I haven’t Blogged in weeks and weeks, I am of the school of not saying anything unless I have something to say, at least I would like to think of myself that way. So serious am I .\u00a0 Last night the Pats lost to the Colts in one of the best football games I have ever had the priviledge to watch. I love the Colts so it worked for me.<\/div>\n

I have been working on a collection since this past summer and decided to release\u00a0it as collection instead of individual pieces for greater impact. I wanted to have a body of work all in one place to show my progression in design and engineering. But, I have been told that my engineering is not what sells my jewelry which disappoints me greatly since I love that about my work.\u00a0 It seems that people are more interested in the story behind the work. I have never been good at telling that story, it is too close, too revealing. But , here it goes.<\/p>\n

My main influences came form a project my daughter did for her middle school social studies class. She had a section about the Aztecs and Meso-American world and I helped her to make a floating garden like the Aztecs did. I had done this for my son 4 years prior but this time it really got to me, the Aztec art really cut into me. As it turned out there was an Aztec art show my apprentice, Dick Barber, told me about at the Museum of Art at the U of A and he and I went on a field trip to see it.<\/p>\n

The Aztecs had a way of distilling design to capture it’s soul and edited to a minimum. No line is wasted, the opposite of Baroque. I have always loved clean bold work , in my fore fathers designs and Spratling ,so this was a historical confirmation of my aesthetic.<\/p>\n

Bracelets started this collection off then neck wear followed.<\/p>\n

\n\t $\"Toci$ <\/a>\n\t

Toci Bracelets by Sam Patania <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0These two bracelets were the first pieces I finished. I named them Toci after the Aztec goddess.<\/p>\n

\n\t $\"Toci$ <\/a>\n\t

Toci necklace by Sam Patania <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

To me they are strong pieces, evoking\u00a0 power. My work is seldom quiet and hard to notice, the woman who wears these will be strong in personality and unafraid, my jewelry is just an outward manifestation of her inner strength.<\/p>\n

I developed the chain link backed collar as a piece of jewelry which would require little fitting yet have the visual strength I love. My very first try at this was this Azteca collar.<\/p>\n

\n\t $\"Azteca$ <\/a>\n\t

Azteca chain back collar by Sam Patania <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This piece was an evolution of a bracelet design, it is light in weight and feminine yet strong. The round elements were planets to me, cosmology is fascinating to me. Maybe a moon necklace?\u00a0 Time, seasons as studied by the ancients is wonderful to me. The clear ancient sky is something I have always dreamed about, the study of the stars and planets a logical conclusion of all that sky to look at all your life.<\/p>\n

\n\t $\"Cosmos$ <\/a>\n\t

Cosmos set by Sam Patania <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This set is made of planets floating in a river which as described was so logical when the ancients had such a beautiful sky to look at. The Milky Way , our solar system, our home and our order in the Cosmos. The order of the planets\u00a0the\u00a0envy of our often chaotic lives.\u00a0 Jewelry able to capture that order and show the power of the wearer.<\/p>\n

\n\t $\"Black$ <\/a>\n\t

Black on Black set by Sam Patania <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This was the last group of pieces I finished, Black on Black. This set is a real departure for me in design. I have been working up to it all my career and could finally put it all together. Originally inspired by a Dalmatian dog, I wanted to make a Dalmation bracelet. I decided that keeping the back ground black is much more interesting so it ended up Black on Black. This came from the same inspiration as all the other pieces but, the visual ended up much different. I leave this up to your interpretation, it is so strong and different, I love it, I loved making it. I had a man deliver water to my studio who asked what kind of jewelry I made. I had no idea what to tell him.<\/p>\n

These pieces are all available at www.mschon.com<\/a>\u00a0, Marbeth Schon’s gallery. Please contact Marbeth Schon for pricing and availablility of any of these pieces.\u00a0 Thank you Marbeth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"