Someone left this message on my phone, and when I listened to it, I fell through a doorway of twenty-one years. The person wanted to know if someone was still around and was fearing that c'etait trop tard. No, he was not still around. See, if the person being asked about had still been around, I know that folk would have heard about his work being sported by the First Lady of this country. Because Jamal Mims, master goldsmith and owner of Sun Gallery Goldsmiths, had it like that. But Jamal had died in August of 2000. He came up to see me at the market early that same summer. He knew that I was heading out again, and that his days were short. I was going to participate in an international metalsmithing conference in Birmingham, England, and Jamal was in his last days with his battle with cancer.
In the early 90's (you know..."back in the day"), I was Jamal's apprentice. Sun Gallery Goldsmiths at that time was on 18th street NW at the corner of Belmont road. I cleaned the shop, finished the castings, and became the stone setter for his signature jewelry collection in African amber and sterling silver. I have no images now of the work that he and I did then. When he passed, I tried to get some...but to no avail. I tried to talk, too: about history, legacy, time--and the fact that in the future folk would want to know. But my suggestions fell on deaf ears. This is one reason among many I did not let this forgetting, erasing and or disappearing of legacy happen when John Harrod (founder of Market 5 Gallery and The Arts and Crafts and Flea Market at Eastern Market) passed. History! Knowing it,writing it and sharing it is power.
When Jamal died, I did buy from his estate a small bag of his copal African amber beads.
With these I will celebrate- Turtle's Webb: Twenty One Years of Creating.
I returned the phone call. Shared the sad news that he had gone on, crossed over... But for me, I am in progress: twenty-one years in the making. Jamal was a mentor. He told me that I needed to put creativity in everything I did--not just in making jewelry. He told me I needed friends with more resources. He was a philosopher. He was metaphysical. He would talk about the energy that he or I would put into a piece when making it. He insisted that it was that--energy--that the folk who bought a piece were longing for or needed. Sometimes when he would go into philosophising I thought he was full of stuff, but I listened and learned.
As I have traveled, looked, learned more, researched, and taught, I am so very grateful to Jamal, his teachings and the ecosystem of energy that was Sun Gallery Goldsmiths.
I love what I do!
Witnessing,
Sonda
In the early 90's (you know..."back in the day"), I was Jamal's apprentice. Sun Gallery Goldsmiths at that time was on 18th street NW at the corner of Belmont road. I cleaned the shop, finished the castings, and became the stone setter for his signature jewelry collection in African amber and sterling silver. I have no images now of the work that he and I did then. When he passed, I tried to get some...but to no avail. I tried to talk, too: about history, legacy, time--and the fact that in the future folk would want to know. But my suggestions fell on deaf ears. This is one reason among many I did not let this forgetting, erasing and or disappearing of legacy happen when John Harrod (founder of Market 5 Gallery and The Arts and Crafts and Flea Market at Eastern Market) passed. History! Knowing it,writing it and sharing it is power.
When Jamal died, I did buy from his estate a small bag of his copal African amber beads.
With these I will celebrate- Turtle's Webb: Twenty One Years of Creating.
I returned the phone call. Shared the sad news that he had gone on, crossed over... But for me, I am in progress: twenty-one years in the making. Jamal was a mentor. He told me that I needed to put creativity in everything I did--not just in making jewelry. He told me I needed friends with more resources. He was a philosopher. He was metaphysical. He would talk about the energy that he or I would put into a piece when making it. He insisted that it was that--energy--that the folk who bought a piece were longing for or needed. Sometimes when he would go into philosophising I thought he was full of stuff, but I listened and learned.
As I have traveled, looked, learned more, researched, and taught, I am so very grateful to Jamal, his teachings and the ecosystem of energy that was Sun Gallery Goldsmiths.
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| Copal amber, sterling silver, 14kt gold rivet, irradiated pearl Turtle's Webb: Twenty-One Years of Creating |
Witnessing,
Sonda
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