Galen Boone
She/Her
Yucca Valley, California
“I am a former archaeologist turned art jeweler living in the Mojave desert near Joshua Tree. I was named a Windgate-Lamar Fellow for my first jewelry series, THIRDSEX, and since then I have been making precious metal armor and talismanic jewels for daily wear. ”
“My first art jewelry and portrait series, THIRDSEX, was about re-deifying androgynous queerness in a primordial jungle of Eden; it is a loving, lush, taboo corrective to the Christian origin myth. This next series, AMØR FATI, offers mythic archetypes that queer the Medieval period, restoring what was violently pushed underground – the sacredness of the Earth, of eros, of the feminine, of people who are in-between. ”
@galenboone
How does your work relate to the theme of restoration?
“I am an androgyne jeweler honoring this symbol beyond biology & sex. This is a devotional neck piece that re-deifies the Feminine, Eros, and our Bodies-- deeply sacred things that patriarchal religions have fought to subjugate.
When I found out that Joan of Arc was burned to death when she insisted Gød had given her the right to wear men's clothing, that struck me as so trans. Since then, I have been finding more stories of queer mysticism, gender rebels & feminine forms of power in the medieval period in Western Europe.
And I don't mean this as metaphor. Making these jewels is one way I can honor the Divinities of my understanding, and revel in the aspects of myself that the over-culture has denigrated.”
"AmørFati" Galen Boone
How does your creative practice allow you to restore (renew, return, reclaim, recover)?
“Silver wire pulling, link making, chainmail weaving;
a Roman-inspired S clasp;
chased, repousséd and soldered Clouds,
with a carved bone Icon set in brass:
This collar is devotional craft, made with techniques and materials threaded with history. I carved the cabochon out of a cow's femur, and the whole intimate process of making this SLÎT Collar has kept me aware of being in my body. I've also been crushing on clouds, and have been taking photos of cloud-streaked desert sunsets like they're rockstars. Restoring wonder. ”
As a queer+, artist, what do you see can be, needs to be, or cannot be restored?
“What I wish for most is the restoration of a widespread, spiritual ecology of kinship based on the Golden Rule, applying not just to our relationships with other people but to animals and the Land and the elements. ”
Photographs Courtesy of the Artist
Anything else you would like to share about this work? This can be an important part of the process, sourcing materials, or research.
“The cow bone is ethically sourced,I bought the cow femur from a woman in Kansas selling her finds from the prairie behind her house. I broke the big bone down on the bandsaw, cut the segments into yonic shapes, domed those on a wet belt sander and refined the cabochons at my bench.”