The chatelain, godmother of the keychain, was a hook and chain assembly hung from a belt that would incorporate little useful things – toothpick, magnifying glass, key, ear spoon, etc. It invokes images of bodices and elaborate hair, powdered wigs and candlelight.
The animal heads suspended from it, a doe, alligator and seagull, are miniaturizations of woodcarvings found on Key Marco, Florida. The minimal formal voice in the carvings has always fascinated me, somehow with added charge being from one of the farthest corners of the continent. The Native Americans that made them are vanished to memory. I sought to fuse two cultures that met in a single timeframe and place, colonial America, as a way to explore feelings of reconciliation by wearing an object. It also asks about the ways in which fashion, like other kinds of communication, manage to reach every crevice of a place. A bullet, of green chrysoprase, finishes the piece.
The piece has a good weight to it, about 1 1/2 ounces sterling silver, with sturdy rings and a rustic finish. It can easily be worn as a pendant by removing the belt chain. The pendant length is 3 1/4″, the overall length 7 3/4″.
