“Heart Armor: Frida and Diego”   Diego “Heart Armor: Frida and Diego” was designed as a tribute to the artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera whose legendary personal and political confrontations left them vulnerable and unguarded.   Frida

One day in 2002 I found an empty milkweed pod by the side of the road. The protective dry husks had once shielded the promise of survival.  I used to have seeds. I had been struggling with traumatic emotional issues in my life for several years but had not found a way to give them an intimate voice.  During a sabbatical in Taos, using only my travel tool kit, I sculpted the first pod-like forms.  The inverted and joined sterling pods symbolized the two protective chambers of a heart.  I needed to protect mine. During this process I gave in to my desire to build an architectural scale Heart Armor using a self-dug “earth anvil. For the first time in the memory of the people, the river through Taos Pueblo had run dry.  The elders led a drumming circle for several days until the rain came.  I had been forming copper and steel, finding rhythm with metal and earth. Suddenly a slice of forged metallic energy shot down the middle like the river through Taos Pueblo.  Six youthful sculptures emerged with the revitalizing rain.  Along with the first edition of the smaller sterling jewelry they became the core of my one woman show at Art Divas Gallery in Taos, New Mexico.  When the Heart Armor idea surfaced, it was like coming home to myself. 

Heart Armor Cousins

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