Anne Irving "Would it Know of Fluttering in the Wind?"

Brooch

3"h 4"w 1/8"d

milkweed florets, gum arabic, mica powder, spring steel, sterling silver. 2023

The Latin word blatta refers to both a clot of blood and a moth (as it leaves a stain when caught). The creature’s namesake alludes to what transpires upon its capture. The milkweed drawing is released from its bounds to inhabit the body.

Artist: Anne Irving combines jewelry techniques and unconventional natural materials to study the cyclical systems of birth, transformation and death. She commonly uses imagery and the body of the moth, featuring the insect in states of metamorphosis, maturity and death.