February's Bead Challenge

Luna Park

Vestie Davis (1903-1978) New York :: Oil on Canvas, 16" x 20"
American Folk Art Museum, bequest Gloria Bley Miller 2008.5.16

"Born in Baltimore, Maryland on November 10, 1903, Davis went to New York City in 1928 and worked as a circus barker, newsstand manager and undertaker. Completely unschooled in the arts, he began painting after seeing a gallery painting on 57th Street. He said, "I can paint like that" and went to the paint store. Within a few days, he completed a work which sold. He is referred to as the city primitive. Discovered by a collector, he was featured at the Museum of American Folk Art. At first he painted only buildings but found that more popular were scenes with people. None of them are ever in a hurry. There is a sense of peace and joy and civility."

"Vestie Davis's New York is a bright and shiny place with impressive and diverse landmark buildings, bridges, parks, and beaches. It is a hub of civic, business, and recreational activity chronicled in the artist’s meticulously detailed pictures from the 1950s through the 1970s. Davis focuses on New York’s historic, civic, and mercantile interests in works such as Fraunces Tavern, Wall Street, City Hall, New York Public Library, and Brooklyn Bridge. Recreational sites are beautifully rendered in Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center and the fantasy architectural Luna Park at Coney Island. A preservationist, Davis predicted that some of his favorite sites would not survive the rapidly changing needs of the city. He faithfully rendered scenes of Steeplechase at Coney Island and the Ninth Avenue Elevated subway with this in mind."

I have already thought of what I want to do for this challenge. I am thinking of making copper circles and enamel the circles orange and white. And then I plan on making a large white and orange (maybe some red) focal bead and then smaller orange and white beads. I then want to use orange and white Czech beads as accents in the necklace. I can't wait to make the parts and then incorporate them into a necklace. You are going to have wait until I make it and take photos :)