2012...

A complete change of scenery for me this year. I am now working full-time making coffee and earning bugger all - but i am so desperate to be making and living jewellery now that my time for it is so limited!!! Every day i think about what i would rather be making and how i'm going to spend each evening and upcoming weekend. I feel like i'm overflowing with ideas and it is so great. It is almost the opposite to last year when i had almost unlimited amounts of time (was still earning bugger all though), but the ideas didn't seem to happen as freely.

There have been a couple of significant jewellery events so far this year, the first being JEMposium which happened in Wellington in February, and the second being the opening of Best In Show at Objectspace just last week which is showing work by my pal and fellow Hungry Creeker, Lisa Higgins.

JEMposium was a contemporary jewellery symposium which had well known international and local jewellers as speakers. It was a weekend full of making new friends, forming closer bonds with old friends, being completely absorbed in jewellery, as well as fitting in plenty of eating and drinking! I returned to Auckland feeling refreshed, inspired, and full of new ideas!

After JEMposium the next thing on my jewellery calendar was the Best In Show opening at Objectspace. BIS is a show that i have always looked forward to seeing as it is all work by recent graduates (which i am now!). This year's show was particularly exciting because my friend, Lisa, had her beautiful work displayed in the show. A massive CONGRATULATIONS to her! It was a fun night and the work looked fantastic.

Hopefully my next blog with contain photographic evidence that i have been working hard!

Long time no blog!!

Sooo... just a very quick update! I put the flowers aside after the first term. I guess i just lost interest, i still have them sitting in my studio, so you never know - i might pull them out again and finally finish them to my satisfaction! I picked up again from where i left off last year- coating copper with resin to give it a completely different texture & feel to it, it also means that i can colour it brightly (LOVE bright colours atm!). I have been using ovals and circles as my starting point for each piece - cutting out hollow and solid shapes from the copper and then either forming these into 3D objects or leaving them flat (depending on what i plan to use them for). I have also added elements of changeability within some of the pieces, some parts can be removed, pulled apart completely, or changed around... just for a bit of fun.Here is a snippet from a recent artist statement i have written:
My work focuses on interaction, both within the composition of the works components and also in the way in which some elements of certain pieces can be changed, moved and removed to the wearers liking. I like to experiment with shapes, textures and the flat and three dimensional, creating juxtapositions with opposites and contrasts. Repetition, solid and hollow forms, bright colours, and layering enhance the visual appeal. Textures and surfaces play a major role in my pieces as touching, pulling apart, changing, and just general interaction with the work is so important.

Works in Progress.

Large pink blooms on a long silver chain.

This was how i started my year. I sometimes feel confident that i know where I'm going with this, but in reality i think that it is just a bit of fun. The brightness and warmth of summer took me back to a place deep inside where i am still a carefree, naive, imaginative child. I remember the backyard at my parents house (long before we moved to Taumarunui). Crisp spring mornings, a plum tree in full blossom, long, dry summer days, cicada skins. I want this body of work to have a sense of lighthearted playfulness about it. In a slightly abstract way; these pieces represent my happy childhood memories. They represent something that i can never relive except for fuzzily in my own mind, something that perhaps one day i can pass on to my own children.

I took these photos to try and gauge how the flowers will look on this chain when hung in this particular way. The chain is unfinished. The more i look at it... the more unsure i feel about it. I definitely think though, that the two flowers should be the lower ones and the singular flower should be farther up the chain. The spongy soft flowers are lovely to squeeze!

Blossoming brooch-to-be.

Artichoke ♥ (pendant in the making)...

A week of openings...

Best in Show opened at object space (http://www.objectspace.org.nz/) on friday and i was there all evening to help pour the wine and wash glasses - along with the very lovely Ingrid, who is a fourth year student at Unitec. I really enjoyed being at the opening with the opportunity to talk to lots of people at the same time as having something to keep me busy. The show looked great but unfortunately i didn't spend a lot of time looking at it! I will have to go back again and take a better look.

Tuesday i went with a friend from work who is a painter to an opening at the newly openend House of Hedone (http://www.houseofhedone.co.nz/index.php/) on High st. I spoke to the owner, Phoebe, for a little bit and she was very enthusiastic about displaying work by emerging artists. I really liked the recycled metal sculptures there.

This afternoon i'm heading over to Masterworks (http://www.masterworksgallery.com/) to see what they've got on... Also on thursday i'm going to the opening of the Uxbridge Estuary Artworks Competition (http://www.uxbridge.org.nz/), along with Tineke, Lisa, Noemi, and Michelle. We are finalists in the show and our work will be on display - yay! Will write again in a few days!

The holidays are over!!

After a very long and lazy month not thinking about jewellery at all, I'm getting back into the swing of things. Starting, of course, with lots of experimentation with different forms as well as surface, textures, and scale. I think that these look pretty cool so far and I'm excited about their possibilities.

Another wake up call that the year has officially begun is the Best In Show exhibition, held at Object Space on Ponsonby rd. This Exhibition showcases a selection of stand-out graduates from different art, craft, and design schools throughout the country. The opening is from 6-8pm on Friday February 4th. I can't wait to see the work on display!