I discovered this row of crab apple trees a couple of winters ago. I was fascinated by the contrast between the shiny, round red fruit and the dark, kinky branches. The sight of fruit hanging from otherwise bare branches seemed like the essence of winter. These images and impressions stayed with me, inspired me, and through a little trial and error, evolved into an interpretation of this natural occurrence as several neck pieces.
I finally had the opportunity to photograph this original "source material" the other day. The apples are quite bright and fiery right now as they haven't "weathered" very much yet, haven't been snowed upon or cooked under bright sunshine...but the character of this natural construction is exactly what inspired the first versions of my original pearl neck pieces, and that I continue to create AND re-interpret to this day.
I'm fascinated by the simple, but profound, question "where did that idea come from?" Sometimes, I can pinpoint it and other times, it's much more subtle and elusive. When I can't express it with words, I generally must remind myself that this "lack of words" is why I turned to creating things, instead of writing, quite a long time ago...
