LOST ART
As photographic methods became more popular and
accessible, miniature painting became a lost art.
As the former Metropolitan Museum scholar Harry Wehle put it in 1927, “The miniature in the presence of the photograph was like a bird before a snake; it was fascinated—even to the fatal point of imitation—then it was swallowed.”
2ETN is back in the studio after a bit of a hiatus. During our time away, we played with some new photographic and video technology: Instagram, Photobooth on the IPAD, the GoPro camera, and the Bloggie. And yes, we were fascinated, intrigued and were hoping to incorporate some of the imagery from our experimentation in to our miniature painting for our jewelry. Especially, the kaleidoscope feature on Photobooth…the rich, complex, dreamy photos, with deep textures: layer upon layer of patterned beauty.
However, even with all of the beauty that came from the mediums and techniques that we played with, we have decided to stick to our original way of creating our work: slow and deliberate, creating miniature original pieces of artwork encased in reclaimed metals and stones.
Happier in creating in a “lost art”..maybe not as popular and definitely not as accessible, but we hope the work is personal and meaningful. We are even going a bit deeper in to creating “Mourning Jewelry“, our version, not only honoring human loved ones that have past, but honoring and remembering ideas and cultures and environments that are threatened or extinct. Beginning with the California Tern.
California Tern