finding the ocean

Finding the Ocean-A Jewelry Journal
The heart does not wait for permission. The heart is the permission.

June 20th, 2012, I set out to collect a found object every day for a year, make a journal record of its origin and create a piece of jewelry from it. Two months in and a second diagnosis of breast cancer, the project became a resource for continuing with uncertainty and the jewelry was completed June 2013. In 2017, following a third diagnosis, and relocation, I began attaching the small journal scraps onto larger pages, expanding the text, adding images, and photographing the jewelry. The work has been stored and traveled packed in cigar boxes, as I have moved from east to west and north to south, perusing healthcare and creativity. Slowly unboxing the long unseen work, locating each piece in my present environment, creating the journal page to include new resources and reflect current experiences, I explore relationship to time, place and healing. Each page is designed as a Fluxus style "score"; so each page can also be performed. In 2021, I began releasing the work by gifting 3 pieces to friends facing cancer.
I continue gifting pieces to people living with health challenges and/or in healthcare professions, especially those also facing financial difficulty. Reach out if you or someone you know would appreciate a piece and/or to contribute to sponsoring a piece for another.

Current Project Status:
-Jewelry: complete
-Gallery 9: No. 119-132 complete. publishing soon
-Gallery 10: No. 133-147 photographed August 2023, Portland Headlight, Maine, pages in progress.
-Gallery 11: No. 148-163 photographed September 2024, Peek's Island, Maine
-Recently exhibited: No. 129 "The Queen of Nothing Has lost her Jewels" @ The Studios of Key West, KW, Fl
-Upcoming show: April-July 2025, Kress Building Windows Gallery, 500 Duval Street, Key West, Fl
-Finding the Ocean Performance Project 2025
individuals interested in performance and development: conatct

jewelry, photos & journal page reproductions available for purchase and exhibition. jewelry from 50$, photos and journal page reproductions from 20$ original image sizes mostly 8x8".

Gallery 1: Begin June 20 to July 4, 2012. No. 1 to 15

Gallery 2: Passage july 5 to 18, 2012. No. 16 to 29

gallery 3: Headlands July 19 to August 3, 2012. No. 30 to 45

gallery 4: Yard August 4 to 17, 2012. No. 46 to 59

gallery 5: Neighborhood August 18 to 31, 2012. No. 47 to 60

Gallery 6: Journey September 1 to 15, 2012. no. 73 to 88

Gallery 7: returning September 16 to 30, 2012. No. 89 to 103

Gallery 8: Circling October 1 to 15, 2012. no. 104 to 118.