03/16/2026
This piece has been selected for the Kaleidoscope benefit auction! Scroll to see close up photos of butterfly wings, opals from Australia, Black Tahitian pearls from Tahiti, and Stegodon bone.
Stegodon lived from 11 million years ago to as recently as 6,000 years ago. The Stegodon was very similar to modern day elephants. Although they were very similar their tusks could grow up to 10 feet long, almost as long as their entire body length. Often times their tusks grew so close together that there was not enough space for their trunks to lie between them. So, older Stegodon had to to carry their trunks sideways draped over their tusks.
There were many species of Stegodon. Some grew as large as 13 feet tall and 12.5 tons. Others, were quite small. Due to Stegodon being exceptional swimmers, much like modern elephants, they’d colonize many islands throughout Asia and would undergo insular dwarfism, in which large animals shrink in islands due to less space and limited food. Stegodon sondaari from Flores Island, Indonesia weighed closer to 650 pounds. They coexisted with another recently discovered dwarf, a relative of humans: Homo floresiensis, also known as “Hobbits”! Yes, like LOTR Hobbits. These ancestors of ours were only about 3.5 ft tall!
Full title and materials:
The Mystifying Lucidity of Joy
butterfly wing set in sterling silver and glass from a butterfly sanctuary in Peru,
Stegodon bone from China (11 MYO- 12,000 YO)
amazonite, aquamarine, aquamarine from Brazil, azurite, celestite from Madagascar, blue chalcedony, crystal, cubic zirconia, dyed howlite, glass, antique glass from the 1800’s made in Russia, recycled glass from Ghana, lampwork glass, Herkimer Diamond from Herkimer, NY, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, opal from Australia, black opal from Ethiopia, opal from Ethiopia, blue opal from Ethiopia, opalite, black Tahitian pearl from Tahiti, freshwater pearl from China, freshwater keshi pearl from China, quartz from Brazil, resin, sapphire from India, shattuckite, stilbite from India, tanzanite, blue topaz, turquoise, turquoise from Africa, turquoise from the Sleeping Beauty Mine in Globe, Arizona
