Masterpiece

1978: THE FIRST SPECIAL SESSION ON DISARMAMENT - NEW YORK
Bronze statue entitled, "Let Us Beat Swords Into Ploughshares" by Evgeny Vuchetich, presented to the UN by the Soviet Union in 1959. The statue symbolizes man's desire to put an end to war and convert the means of destruction into creative tools for the benefit of all mankind. UN Photo #153721 by J. Isaac.

taken directly from the UN website. It shows he statue that was the inspiration for the United Nations 25th anniversary coin that was my inspiration for a new necklace.

The necklace took me a very long time to make. The coin I used was very large and thick, very hard to saw apart. I spent hours filing around the figure of the man in mid swing. I am still unsure as to what to call it. I am writing an artists statement about what the different elements mean to me. The bricks are a reference to Solzhenitsyn's novel A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Ivan as a prisoner in a gulag can only control one part of his life. He takes great pride in his work as he lays bricks. This is significant because at the time the Soviet Union was beginning to let up on authors a bit to let them express themselves. Censorship was still a problem when this coin was minted, the coin suggests peace and hope, freedom however was not readliy available for those whose ideas did not parallel the governments. Solzhenitsyn also laid bricks during his time in the gulag and paid the price for his writings. He also won the Nobel prize in literature in 1970 and was able to recieve it when the Soviet Union deproted him in 1974.

more on my statement later....

I will post my paper and the title when I figure it all out. I was just too excited after finishing it not to share.