About this crown, merry renk said, "In the twenty-five years,
1947-1972, I designed my jewelry following the ideas of modern
constructivism and non-objective concepts.
I realized in 1972, that I needed to express other ideas
concerning ecology, memories and family, using symbolic realism.
I was concerned about how we were poisoning our air and birds became
a symbol.
I have always been fascinated with jewelry worn on the head
and have made many hair combs. I have walked the San Francisco
zoo those years with my growing children where we often shared space
with a male peacock with his tail fanned wide and dragging the
ground as he stalked about for his peahen.
In 1978, I designed a comb called "Ebony Peacock" in silver,
ebony and pearls. In 1979, I made a gold comb that I
called "James Love Peacock." There was not much interest in this
comb as the fashion of wearing combs at the opera, etc., was now
passé. When I made plans for a wedding crown exhibit at the
Artisans Gallery in san Francisco, I moved the bird from the comb
onto a circle of gold peacock feathers and I moved the name along
with bird.
How did I name my crown, "James Love Peacock?"
My desire was to honor my friend, the poet Carolyn Kizer, for
her poem called "James Love Peacock." When I was asked to send
a copy of the poem to be exhibited along with the crown, I was
stunned to discover that I had a very creative memory. I found
that her poem was called "What Was in a Name" followed by "Thomas
Love Peacock!" "Thomas Love Peacock!" There was no James Love
Peacock anywhere in her poem.
Nevertheless, I think it is still fair to say that a poem by
Pulitzer Prize Winner Carolyn Kizer inspired the name for my wedding
crown, "James Love Peacock."
Watch a video of merry renk's crowns on
YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCzkCy_YaDQ
