Finding the Ocean-A Jewelry Journal
The heart does not wait for permission. The heart is the permission.
The heart does not wait for permission. The heart is the permission.
June 20th, 2012, I began collecting a found object every day for a year, making a simple journal record, and creating 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. The ordinary, sometimes odd, treasures were mostly gathered in Key West, Florida, many on Zachary Taylor Beach. The jewelry was completed July 2013, shortly after I completed chemotherapy. (Photo: Richard Weatherwax 2013)
Housed in cigar boxes, the work waited as I experienced a third diagnosis, radiation therapy and a move. In 2017, I began attaching the small scraps of journal onto larger pages, adding text and images, and photographing each piece. The work followed me in fits and starts, as I pursued health and creative growth.
Packing, unpacking, locating myself and the work in my current environment, creating from reflection along with current experiences and resources, I explore relationship to time, place and healing.
The pages are also designed as Fluxus style "scores"; each can be viewed as an open set of actions and ideas to explore or a starting framework for performance. I assist individuals facing their own life challenges in developing healing expressive arts works inspired by my approach and experience. In 2021, I began releasing the jewelry, gifting three pieces to friends facing cancer.
Current Project Status:
-Gallery 10: No. 133-147 photographed August 2023, Portland Headlight, Maine. Journal pages complete & published
-Gallery 11: No. 148-163 photographed September 2024, Peek's Island, Maine. Journal pages complete
-Gallery 12 No. 164-179 photographed March 2025 Portland, Maine West End. Journal pages in progress
-Gallery 13 No 180-194 photographed April, 2025, Ocean View, Maine. Journal pages in progress
-Recently Exhibited: December 2024, No. 129 "The Queen of Nothing Has lost her Jewels" The Studios of Key West
-Recent Show: April-July 2025, Breakfast at CVS Edition, 500 Duval Street, Key West, Fl
-Upcoming: 2026/2027 Finding the Ocean Performance Project
Project, gallery segments and individual pieces available for, exhibition and purchase.
Jewelry pieces from 48-
8 x 8" photo and journal page reproductions 38-
original journal page images are mostly 8 x 8" galleries 1-3 include a variety of sizes.
Housed in cigar boxes, the work waited as I experienced a third diagnosis, radiation therapy and a move. In 2017, I began attaching the small scraps of journal onto larger pages, adding text and images, and photographing each piece. The work followed me in fits and starts, as I pursued health and creative growth.
Packing, unpacking, locating myself and the work in my current environment, creating from reflection along with current experiences and resources, I explore relationship to time, place and healing.
The pages are also designed as Fluxus style "scores"; each can be viewed as an open set of actions and ideas to explore or a starting framework for performance. I assist individuals facing their own life challenges in developing healing expressive arts works inspired by my approach and experience. In 2021, I began releasing the jewelry, gifting three pieces to friends facing cancer.
Current Project Status:
-Gallery 10: No. 133-147 photographed August 2023, Portland Headlight, Maine. Journal pages complete & published
-Gallery 11: No. 148-163 photographed September 2024, Peek's Island, Maine. Journal pages complete
-Gallery 12 No. 164-179 photographed March 2025 Portland, Maine West End. Journal pages in progress
-Gallery 13 No 180-194 photographed April, 2025, Ocean View, Maine. Journal pages in progress
-Recently Exhibited: December 2024, No. 129 "The Queen of Nothing Has lost her Jewels" The Studios of Key West
-Recent Show: April-July 2025, Breakfast at CVS Edition, 500 Duval Street, Key West, Fl
-Upcoming: 2026/2027 Finding the Ocean Performance Project
Project, gallery segments and individual pieces available for, exhibition and purchase.
Jewelry pieces from 48-
8 x 8" photo and journal page reproductions 38-
original journal page images are mostly 8 x 8" galleries 1-3 include a variety of sizes.
