“River Seeker” was hand-carved from California Jade and strung on black nylon cord with two hand-carved accent beads and two matching sliding beads for adjusting cord length.

Note from the Artist: This design was inspired by my grandfather, who has been my guide and mentor in hunting and carving jade. My grandfather is the beautiful product of a Mid-west kid who journeyed to California in the 60s…

For as long as I can remember, my grandfather wore around his neck a jade talisman that he carved himself, but there was something striking about the piece he wore when I moved to Santa Barbara and began working in his jade-carving studio with him.

It was an intricately carved toad, which had also been fashioned to be a functional smoking pipe. You could tell this toad was a dear and intimate friend of his.

In 2016, he and I travelled to China and New Zealand together in pursuit of documenting jade cultures around the world. We were guided to a sacred river in New Zealand by a Maori elder and my grandfather was determined to swim in the river. It was freezing cold and I was a little worried about this… He stripped down and waded into the water. Once chest-deep, he turned on his back and floated with his eyes closed. I watched him in silence.

When he opened his eyes, he took the jade toad from around his neck, kissed it, and threw it into the river… I couldn’t wrap my mind around what had happened. So many thoughts came at once… “He worked so hard on that piece! He’s so proud of it! What is happening?! Why would he do that? Should I swim after it?” And then I realized it was a sacrifice… an ego check… an exercise in detachment…

This jade is a California Jade that we playfully refer to as “Coffee”, because the stone looks like the aftermath of pouring cream into coffee. My grandfather and I have been finding this jade at our claim for years and love to carve it for its warm tones and dark dendrites. These characteristics make for fun highlights to design with when planning my carving approach.

Pendant approximately L 1 3/4” x W 3/4” x D 5/16”

Carved in 2020.