With beads placed in lines that sweep away from the tile’s point, the design takes on an art nouveau quality.  Beauty in sadness.

1.5” 1”, glass and found objects

Almost all the way through a whole year of pendants (this is week 46 of 52), I’ve been amazed at how much the seasons affect my health, by mood and my connections to other people. Snow might be beautiful, but it definitely makes it hard to manage playground meet-ups.  Spring and summer are far too short, but at least the seasons march around and swing us back toward spring each time the snow thaws.  This pendant has a gear at the center, symbolizing the turning of the seasons, and around the edges are some of the colors and textures of each season, from the icy whites and shiny blues of winter at the top through the bright greens of spring, the flower hues of summer and the rusts and golds of fall.

1”x1”, glass and found objects

Maybe it’s a little too literal for a pendant about health, but after having the flu for a week all of my glass looks like germs.  A few weeks ago I ordered the kids a bottle of lotion that glows under UV light and we used it to practice handwashing.  It’s pretty scary to see what a 4 year-old leaves on his hands when he “washes” them, and it reminds me why I’ve been getting sick so often.  The left side of this pendant is some germy-looking glass with a silvered finish, and on the right is the flip-side of the same glass, with a brighter, healthier looking shine.

1” diameter, found objects

Last week the kids and I watched a Magic School Bus episode about recycling and reuse, and it showed the way the world would be if we didn’t recycle. Piles of garbage, playground equipment turned back into the bottles and cans that it had been made out of, and no more trees.  I found this earring in my salvage pile, beautifully made by another artist, but broken. Instead of throwing it out I’ve turned it into a pendant and given it a second life.

$45

2”x1”, found objects

Political decisions are so mired in the present that no one is taking a moment to balance short-term wins with long-term implications. Even though I’ve never been a big fan of science fiction, it’s future-focused, trying to imagine how everything will play out if we change a factor or set something in motion.  It seems to me that that’s what we’re missing right now at the highest levels, a little bit of imagination and forethought.  This pendant uses cast-off pieces of technology to create a form that looks like a transponder…or a spaceship…or whatever futuristic gadget you can imagine.

$45

1”x1”, found objects

It’s so satisfying to find the right place for something, to put it back where it belongs. When the things around me are organized I feel calmer, but that doesn’t mean that I want to have less things or to have less variety, just that each thing should have its ‘right’ place.  This pendant makes a series of perfect places, an array of interesting objects. Using jewelry findings as dividers, the objects in the pendant vary in texture, color and form, making a beautiful, and organized, collection.

1.5”x1.5”, glass

I’ve known some of my friends for many decades now, and as we’ve grown we’ve shaped each other. Through debate, conversation and shared experiences we’ve become more alike, even if just in tiny ways.  Friendships are like influences that you get to choose. Choose a person who you admire as a friend, and as you spend time together a little bit of that person gets absorbed.  This pendant represents two people merging and influencing one another. The complimentary (and opposite) colors of purple and yellow meet, blend together slightly, and become something richer and more interesting.

$45