Would Nancy Spungen have worn this?

Well, no.  But I'm rather pleased with it anyway.

Inspired by Veronica Schanoes' "Rats" (Interfictions, ed. Delia Sherman & Theodora Goss, Small Beer Press, Boston, 2007), "Lily, Surrounded by Rats" is made up of antique faceted gunmetal glass beads,  twinned black stick pearls, and a luminous tear-drop of jelly glass found in a junk shop.  "Rats" is a fairy tale inspired by a nightmare, a retelling of "Sleeping Beauty" which overlays the death and life of Nancy Spungen, late of punk-rock legend.  I read "Rats" for the first time in the spring of 2006, I think, knowing nothing about Nancy Spungen or Sid Vicious - all I knew was that it was a beautiful, mind-blowing, heart-breaking revision of a fairy tale that had never really appealed to me.  The innate passivity of "Sleeping Beauty" had ticked me off since I was a child (maybe I was too influenced by an early reading of Hamlet: the line that always rang in my subconscious following her curse was "were it not that I have bad dreams").  I could never figure out why she'd been so quick to trust, why she'd sought out the tender prick of the spindle in the first place.  But, give our heroin(e) a reason to seek the needle?  I'm there.  All I know is, "Rats" made me cry, which almost never happens.  So, when I heard about the auction, it seemed like a pretty natural choice for interpretation ....

More images can be found here: "Lily, Surrounded by Rats," coming soon to an IAF auction near you.

Would Nancy Spungen have worn this?

Well, no.  But I'm rather pleased with it anyway.

Inspired by Veronica Schanoes' "Rats" (Interfictions, ed. Delia Sherman & Theodora Goss, Small Beer Press, Boston, 2007), "Lily, Surrounded by Rats" is made up of antique faceted gunmetal glass beads,  twinned black stick pearls, and a luminous tear-drop of jelly glass found in a junk shop.  "Rats" is a fairy tale inspired by a nightmare, a retelling of "Sleeping Beauty" which overlays the death and life of Nancy Spungen, late of punk-rock legend.  I read "Rats" for the first time in the spring of 2006, I think, knowing nothing about Nancy Spungen or Sid Vicious - all I knew was that it was a beautiful, mind-blowing, heart-breaking revision of a fairy tale that had never really appealed to me.  The innate passivity of "Sleeping Beauty" had ticked me off since I was a child (maybe I was too influenced by an early reading of Hamlet: the line that always rang in my subconscious following her curse was "were it not that I have bad dreams").  I could never figure out why she'd been so quick to trust, why she'd sought out the tender prick of the spindle in the first place.  But, give our heroin(e) a reason to seek the needle?  I'm there.  All I know is, "Rats" made me cry, which almost never happens.  So, when I heard about the auction, it seemed like a pretty natural choice for interpretation ....

More images can be found here: "Lily, Surrounded by Rats," coming soon to an IAF auction near you.