This body of work, created during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, is a meditative therapy interwoven with hope. As fear for my family and loved ones, the majority of whom are across an Ocean, grips me, at moments overwhelming me… I try to keep moving. Fortunate to live on a farm and able to go for walks, I begin to gather olive branches from the recent pruning. The branches are malleable and I begin to look at them as lines… how can I converse with them? The olive tree is a major part of life here, in Tuscany and generally considered the symbol of peace, unity and healing.  In this moment what more could we hope for.

Taking the branches and wrapping them around themselves, to me, represents a holding of ones self, a hug or interlocked hands. The beads created for the necklaces, reference counting and the passing of time. Transferring the branches into jewelry was a natural second step for me, and with it the knowledge that these may be worn to serve as a reminder of: peace, unity and healing.