Mixed media on metal, 9" x 36" (open)
Jewel Drops is a concertina book made of hinged metal panels about the threshold between winter and spring: the moment when warm color first glints through the cool blue light of snow and ice, and both seasons exist at once. Layers of blue, mica and gold leaf catch the light differently as the day changes, so the piece never looks quite the same twice.
The text comes from a classical Japanese tanka by Princess Shikishi (12th century), set across the folds of the book:
Deep in the mountains,
at a pine gate that doesn’t know
spring has come —
falling now and then,
jewel drops of melting snow.
The poem’s “pine gate” echoes the gate-like lines running through the imagery, and the words scatter, float and pause across the pages the way melting snow does.
Jewel Drops will be shown in the Taos Book Arts Group’s 20th-anniversary juried exhibition at the Encore Gallery, Taos Center for the Arts, opening Thursday, December 3, 4:00–6:00 p.m.
For the longer story behind this piece, visit my newsletter, The Pink Teacup.