Welcome to the September newsletter.
I hope you have all managed to get to Profile at the Australian Design Centre. It closes on 28 September so hurry along if you haven’t. The works are wonderful and the exhibition shows the depth of the skills of our membership. I congratulate all who participated, and thank the judges for their work and the staff at the Australian Design Centre for the wonderful and innovative display. I visited the Sydney Art Fair, Sydney Contemporary. What a full day of art! I saw some wonderful work, but sadly not much craft except ceramic sculptural works. No jewellery except a few wall works by Sarah Rayner and Sophie Carnell in the Gallery Sally Dan Cuthbert from Rushcutters Bay, Sydney https://gallerysallydancuthbert.com/ Every year the Printmaking Collective has a stall. Maybe JMGA NSW could think about doing the same. Feel free to volunteer to do a feasibility study and put it to the committee! I will be heading to Europe and will spend a week at the Venice Biennial. I will be back at the beginning of December to organize the next Filings. Hope to see you at our “Sell/Swap/Buy/Meet” event on 15 Oct. Full details below.
Emily Valentine
SAVE THE DATE
BUY MEET SWAP SELL
JMGA NSW Members are invited to bring tools or other jewellery items to sell, swap, give away or just come along to meet or catch up with other members and have some fun. We welcome new members you can join on the day. ADC has their Market day as well so make a day of it and visit them first on your way.
Saturday 15 October from 3 - 5 pm Stanley Street Gallery Courtyard
Profile On Show Profile: Contemporary Jewellery and Object Awards
The exhibition at the Australian Design Centre will be closing on 28 September. It then moves to Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre and be shown from late November 2022 to early February 2023 Australian Design Centre 101 -115 William Street, Darlinghurst NSW 2010 02 9361 4555 Tuesday – Friday 11am - 5pm Saturday 11am - 4pm Award Winners: JMGA-NSW Established Contemporary Jewellery Award - $3,000 Jin Ah Jo, Broken Ribs Brooch, 2021.Pipe Way Series, 2021 Photo: Courtesy of the artist Jin Ah Jo, Pipe Way series, 2021 JMGA-NSW Early Career Contemporary Jewellery Award - $1,500 Inga Svendsen, Prickly Heart – Breastplate, 2021 Glass, copper $1580 Prickly Heart, detail, 2021 Photo: Courtesy of the artist Inga Svendsen, Prickly Heart Breastplate, 2021 The Helge Larsen Award - $2,000 Gretal Ferguson Nailed Down, 2021,Silver plated copper, steel. $3,400 Photo: Courtesy of the artist Gretal Ferguson, Nailed Down, 2021 Hazelhurst Arts Centre Award - $1,500 Yukiko Nonaka Hikari Key Case, 2021 Brass, sterling silver, nylon coated steel wire, $1,000 Photo: Courtesy of the artist Yukiko Nonaka, Hikari Key Case, 2020 Australian Design Centre Award - Object Space exhibition in 2023 Kirsten Haydon, Ice Shadows, 2021 Steel, enamel, silver, reflector beads, $8,000 (installation) Photo: Courtesy of the artist Kirsten Haydon, Ice Shadows, 2021 Highly Commended Melinda Young Stories untold - Neckpiece Diptych, 2021 Rusted objects, linen and cotton thread, cotton cloth, $2,200 Photo: Courtesy of the artist Melinda Young, Stories untold – Neckpiece Diptych, 2021 Highly Commended Bic Tieu, In-between #1, 2022, Sterling silver $7,500 Photo: Courtesy of the artist Bic Tieu, In between #1, 2022
EXHIBITIONS
JULIE BLYFIELD Surfacing -19 Oct - 12 Nov Stanley Street Gallery
Sydney Craft Week
Australian Centre for Design Sydney Craft Week 7 – 16 October 2022 Celebrating creativity and community, Sydney Craft Week is the city’s only festival dedicated to making by hand. Vibrant events range from large-scale exhibitions to one-off workshops, encompassing the breadth and power of craft. sydneycraftweek.com
Square Peg Studio open for Craft Week Born of a desire to create a unique space for making and learning all things jewellery and metalsmithing, SquarePeg Studios is a respected and loved part of the Sydney creative arts scene and an independently run creative arts business. Fourteen jewellery artist’s studios and a busy jewellery school combine to make SquarePeg a hub for the jewellery community. SquarePeg’s jewellery artists welcome you to learn more about their practices at Meet the Makers, a relaxed afternoon of wine, cheese and conversation. Visit their co-workspaces, workshop and school. Chat with the makers and discover their contemporary jewellery works (available for purchase). The jewellers of SquarePeg engage in a diverse array of jewellery practices and truly offer an opportunity to sustainably ‘shop local’ - direct from their benches to you. The Bench is also busy for Craft Week CONNECTIONS at The Bench Jewellery School Workshop approaches Sydney Craft week theme of 'sustainability' through sharing a series of events which look at the body, community, traditions and the environment. For all events please search www.thebench.sydney/sydneycraftweek Our events delve into culture and community, examining both the maker and consumer with the focus on the appreciation of our ancestors and environment. Our events during Sydney Craft Week connect artisans to a global movement that supports and appreciates the sacred value of story-telling. Tuareg style stackable Ring Making - October 8th Spoon making workshop with Mill Foundry - Oct 9th Craft Up Late Open workshop & mini showcase - Oct 11th The Embera Beading with Mami Watta - October 15 Yoga for Makers & Morning Tea in celebration of pieces and practices created during SCW - October 16th For Craft week the Bench is running various classes and work shops. There is also daily access hire. Go to the website and see what is on. https://www.thebench.sydney
INTERVIEW
Helen Wyatt talks to Catherine Large
About Profile
I thought it was a good idea to gather some perspectives on our JMGA-NSW competition and exhibition – Profile, so I twisted the arm of a buddy from Queensland share some of her experience and perceptions. To help her along, I prepared a few questions. It would be great to gather some more insights from other participants.
