Amulet #47

image: 3” diameter, watch: 3 ¾” x 3 ¼” x ¼”

2017

metal pocket watch, painted brass embellishment, gold and aluminum leaf, holographic paper, iridescent paper, Swarovski crystals, hand braiding

The third and final in a subgroup of three, “Amulet #47” has also been referred to as “Memorial Bee.”  Each of the three “Bees” were quite different, and this work utilized a brass watch with a top that opened.  Completed on Memorial Day, I wrote a poem reflecting on the potential extinction of the honeybee from attacks by yellow jacket wasps.  “The air is breached by wasps / In a conflagration of earth and flames. / Drones will slay the honey queen, / Rendering her powerless / In their deadly games. // Ancient Zeus once turned her to gold, / Yet yellow-and-black bandits revolve, / Funneling upward to destroy her. / Guarding the queen demands vigilance, / For death preys on our resolve.”