Onion Blossom Table
Craig Nutt

Furniture artist Craig Nutt and I attended college together at the University of Alabama oh so many years ago. (He was a hippie, and I wasn’t.) We’ve been close friends for most of my adult life. I have had the pleasure of watching Craig’s career develop and thrive. Today he is recognized as one of the stars in the field of studio furniture.

So it was a big deal when my husband and I decided to purchase Craig’s “Onion Blossom Table.” This piece adds beauty and personality to our home, but more importantly, reminds us daily of a long-standing friendship that has enriched our lives.

My personal feelings about this table reflect a national movement to know more about the sources of the things we buy and live with. (Nowhere is this more evident than the local farmer’s market, where we meet and greet the farmers who grow our food.) There is great satisfaction in owning something made by hand by an artist one knows. The artist’s fingerprints are all over the piece, which adds meaning and connection beyond the intended function.

The Syntax of Objects
by Tim McCreight

My friend Tim McCreight has written a beautiful little book titled The Syntax of Objects. With his permission, I include an excerpt for you:

“I believe we love certain objects. Of course there is enthusiasm: ‘I love your new shoes!’ but I’m thinking of genuine love, something lasting that comes from deep inside us. I’m thinking of the jam jar glasses you remember from your grandma’s cupboards, or the Betsy Wetsy doll or the Christmas music box.

Let us take it as fact: we love certain artifacts.

And if this is so, do they love us back? Can we say that the chipped mug that has sat every day on the back of the sink, or the porkpie hat with the coffee-colored sweatstain around its rim do not feel for us too? Who is to know if there is not some reflected passion, or if not passion, maybe a reverberating energy, like when the ripples started by a stone tossed in a still pond reach the edge, surround the rocks there, and recoil back toward the center?

Is there an echo of connection between the intimate, memory-scarred object and the need of a living being? I think there is. We hold the family heirloom – the prayerbook or paper fan or stack of letters tied with a pale blue ribbon – and we know they have been waiting for us. Maybe they do not need us, perhaps that’s too strong, but they are glad we’ve come. We somehow complete the circuit and allow the energy to flow. In the world of Apocalypse, there are no objects. Like withered plants in an untended garden, they will resolve to dust when we no longer come to visit them, even the gold and the jade carvings that have lasted so long: they’ll rust and corrode.

Love is built that way, a force that perpetually sails out and rebounds. It picks up speed as it goes, gaining strength and amplitude as it recoils from source to object to source, eventually hitting a pace that blurs distinction. This is true in the universe, and so it is true of our possessions. They own us as much as we own them, and learn from us the courtesies of the bond. We must be kind to the material outcroppings of our lives, not because of insurance values, or sentiment, or good citizenship. We must treat the special objects of our lives with decency and tenderness, because that is what we want back from them. In the dark and lonely night, we need to know they care for us.”

Heart Pendant
Ayesha Mayadas

It’s been said that purchasing a significant piece of jewelry is somewhat like entering a long-term relationship. The most intimate of all art objects, jewelry simultaneously adorns the body and makes a statement about personal style and aesthetic. A tall order for such small things.

The jewelry of Ayesha Mayadas fills that order, and beautifully. I like to think of her work as small sculptures for the body. She works primarily in gold, chasing and hammering the precious metal into truly original designs.

Mayadas has successfully shown her jewelry pieces over the past few years at the major jewelry galleries and art fairs in our field. Here at The Guild, we are oh so proud to present her work as part of our first Jewelry Trunk Show, which is running online through April 16. Be sure to check it out, and pay special attention to the body of work from this talented artist.