Brigid Goddess Pendant

Virginia Blakey, known as Vie by one and all, is the amazing jewelry designer of VisaVisJewelryLA. She is French but currently lives in Florida. What drew me to her work is her outstanding ancient history and myth inspired precious metal clay designs.

As you can see from her studio video below, her handmade creations begins with ancient inspirations including actual museum/archaeological finds. She works primarily with bronze metal clay because this metal gives her the old gold look she wants for her designs. Vie doesn't use an oven but torch fires her metal clay. I also love how her work looks like cloisonne.


  
Her work is so good, they resemble actual archaeological finds. She covers several historical eras including Celtic ones like the Brigid goddess (pre-Christian Ireland) pendant above, Byzantine, Egyptian, Viking, Medieval, MesoAmerica and so on.  Shown here are just a small sampling of her incredible collection. 

Byzantine inspired garnet earrings

The blue lotus plant was important to the Ancient Egyptians who used it for medicinal and even funerary purposes. It was the symbol of rebirth and the cycle of life and death to them. 

Ancient Egyptian Blue Lotus Earrings

In Norse mythology, the Jörmungandr is a sea serpent which encircles the world. When it loses its tail, the Vikings considered it a sign of the beginning of Ragnarök, the final battle of the world. 

Viking Jörmungandr (Sea Serpent) Earrings

The Welsh call their dragon emblem, " Y Draig Goch" which translates the Red Dragon. 

Welsh Dragon

The Etruscan civilisation thrived in parts of Italy from about 900 to 27 BC. They were known to be excellent goldsmiths. 

Museum Reproduction Etruscan Earrings

But her favorite and those of her fans appear to be the Greek/Roman designs inspired by the many Ancient Greek myths and epic poems of Homer. Pegasus is the winged horse from Greek mythology.  He was never the sidekick of Hercules - that was just a Disney invention. 

Pegasus Earrings

In Greek mythology, Artemis was the Goddess of the Hunt and of nature. 

Winged Artemis Pendant

Homer, the 8th century BC Greek poet, is considered one of the most influential Western authors in history. His work is still read to this day and continues to inspire jewelry makers like Vie, filmmakers, composers etc. 

Some place and first names from his two epic poems are still used thousands of years later like Ithaca, Alexander, Helen, Penelope, Paris, Phoenix, Cassandra, Hector, even Homer itself as in Homer Simpson, the cartoon series. The American Civil War general, Ulysses Grant's first name is the Roman form of Odysseus. Like his namesake, he did return from the war and in his case became the 18th US President.

Homer wrote two epic poems. The first, the Iliad, tells of the 10 year Trojan war which began when Paris of Troy abducted the beautiful Helen who was the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta.

The second epic is the Odyssey which tells of the 10 year journey of King Odysseus of Ithaca and his men to get home after the Trojan war. Odysseus was a key figure and hero in the Iliad - he conceived the idea and led the soldiers hidden in the Trojan horse. 

They faced many perils along the way including the harpy sirens (half woman, half bird) who try and lure them to their deaths. 

Odysseus and the Harpy Sirens


Harpy Sirens Earrings


Odysseus and Penelope Earrings

EPIC The Musical
Homer's works continues to inspire to this day. Epic the Musical is based on the Odyssey. This amazing musical is by the very talented and young playwright, composer, lyricist, actor and singer,  Jorge (Jay) Rivera-Herrans. He dropped out of pre-med to pursue his passion. 

The story of Odysseus' perilous journey is completely told in 40 songs, divided into 2 Acts and 9 sagas. The composition is 75% complete, 30 songs so far. He calls it a concept album because he hopes it will become a stage musical similar to a Cirque du Soleil style production or movie in the future. His incredible social media presence documenting the whole process of creating the musical, auditioning other actor/singers, has attracted legions of fans, including illustrators who create animatics to his songs, sometimes within days of a song's release.

You can get his music on various streaming versions such as Spotify and Apple Music.  You can also hear the full playlist (music only), in order,  for free from Jorge's Youtube channel : 

Shown here are some of my favorites songs. The composer sings the part of Odysseus.

Steven Rodriguez (studio snippet recording as Poseidon complete with a trident prop and Poseidon t-shirt!). Animatics by Neal Illustrator.

