The Lotus eater who works as a jewelry artist
By Marianne Pereira
JAKARTA (JP): As Somerset Maugham wrote in his Lotus Eater, most of us are like tram-cars traveling for ever on the selfsame rails. We go backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards until we can move no more. Then we resign ourselves to the fate of scrap-metal and lead the monotonous lives that circumstance has thrust upon us. Most of us never dare to do something different.
That is why I was curious to meet Penny Berton. As what she had done exactly 18 years ago was to fall hopelessly in love with Bali and stay put. She seems to spend more time in that mystical island than she does in her native Canada. What was supposed to be a year-long trip around the world ended up as a serious commitment to Bali and its subtly seductive charms. To help finance these indiscretions, Berton works as a jewelry artist.
She could have chosen to follow in her famous father's footsteps and become a writer or broadcaster; or return to her well-paying job with CBC/TV as a storyteller and on-camera interviewer. But she lingered in Bali a while, married her "around-the-world-trip" companion, got separated, and decided to be seduced by the wiles of the magical isle instead.
Penny knew right from the time she set foot in Bali that its mythological images, its striking colors, its religious festivals, its people, and its devil-may-care relaxed lifestyle would weigh heavily in her decision to return time and again. These are her legitimate reasons for her thriving marriage to Bali.
Although it takes courage plus a good measure of guts, not to mention will power, to do what Berton has done, she's nonchalant. Who knows, she may be cleverly copping-out. She may be a flower- child from the sixties lost in a time warp. But who cares.
"Bali remains stimulating even after these 18 years. The thrills are there, the rhythmic sway of the Balinese dances, the sound of bamboo moving gently on a particularly breezy day and creating imaginative music, the chanting during religious festivals," she confides.
She seems enthralled by the world she has created for herself whilst the rest of us seem to carry on much like Maugham's tram- cars.
Obviously she's got the right stuff to be a jewelry artist. She's compulsive. Berton breaks into a grin that masks fierce determination when she describes a typical working day with her coterie of eight Balinese craftsmen. She buys gold, silver and semi-precious stones and sends them to her craftsmen in their home workshops. Being house-husbands, these men tend their children while their wives are out selling batik and handicrafts to tourists, and help produce Berton's ideas which she sketches for them. They carve the hand-crafted pieces at the rate of one per week if there are no interruptions.
"The artists I work with are among the world's best, but they seldom produce original designs by themselves. Generation after generation, they work to perfect patterns created centuries before," says Berton.
She does not copy ancient designs, but uses the intricate old ideas behind them and turns them into objects of desire, small treasures invested with special significance. Each of her pieces has that kind of preciousness and precision.
Followers
The most important difference is that this artist seems to have drawn inspiration from the cultures that have influenced Indonesia, such as India and Europe. And it is these influences that seem to be responsible for the type of people she has investing in her jewelry. Strangely enough she counts Latins and Europeans in her fast-growing gathering of followers who understand her designs.
She was impatient when she spoke on the telephone about a suitable time for the interview. "Don't you want to know what I do?" she asked. She taps the environment of Bali in more ways than one for inspiration. Its rich influence of the Hindu and Muslim religions has served as further inspiration.
All her pieces reflect natural creatures made supernatural by myth and legends: the dragon of creativity and power, the fabled monkey which became a god because he managed to eat fruit from the garden of the immortals, the crane which brings long life and the snake which symbolizes the energies of the earth. Movement plays a big role in all her designs and most of the dainty pieces are worked out in the concept of spirals. Berton says, "It is energy in motion."
Her two children have assimilated the extremely vibrant and creative lifestyle and culture of Bali excellently. What's exciting is that the older one has already started designing her own line of jewelry, made by the same craftsmen Berton employs. And on their trips to Canada, the mother-daughter team hold successful exhibitions.
Berton attributes some of her understanding and love of eastern cultures to her time spent in taking various humanities courses. She looks at history through culture instead of just dates. Today she uses mythology in her art form.
Her love for the Balinese and their mythology has helped Berton create a lifestyle that is at once stimulating, inspiring, creative and meaningful. Who wouldn't be inspired if they could sojourn on an island caressed by warm sea breezes, lapped by beautiful azure waters, inhabited by a gentle people while attending a different colorful festival every day of the year.
Her business card touts "The Gifts of the Goddess," and Berton smiles that in the end it is the mysticism of an ancient culture that keeps her returning to Bali no matter where she strays. The life of this lotus eater is peaceful and tranquil.
Berton's jewelry is on display with seven other Canadian artists who have lived and worked in Indonesia. Unlike the other artists, however, the unique nature of her work means that she can not simply hang it on the wall and continue on with her busy schedule. Therefore, Berton will only display her jewelry to the beginning of next week, not the end of the month like the other artists.
The exceptional collection of ideas focuses on their private interpretation of their Indonesian experience, revealing the spirit of the archipelago which runs like a constant thread through their works. Seeking new frontiers, these artists enjoy an important place not only in the development of the modern art movement in Canada, but also in the history of modern art in Indonesia.
Painters in oil, water color and pen, a jewelry artists and a sculptor in wood are all represented at the unique exhibit. Anyone interested in viewing the work of the "Canadian Artists In Indonesia" can see Patty de Vertrull, Drew Harris, Monique Harvey, Jean Miller Harding, Ken Pattern, David Trevelyan and Penny Berton's works from Oct. 5 until Oct. 31 at The Duta Fine Arts Foundation, South Jakarta.