“… I turned back to the objects themselves in an attempt to discover what features an object must have in order for imaginary representations of life, wealth, and power to become projected onto and invested in it. The strength of objects lies in their capacity to materialize the invisible, to represent the unrepresentable. And it is the sacred object which most completely fulfills this function.”
Excerpt from the Enigma of the Gift by Maurice Godelier, Nora Scott
Imagining and then creating a form of art, whatever it may be, is in its own right a form of materializing the invisible.
“The amount and currency should be expressed as a Money value object. As opposed to and Entity, a value object does not have a conceptual identity – it just describes a characteristic of another object.
If we apply the notion of Entities and value objects the Transaction domain, a Transaction is an Entity which must be uniquely identified. The identifier should be a business identifier, but it can also be a surrogate value if the Entity has no natural business identifier.”
Excerpt from Anders Noras’ Blog: Money Pattern: An introduction to value objects
In my search to find examples of different cultures currency, I’ve found more than images and objects but an underlying set of “guidelines” that almost every cultures currency falls into. For example: when examining the Native American Indian’s wampum belts, I found that they are merely just pieces of a story. Traditionally the wampum belt was an aid in oral tradition, signified many things such as relationships between tribes as well as marriages or treaties formed with other nations. The colors of the beads (or shells, wood, animal bones, teeth, stones etc.) had different meanings such as contentment, harmony, or unsettled business. Oral tradition and gift exchange are extremely valued in the Native American culture as well as nature and giving back to what you take. With this set of values it’s no surprise that the Native American Indians used a craft to communicate and used wampum in gift exchange as a form of currency.
In addition, throughout history many readily available minerals, rocks, stones and precious stones have been used as currency. Salt for example was used as currency by the Chinese and traded with Europeans in the Mediterranean area that used salt cakes as currency for everyday transactions.
Overall the object of a society’s currency is based on the values and supplies at hand within that society that can be used and produced on a large scale and kept with an artificial meaning of importance that everyone will understand based on the societies communication abilities.
With that said, and the medium at hand being glass (and perhaps metal) in my fictional world, it only seems appropriate that the culture be from somewhere with a temperate climate, experiencing both the harshness of cold and the warmth of heat. I’m thinking, fire and ice.
Oxidized copper woven looped plates
Default wallpaper
I’ve always had a thing for “wings” they show up frequently in my work as well as the pieces of art and graphics that I enjoy. Sometimes showing up literally and sometimes showing up as a twisted tear drop shape, I enjoy pointed, triangularly extending shapes with curvature.
Other things interesting: Dragons and bats; Gothic architecture and German Expressionism; Immaculate cleanliness.
Cardboard sculpture I made
Henna designs are interesting because of their organic, ornate qualities… reminds me of royalty.
Sunsets are also a common theme I’ve observed myself intrigued with, not only the color but the abstract representation of the sun or use of common sun representations in patterns.
The Society that I will create a glass bead currency for is a culture that places emphasis on extremes. I want to convey specific extremes throughout the currency of my culture. I plan to use highly contrasting colors as value increases, as well as difference in shape of bead. If time permits I would also like to incorporate other materials into the overall composition of my currency in the end.
Nice job on your research- Well written. I like the contrast between a gift and a means of trade. I can see that these images have influenced your glass work. Keep collecting images and I think you might like the frits we are using next week. You may be able to find that bronze color.
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