Etched

I committed to making a piece for Santa Cruz Art Council's fundraiser, Hearts for the Arts, in January. 

The piece had to be heart/love themed. I like to take these opportunities to create a piece of art that I've thought about for a long time, but just have not been motivated enough to do on my own. This is the piece I created. The title is:
you must be satisfied with just one glance
(dung seul regart vous doibt suffire)

The inspiration comes from the book Medieval Jewellery by Marian Campbell

I have a strong attraction to medieval jewelry, I like the regal and solid heavy feel, the marks of handcrafted work. Romance and courtly love inspired the decoration of medieval love jewelry. The word romance comes from the French 'roman' meaning a tale, and provided stories about lovers or heroes. A major theme was gift-giving, where men and women exchanged love tokens. Affection was commonly expressed with inscriptions, usually in Latin or French, particularly on rings and brooches. 

Thought processes and sketches for the piece

This piece includes a medieval ring brooch patterned after the ring-brooches which commonly fastened tunics. It is stamped with the French words ‘dung seul regart vous doibt suffire’ and enameled by torch-firing. It is attached to a sheet of copper with the ee cummings poem ‘[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]’ etched into it with an aged patina. The brooch can be detached from the piece and worn on a loosely woven garment. 

[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]

BY E. E. CUMMINGS

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
                                                      i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)