You are one of several interstate artists who have entered Profile. In addition, you visited the exhibition and the talks. What value do you see in participating in JMGA (NSW)?
Being both a member of JMGQ and JMGANSW gives me a broader perspective about what is happening in the arena of studio-based jewellery and metalwork in Australia. I enjoy receiving the newsletter Filings from JMGANSW, and it gives me a little window into what is happening south of the border. As a graduate of Sydney College of the Arts, I also like seeing what people are up to in the field who I met while studying.
Can you tell me about your pieces in Profile?
My work in Profile is a series of 5 pendants, titled Fe2O3-Rust.
This series of pendants are made with collected objects from bush and suburban walks as well as trips further afield. I am drawn to these objects that to my eye are strangely fascinating in both their endurance and decay. For as long as I can remember, I have collected pieces like this, and first worked with rusty steel way back when I was an undergraduate student in the Gold and Silversmithing department at RMIT.
Many of these little bits of metal have nearly rusted away, almost disappearing into the earth, while others have maintained their form. They are all enticing and intriguing, and I have many of these pieces in my studio awaiting the moment when it becomes clear how they might be utilised in my work. They are now spilling out along my fence and into the garden, like little treasures, easily overlooked if you don’t have the eyes to see them.
I try to work lightly with the objects, keeping the form in its original state where possible, working with the objects in a way that means any intervention is reversible. While 'Coil" has the addition of vitreous enamel, I have left the other objects in the state in which I found them, allowing the nature of the surface to speak.
What were your thoughts about the exhibition as a whole – its curation and the works in general?
Profile by its nature contains a broad representation of work from across Australia. To participate in this juried award exhibition, the condition is being a member of JMGANSW. This means there will be a huge range of work entered, from jewellery to metalwork, and installation, from more traditional work to the conceptual. I believe it works as a snapshot of what is being made in the field across Australia, and while it is fairly representative of the diverse nature of the field it is by no means exhaustive.
Fe2O3_Rust 2021 Cathrine Large Image-Michelle Bowden, Visuall Photography
Do you have some favourite pieces from the show? What was it about them that connected with you?
I really enjoyed visiting the exhibition and was very taken by a number of works. Gretel Ferguson’s piece ‘Nailed Down’ really appeals on a number of levels. It is much bigger than images suggest and I loved the scale, as well as Gretel’s statement about what the piece represents: it “is one in a series of objects exploring the dire state of traditional silversmithing education in Australia”. The work is beautifully formed, and thought-provoking, and Gretel’s skill working the material is evident.
As a long-standing advocate for enamelling, it was refreshing to see a number of pieces utilising this skill in a variety of ways.
Have you been involved with other competitions recently? Can you tell me about that work?
I have a vessel called “Containment, or 704 Days” which has been selected for the 20th International Silver Triennial exhibition at the Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus Hanau in Germany, beginning in October of this year.
The Silver Triennial is a juried exhibition that has been organized since 1965 by the Gesellschaft für Goldschmiedekunst (Association for Goldsmiths´ Art) and the Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus Hanau (German Goldsmiths´ House) to promote contemporary silversmith art. Entries are encouraged from makers all across the globe and is one of the few major exhibitions that I am aware of that focuses on the craft of the silversmith.
The inspiration for my work, “Containment, or 704 Days” was the prolonged international border closure that Australia endured over the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, until political expediency opened the borders just before the recent federal election. I chose the small square form to mark the vessel 704 times to represent enclosure and containment and how the days of the border closure felt repetitive and endless.
