Buckaroo Holiday began many many years ago when designer Lisa Donald imagined her idea of perfect jewelry. Try as she might at the time as a twelve-or-so-year-old girl, she wasn't finding quite what she wanted, so she started creating her own. Fast forward twenty years, give or take, and you'll find her journey arriving at what we call Wearable Art. Each piece has a life, a story, a personality that can be built in only by process and experience. One-of-a-kind pieces keep Lisa always interested, always pushing the bounds of her imagination and style, while the unifying material of "things otherwise thrown away" keeps her work grounded in reclamation of previously-used resources. Being an active concert cellist, Lisa has direct links to music-making and loves that jewelry, as a artistic medium, allows for the intersection of two of her deepest passions.
Whatever the reason, which even now goes unexplained, Lisa's childhood nickname in her family was Lisabuckaroo. When she was in high school, Lisa took part in the New Mexico All-State music convention and played for the first time a wonderful galloping romp called Buckaroo Holiday, by the great American composer Aaron Copland. Click the link below to have a listen. Buckaroo Holiday is the first in a five-part ballet called Rodeo, scored by Mr. Copland for the dance company Ballet Rousse de Monte Carlo, which moved to the United States during World War II. The ballet was choreographed by the American dancer Agnes de Mille, who personally requested Aaron Copland compose the score.
There are so many many things to love about this piece, a few of our favorites being:
-its constant movement, push of rhythm just to the edge of comfort
-great harmonic conversations that can't help but make one imagine the wide open spaces of the American Southwest
-its timeless and also dated interpretation (a la Hollywood) of the Wild West and the endless intrigues therein
-its absolutely KILLER backbeat.
Perhaps first, let's restate the obvious:
-Lisa's childhood nickname
-Lisa's roots in classical music and her early experience with Buckaroo Holiday, the Copland composition.
But then....?
The first time she heard the words "Buckaroo Holiday," her impression was, "What a great idea! I would love to take a holiday from myself." To Lisa, jewelry is a chance to push one's limits of fashion, without having to worry about strapless dresses, shaving, being 98 pounds or being subjected to the inevitable discomfort of double-sided tape. Her designs are meant to go anywhere, from horseback to cello lesson to Board Meeting. But why not take a Holiday from being that trailblazing Buckaroo, dust off the desert, and rock it like a diva on the red carpet of life?