The reason why Odysseus's journey took so long is because he angered Poseidon (Neptune/Roman), the Greek god of the sea, storms, earthquakes...and horses. Odysseus had blinded his son, Polyphemus, one of the Cyclops, but did not kill him. The Ancient Greeks viewed death in battle as honorable whereas a maiming was humiliation and that in turn dishonors Poseidon. The magic bag Odysseus opens is wind - a gift from a god. 


Troy (perfect name!) Doherty (recording snippet ) as Hermes, the Greek messenger god who also protects travellers etc.  Animatics by Ximena Natzel.

Hermes helps Odysseus by giving him a plant to eat and protect him from the witch, Circe's spell (next two songs). There is no evidence the term "holy moly" came from this Greek tale. 



When Odysseus and his men land up on Circe's island, she turns his scouting party into pigs. She seduces him and eventually releases his men from her spell and helps them on their way. 

Talya Sindel as Circe. Animatics by Gwendy|NS2DStudio.


Talya Sindel as Circe (fun recording snippet with singer and Jorge as Odysseus) Animatics by gigi. 


Anna Lee Casey as Penelope/Siren. Animatics by Gigi.

Circe advises Odysseus to block his men's ears with beeswax so they could not hear the sirens and avoid being lured to their deaths. In the Odyssey, Odysseus asked his men to tie him to the mast so he could their songs. All them managed to sail away unharmed. The sirens then die because they had allowed a mortal to hear their songs and escape.  In Jorge's version, Odysseus hears a siren pretending to be his wife trying to lure him into the water.  Odysseus plays along, luring her onboard. He and his men, showing that they are learning to be ruthless, kill the sirens so they cannot doom other sailors in the future. 



Circe also helps Odysseus go to the Underworld to ask the dead blind, prophet Tiresias, about his fate and for his advice. Along the way, he hears the haunting voices of his dead crew including his young friend, Polites, and sadly discovered his mother had died while he was away. 

Animatics by BrittPowwPixel.


Mason Olshavsky as Tiresias. Animatics by Gwendy | NS2Studio

  • "A song of past romance" refers to that siren trying to kill him by pretending to be his wife, Penelope.
  • "I see the sacrifice of men" refers to his travels through the domain of Scylla, a man eating 6- headed monster, where he was forced to sacrifice 6 of his men in order to save the rest.
  • "I see portrayals of betrayal and a brother's final stand" refers to Eurylochus, his second in command and brother -in-law who led the mutiny against Odysseus. 
  • "I see you on the brink of death" - refers to when Zeus strikes down his ship and leaves him to drown. 


Thunder Bringer
Luke Holt as Zeus (recording snippet). Animatics by Duvetbox.
The Thunder Saga

Tiresias cautioned Odysseus not to touch the sacred cattle of Helios, the sun god. But his starving crew, led by Eurolychus, his second in command and brother-in-law, did kill some. This incurs the wrath of Zeus, the Greek sky and thunder god and ruler over all the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus condemns Odysseus for his pride, then destroys his ship. Only Odysseus survives. 

The song lyrics which includes "Pride is a damsel in distress" is perhaps a nod to Zeus who in Greek mythology, was a serial philanderer.


Odysseus does eventually reunite with  his wife, Penelope and their now grown son, Telemachus.  He and his son vanquish all the suitors who were hovering around his wife hoping to marry her in his absence and take over his throne.

Jorge's take on the Odyssey is about a man who starts out with lofty principles but is forced to become increasingly ruthless with every decision he had to make on his long journey home. 

Just a Man
Jorge as Odysseus. Animatics by WolfytheWitch

This is from the beginning, the Troy Saga, where Odysseus and his men have successfully defeated the Trojans. He is forced to kill Astyanax, the infant son of Prince Hector. Zeus told him that if he didn't, the boy would grow up to take his revenge on Odysseus and his family. It's a beautiful and powerful song of remorse. The animatics creator deftly shows Odysseus as a father when he takes off his helmet but reverting back to the soldier when he puts on his helmet again. While this is just a story, it still heartbreakingly shows the terrible cost of war on all caught in it.  

"When does a man become a monster?"


Monster
Jorge as Odysseus. Animatics by Gigi.

Odysseus laments in this song how he had to becomea monster in order to get home to his family. 



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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM