Tuesday 26 February 2013

The Year of the Snake

 
I am excited to have work in The National's current exhibition The Year of the Snake in Christchurch alongside some of my favourite jewellers.
 
Here's one of my works in the exhibition:
 
Stay tuned for more exciting news about a forthcoming exhibition at The National in a few months time...

Sunday 24 February 2013

Necklaces everywhere

With 8 days left until I install 'the world is a pearl...' at Studio 20/17 there is a necklace explosion on my studio pin-board!

Monday 18 February 2013

Scent

These neckpieces are made from frankincense and pears soap for the world is a pearl... exhibition at Studio 20/17. I will tell the stories of these soon, but for now I will just say that scent and its (in)visible traces on the body have been a longstanding fascination and a big part of my research-based practice for the past 15 or so years. 


Two weeks until exhibition installation - eek! 

Monday 11 February 2013

Some textures

It has been an introspective time at the bench recently. I haven't been getting out much, locked away as I have been inside my 'oyster shell' studio making work for 'the world is a pearl...' exhibition. So my usual habits of photographing bits and pieces have taken a bit of a back seat. I guess I have been busy thinking about and responding to images I have taken of different textures and matter rather than taking many new ones... Anyway here are the very few recent snaps...













Friday 8 February 2013

Copper Love

As part of the new body of work for the world is pearl I have set out to re-use scrap material or untouched materials that have been in my studio for a very, very long time.

One of the things I have repeatedly returned to in my practice is roll printing. One of the very early exhibitions I was invited to participate in was called paper at Gallery 156 in 2001. For this I roll printed different types of paper onto fine silver and gave it a white patina. This developed into an ongoing series of exhibition and production work called Vestiges. In 2002 I made a series of brooches this time roll printing with fine silver and silk brocade, these were for the exhibition pinned at Gallery 156, here's a picture.


Also in 2003 I participated in a workshop with Otto Kunzli called ...life in the day of for this we were required to create a diary piece. My initial idea and experiments involved roll printing my junk mail and then rolling the thin metal sheets into beads. The idea wasn't well received, although I rather liked it, and so, ten years later I have returned... the vestiges in the world is a pearl are beads made from all the mis-rolled and scrap fine silver and 24 ct gold pieces accumulated over the past twelve years along with roll printed copper scrap.

Here is a little glimpse of some of the copper work in progress.






 

I usually only get to use copper in the class room when I am teaching. It has been such a treat to use in the studio!

Friday 1 February 2013

...and some more


The work in the world is a pearl...  has been made from things I have found in my studio or (mostly) within a one block radius of home - such as the neckpiece above. Collections of objects, remnants of pieces made over the years and accumulated scrap metal, plastics etc have been transformed into jewellery.