Floating+City

Date: 1996
 * [[image:http://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=http://americanart.si.edu/images/1996/1996.37_1a.jpg&max=460 width="298" height="381" link="@http://www.americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=35196"]] || Title: **Floating City**

Artist: **Kent Raible** Born: Berkeley, California 1955

Medium: fabricated 18k gold, chrome, diamonds, sapphires, amethysts, chalcedony, tourmaline, hand woven gold chain Dimensions: 10 1/4 x 5 3/8 x 1 in. (26.1 x 13.7 x 2.5 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of the James Renwick Alliance

Accession: 1996.37 || Kent Raible considers his jewelry pieces to be "tiny sacred temples" with a gem as the focal point. Although the artist rarely makes such complicated pieces, the concept for //Floating City// developed over two years and is the result of the artist’s desire "to make a more elaborate city full of these sacred places." Here, Raible conceived a futuristic floating metropolis inspired by the movie //Close Encounters of the Third Kind//, by the Emerald City from //The Wizard of Oz//, and the legend of Atlantis. The randomly spaced diamonds in the middle section denote the rooms in the city where no one is home. The disks resembling flying saucers are the landing docks for the floating city.
 * About the Artwork (official text): **

Made mostly of gold and precious and semiprecious gemstones prized for their color and translucency, Kent Raible's work suggests a court tradition of jewelry that flourished when royal families patronized particular jewelry makers. //Floating City// is a fantasy. The miniature city resembles a spaceship in a science-fiction film. The extended blue chalcedon looks like it might begin to glow at any moment, a force for good. This floating city might slowly begin to move into space toward an unknown destiny.

My life’s path is that of the goldsmith, a path of over 30 years now. To say I love my job would be an understatement. When my creative juices are really flowing, work is closer to a meditation than anything else. The making is an end in itself. Like a musician lost in the playing of the music, I can sit still for hours, blissfully focused, arranging tiny granules of gold into beautiful patterns. I try to find harmony in even the minutest step of the process, whether it’s the positioning of a single granule, or shaving off a tenth of a millimeter of gold to get a perfect line. This is the foundation and integrity of my art.
 * Artist's Statement: **

Given my almost religious fervor for goldsmithing, it’s not too surprising that I’m most drawn to the regal and spiritual themes and the awesome craftsmanship of goldsmiths past. While paying homage to their artistry, I like to “tweak” history a bit, adding my unique contemporary synthesis to the old archetypes. My more ambitious works like //Floating City// and //Pregnant Chalice// are perfect examples of this approach, which influences my work down to the smallest earring.

One of the most difficult aspects of devoting a lifetime to this art/craft has been making a living without compromising the integrity of work that, by its nature, is very time-consuming. This has required enormous dedication and patience, and a willingness to grow and change on my part. The biggest break in my career came the day I met Lynn, now my wife and partner who, with her great personality, business experience and natural feel for marketing, has been a perfect compliment to my artistic sensibilities. Together we are creating a successful business of integrity and beauty that supports our family.

I am blessed to be able to work with the rarest and most beautiful of our earth’s treasures, and create art in the intimate form of jewelry. Whether I am executing a commission, designing a piece for the Studio Collection, or making a piece to satisfy my own creative urges, I know someone out there is waiting to join me in the artistic journey of that piece. I am grateful to those that have purchased and supported my work over the years, not only for supporting my family, but also for helping me continue the 7000 year-old tradition of the goldsmith.

Artist Biography SAAM Collections Page
 * Links: **