Quotes. I love them. They make you think and re-think your goals sometimes.
While researching Edward Everett Oakes, a jeweler from Sugar Hill, NH, born in 1891. I am reminded of what I love to do. To get lost in the creation of beauty. To let the metal take you where it wants to go, and to get caught up in the magic of it. To get bogged down in trends and what the masses want is a trap. "Build it, and they will come." If they don't, it was not for them. If they love what you do, it is because it was meant to be. The life that a piece of jewelry takes on in creative hands and open minds tells stories. Not bound by the latest fad. Nothing grinds creativity to a halt more than trying to please everybody.
This quote from Edward Oakes speaks volumes to me...
"The whole duty of a jeweler is to satisfy himself. A
true jeweler always plays to an audience of one. Let him start sniffing the air
or glancing at the trend machine and he is as good as dead, although he may make
a good living. Choose a suitable design and hold to
it.."
When admiring handcrafted, fabricated jewelry, try to imagine the thought process the jeweler was engaged in, what music or art was a source of inspiration? Or, not only jewelry, but art as a whole...What experiences did that artist bring forth to this item wrought by hand and heart... To create art in any form is food for the soul.
We all need to pay our bills, yes, however, when you lose sight of the reason why you make art, because of money; creativity and art grinds to a screeching halt. Let it not be about money. Let it be about beauty, from the heart, the rest will follow.
