It occurred to me that I failed to share the write up for this series in this space so I’m going to do that now. Also, I’m about to disappear into the backcountry for a stint and while I am excited for this trip I’m taking, I just can hardly wait to get home again and sit myself down in the studio once more. More specifically, I can’t wait to make a few more pieces from this series.
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It’s difficult for me to not adore the jackrabbit. Last winter, the jackrabbit population in the desert of Idaho was unbelievable. The sagebrush seemed to be crawling with them. Their large feet cut packed highways in the deep snow that made it much easier for us to walk when we were out crossing big country on foot. I was grateful for their swell in population last year — rabbits come and go, you know. But last winter, it was a hare-a-palooza and how lucky for the owls, coyotes and birds of prey to have so much food on hand.
A brother-in-law of ours shot one for dinner while we were out quail hunting and I’ll never forget the stillness of its eyes in death or the plushness of its fur. I said to myself, “Never again. We can eat something else.”
We didn’t let that hare go to waste, he made a beautiful stew, but his memory lives in my heart. I’ve never shot a jackrabbit to eat and I promise I never will.
While hunting quail in New Mexico in February, I was hiking back to camp when I noticed a rabbit skeleton strewn about the sand dune I was crossing, I leaned my shotgun against a yucca, bent at the waist and collected a couple handfuls of vertebrae that I brought home to Idaho with me.
One of those vertebrae you see here, cast in solid sterling silver. The shape of it is beautiful, natural, and so splendidly symmetrical. I’ve flanked this sterling bone on one side with a bouquet of hand fabricated ferns — these beauties are incredibly dimensional and textural. They, themselves, almost look like castings. An old stock, deadstock turquoise cross links this sizable pendant to a study chain.
Stay peaceful.
Stay fast.
Keep an innocent light lit in the deep pools of your eyes and in your chest, hold an ever steady heart.