Thursday, July 30, 2009

Finding my Feet

When around my horses I often say "find your feet." When Cholula first came to me she was a gigantic yearling that didn't really understand how to balance on 3 feet. In order to teach her proper etiquette (as in, the human cannot hold you up as they are picking the dirt and rocks out of your foot) I began telling her to find her feet before I reached down to hold one of hers off of the ground.

A handful of years later, both of my horses still get reminders. When out trail riding, Cho gets ahead of herself and trips. She awkwardly swings her huge body back and forth in attempts to navigate down hills (coordination is hard when you weigh 1500 pounds, ok?). In his excitement, Zeus forgets that the ground changes and the next step may be on gravel, not soft grass.

So I tell them, "find your feet," and I imagine they take a piece of a second to pause, gather themselves, and continue on, better than before.

I am slowly, steadily finding my feet.

Because you see, if I told you jewelry was my passion and my first love I'd be lying. I'm passionate about jewelry, but it does not drive me like other forms of art. Even so, I'm happy to be in a place where I can explore this further. I've never had that kind of time because photography, video, sculpture, installation...they all took precedence.

My craftsmanship improves all of the time.

Every batch of pieces I'm more excited about. I feel like every single piece I make is an improvement. I'm only in my 7th month of doing this after nearly 3 years of not (perhaps that is what I should title the limbo after college...The 3 Years of Not).

I'm finding my little spot in the world of metal and stone. I'm feeling my way through it all, seeing what sticks and what fades.


Find your feet.

Cholula, Spring 2004 (2 years old)

5 comments:

Fashionably Adorned said...

ahhh cholula is very pretty.. what kind of horse?
Yes, I know what your talking about I too feel the same way..I look back at some of my first pieces and I know I'm improving.. yea us!!!

Chris O'Byrne said...

Wonderful post, very well written!

I expect to see you when I'm back in Minnesota the end of the month. :)

SCJ Jewelry Design said...

A beautiful posting today. Thank you for writing it.

jessi sawyer said...

Thank you everyone!

Sherice - Cho is half Friesian/half Mustang.
My brother recently dug up one of the first pieces I ever made. It was GOD awful. I tried to solder a rather large bezel (JUST the bezel, it had no back) onto a very large ring. Then I set the stone with epoxy (how I was first taught -eck!)...the thing is AWFUL!

Chris - of course! Well, so long as you're still here when I'm back from the Bahamas...

Sara Mathewson said...

Hey Jessi!

This is a great post. I can totally relate as I feel like I am "finding my feet" with my pastel paintings. I have "some "aha" moments and that is awesome. Now to just remember what they were! LOL! You are growing as a metal artist! i love your work and know that there are many out there that also love it. Now to get the marketing aspect of things looked at:) always the difficult part when you are an artist and just want to create!

I Love You! And I am so proud of you!!!
Love, Mom