What advice can you give the readership of JMGA (NSW) about entering competitions and exhibitions like Profile? I believe entering competitions and exhibitions like Profile is an important part of your practice. There is a discipline involved with making new work for an exhibition of this kind, from the initial idea to developing the work and having it documented. You need to organise your time in the studio and also get your thoughts in order to articulate your ideas to the viewer. As a maker, I try and take advantage of opportunities that I hear about, and regularly read newsletters and journals to see what is coming up. Having a deadline, working to a theme, or just having the opportunity to exhibit with your peers can help give more structure to the framework of your making. You won’t always be successful, but it is important to continue to be involved in this aspect of your art practice – making work for exhibitions informs all aspects of how you approach making, whether it is production work, commissions or other exhibition works.
Exhibition Proposal
HELGE LARSEN MEMORIAL SHOW
I am happy to say that Darani will support the proposed show of Helge Larsen ex students work. I have had two people offer help with the show and please feel free to put your name forward as many hands make light work! If you want to help and/or participate please contact me directly emily@emilyvalentine.com.au
Ring with opal by Helge Larsen and Darani Lewers www.larsenlewers.com.au
STURT GALLERY & STUDIOS The management of Sturt Gallery has requested Jewellers apply for shows as the craft has not been well represented in the gallery there recently. I read the conditions, and the application is simple, so I recommend you apply, there is a fee of $1200 so maybe a group of jewellers could apply together. Do look at the site and encourage your friends and colleagues to apply. https://www.sturt.nsw.edu.au/sturt-campus/sturt-gallery
Work On show
Exhibition of Pierre Cavalan's Work Pierre Cavalan's work will be shown in the Ice, KBF, Megabyte Bomb Festival in Wroclaw, Poland over the weekend of 10-12 September. The show will then travel to Vienna, Berlin and Houston. People"s World Pierre Cavalan
Six By Three - D In Moruya at the Mechanics Institute, on Page St. Our member Diane Appleby is one of the six artists included. Inspired by her landscape drawings Diane Appleby has transferred the gestural energy of her arching brush strokes into her 3D forms. The dark and light areas of her drawings are echoed in the 3D objects so that space, form, shadow and light become as expressive as those of her works on paper.
Recent graduate From Square Peg Studios
The theme for Zoë Pollitt's graduate residency at SquarePeg Studios was ‘Pause’. “The aim of my work is in making liminal pieces for conversation and contemplation. My focus is on making modern, conceptual designs, hand-made in precious metals” Recently, Zoë has been exploring new territories in contemporary jewellery design. Inspired by Modernist forms, Surrealist metaphors, Neuroscience and Punk. An interest in Jewellery and adornment piqued while studying on exchange at Central St Martins School of Art and Design in London, and during her early career as an Art Director at Vogue Australia. As Co-Founder and Creative Director of creative agency, Zoë holds design, fashion and artistic expression as core to her being. Zoë Pollitt has just wrapped up her three-month Graduate Residency in SquarePeg’s Graduate Residency program initiative. “I want to create pieces that offer a space for possibility, for consideration, for awakening and inspiration. These are amulets for the future that help us pause in a world that's not slowing down” Process Image: Letterati: S =Stillness, U=Understanding, E=Entity, P=Pause, D= Destroy Finished image: Unchained: 1, 2, 3 & 4. Letterati: B=Breathe, Z= Zone, G=gap, A=Aura, L=Liminal, S=Stillness, D=Destroy, E=Entity, V=Vibes, J=Joy, P=Pause, M=Meditation Zoë holds a Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication), and a Certificate III & IV in Atelier Lalaphilia Instagram @snowyzoepollitt, @Lalaphilia (coming soon!)
We live in times that are moving faster than ever, which is equally exhilarating as it is challenging. And if there's anything the last two years has taught us, it's the importance of taking time to slow down, reflect and consider what it means to truly live on this planet. Studying and making jewellery has been an awakening for me. A practice that offers contemplation, patience, reflection and creative expression. I find it meditative and restorative. The work I have created while at Square Peg are a series of long chains titled ‘unchained’, accompanied by typographic amulets or ‘Letterati’. This project delves into my experience as a Graphic Designer reimagining the tradition of typography, drawing reference to hot metal typesetting, hand lettering, and the beauty of typographic form. Each letter represents a word that reflects the theme of "Pause”.
Letterati Zoe Pollitt
Opportunities
You may be eligible for this:
Open Call for Klimt02 School Members Degree Show and New Talent Award 2022. 8th Edition
https://klimt02.net/events/open-calls/open-call-klimt02-school-members-degree-show-and-new-talent-award-2022-klimt02
SEND US YOUR NEWS
to admin@jmgansw.org.au and Emily@emilyvalentine.com.au In the subject line Attention JMGA Filings, the next deadline is the end of November
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