The belt, “Under the Sea” was designed and made in 2008 by Dawn Wallace-Gadd (Chugach/Sugpiaq) with lapidary work by her brother, David Wallace (Chugach/Sugpiaq). The belt consists of a series of twenty Sterling Silver links - ten major pieces and ten minor pieces - which can each be detached and worn separately as either pins or pendants. The ten major elements each include an animal figure that is also removable and can be worn as a pin. In all, there are 30 pieces of jewelry, which combine to create a 31st piece - the entire set worn as a single 36” long belt. The metalsmithing, lapidary and design were all done by the Wallace siblings at their family's studio in Hawai’i.
    A book has been published on this piece, and the pages of that book are displayed as a Slideshow below. Please scroll down to the show and use the Left/Right arrows to view the booklet.

A few things worth mentioning: The whole belt is 36" long. The position of any piece is interchangeable with another, and the belt can be worn with some pieces removed and worn separately, or the inner elements removed and used as Pins or Pendants - an entire collection of fine jewelry.
A custom-made display case is available to reveal another aspect of this piece - keep your jewelry on display! The case is designed to encourage the owner to rearrange the belt and wear the pieces in a never-ending variety of ways.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Dawn Wallace-Gadd began the year 2008 as a happily expectant mother-to-be. As the artistic among us will do, she began to reflect upon the little baby boy growing inside her, swimming within the protective waters of his mother. And so began the artistic process that led Dawn to the creation of her newest masterpiece. The result is the belt, "Under The Sea", a set of linked elements which each represent a different sea animal and which together are linked to become a view of the sea life of the ocean. As a resident of Hawai'i and a child of Alaska, Dawn has chosen to include animals of the warm oceanic waters of her South Pacific home and the colder climate of the northern ocean on the Alaskan coast. The Humpback, notably, is the belt’s centerpiece - it migrates in an endless life's journey between Dawn's two homes.
It was a long year: an impatient little Ethan burst into the world with a great deal of fanfare and excitement in January; a belt that started out as an homage to a sea of life grew to a project of immense proportion; and a brilliantly talented brother had to be corralled into doing his sister's bidding. The result is the belt displayed in the following pages.

David Wallace is a dedicated and talented lapidary artist. Trained by his father, Samuel Wallace, David has at a young age mastered the art of creating beauty with stones, and learned the trick of using perfection to make his art seem so effortless. His work in this belt is so good it is understandable that the true level of difficulty is not obvious - and that's what his sister wanted.