Pieces of Fate - @ Pieces of Eight Gallery

Amazing group show currently on at Pieces of Eight Gallery, Melbourne.

PIECES OF FATE - 24th May - 2nd July

I'm honoured to be one of the participating jewellers involved.

Instrument of Divination. Sterling silver, timber, paint, silk cord.

Pieces of Eight Gallery presents
Pieces of Fate
24th May – 2nd July, 2011


Have you ever come across a piece of jewellery, and thought to yourself, this must have been made for me… And there it was, just sitting there, quite simply, waiting to be found.

Pieces of Eight Gallery presents Pieces of Fate, a group exhibition of exquisite handcrafted pendants. Drawing inspiration from Professor Robert Baines, who coined the term, the exhibition includes works from 37 of the gallery’s represented artists who broadly explore the idea of an objects fate. Within the pendants various manifestations lay inherent intentions, purposes and appeal; an unquestionable right to exist. What then becomes its destiny?

Historically, pendants have provided all kinds of meaning and perceived powers for the wearer. Pieces of Fate explores how the modern day pendant can tell a story, possess magical powers or provide particular protection to an individual. It playfully engages with conversations about how materials, symbols and personal concepts give power or inscribe meaning to a piece of jewellery, and consequently how this may cause it to potentially determine its wearer.

With the making of each pendant, the artist was asked to record who or what the pendant may be for. This confidential text travels with the piece as a secret exchange between the creator and wearer of the pendant. As Kevin Murray states in his essay about the exhibition, "These incantations represent an important step forward in the restoration of jewellery power. They’re more than reflections on the personal inspiration of the jeweller. They also anticipate how the pendants will be experienced by the wearer."

Participating artists Bridget Bodenham, Cesar Cueva, Cinnamon Lee, Craig Spark, David Parker, Djurdjica Kesic, Dougal Haslem, Elfrun Lach, Jin-Ah Jo, Justine Austen, Karla Way, Katie Jacobs,Katrina Freene, Katrina Tyler, Krista McRae, Lucy Folk, Marcus Foley, Mark Edgoose,Melinda Young, Meredith Turnbull, Nadja Soloviev, Natalia Milosz-Piekarska, Nicky Hepburn, Nina Oikawa, Nina Ellis, Pennie Jagiello, Peta Kruger, Raymond de Zwart,Shimara Carlow, Sian Edwards, Sim Luttin, Steffi Kalina, Tamara Dixon, Teresa Lane, Tessa Blazey, Tim Fleming, Zoe Crowder

Opening
May 24th, 2011, from 6-8pm
Exhibition to be opened by Melanie Katsalidis, director and curator, Pieces of Eight Gallery. RSVP by May 20th, email marketing@piecesofeight.com.au

Book Launch
Exhibition publication to be launched on the opening night. To pre-order or purchase a copy, email info@piecesofeight.com.au

Workshop
‘Lucky Dip’ with Rachel Gorman and Pennie Jagiello.
June 25th, 2011, 10 – 3pm.
Open to all, bookings essential, participation fee $50.
RSVP by June 20th, 2011 to marketing@piecesofeight.com.au

http://piecesofeightgallery.blogspot.com/2011/05/upcoming-exhibition-pieces-of-fate.html

Touch, Pause, Engage.

I had a piece in a recent group show in Auckland, NZ titled Touch, Pause, Engage. This exhibition showcased works from a selection of New Zealand and Australian contemporary jewellers at Object Space Gallery, Auckland. For more info check out: Touch, Pause, Engage.

The piece i offered was a timber neckpiece titled 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

UNDERFOOT. OVERHEAD. Studies in Nature.

I currently have work in the newly opened exhibition 'UNDERFOOT. OVERHEAD. Studies in Nature.' at Object Gallery, Sydney, curated by Kate Ford.

Exploring the environments beneath us and above us, and all that lies between. Underfoot. Overhead. includes a number of makers who take inspiration from the natural world and create artefacts that then challenge our idea of what is 'natural'.

Featuring work by Juz Kitzon, Ken + Julia Yonetani, Emily Valentine Bullock, Natalia Milosz-Piekarska and Michelle Kelly.

My work came under the title 'Immortal Morsels' and is an idea i think i might like to explore further down the track...

'Immortal Morsels' sees Natalia explore the mysterious world of food and it's endless uses as mediums for worship, healing and protection. Throughout time and across cultures, certain foods and an endless repository of enigmatic edibles have been administered with the belief that they house magical and medicinal properties. They have been used to heal, protect and alter our physical and mental states. Some foods and ingredients take on such divine eminence, the question could be asked, are they the food of the gods, or are they gods in themselves?

Natalia plays with these ideas through the construction of her own fictitious talismanic morsels . Using a veritable apothecary of materials to conjure up her creations, she cooks up a collection of weird and wonderful bite size charms to be taken strictly as prescribed.

Above are some of the pieces i included.

Tasty Morsel...

Its still all fairly under wraps, but i am working on a few new exhibition pieces for a group show opening at Object Gallery in Sydney rather soon. More news to come, but in the mean time, here's a taster of what i'm offering...

Also, Bad Beasts will be travelling to Sydney very soon to be shown at Metalab, opening 3rd March. More info to come, but save the date and come on down if you're in town then!

Beastly Buddies

A private commission and an exhibition piece evolved together over the last few weeks. They really do look like great friends.

Some of the materials used are timber, resin, glass beads, coral and paint.

Catch up...

Eek, it's been a while, it's so here's a catch up post to get things back up to speed.

A commissioned piece for the talented and ever so lovely designer, Skye Jeffreys (http://www.isleofskye.com.au/). It was one of those wonderful commissions where i was given free rein the make something big bold and colourful.

I also found out recently that a piece of my work was selected to be a part of the 2011 Talente showcase in Munich. This is a big honour as it it an annual juried international show of work, presenting emerging innovative practitioners from the areas of design, craft and technology. From Australia only myself, fellow jeweller Mel Miller and glass artist Kristel Britcher were selected this year, so no mean feat getting your foot in the door.

And with Christmas looming, i've been busily getting new work ready to send out to my various galleries and stockists. One exciting project that was handed to me was to create a one off Christmas piece for a festive showcase at E.g.etal. I won't say much more, you'll have to check it out when it goes up closer to the date (i'll keep you posted when it's officially launched), but it sounds like it will be quite a beautiful tribute to celebration, colour and festivities. A group of E.g.etal artists where invited to create a one off piece to be part of the collection and will available for purchase in store very soon. Here's a sneak peek at mine.

And for more exciting news, the new Pieces of Eight Gallery will be opening oh so soon (we're talking weeks, days even now), in Russel place, Melbourne. I will be involved with PO8 both as an artist, but also as gallery staff, so really looking forward to seeing this rocket launch. Their new and comprehensive website showcasing all their artists will be up and running soon also, so i'll be sure to get the link up as soon as it's updated. Here is a pic of two of my piece that will be part of my new one off collection for PO8.

Photography of the last works: Andrew Barcham

Image Courtesy of Pieces of Eight gallery.

Phew! There's more to come, but now i better get back to making...

Some new works...#3

With Open Studios snapping at my heals recently, i found myself in a flurry of new work production. With no brief or boundaries restricting what i made, the output became quite random and diverse, which was quite nice and confusing at the same time. Here's an attempt (in a 3 post series), to organise some of the work, though by no means did these pieces necessarily come about in this order, but they did all occur roughly within a two month time frame. Phew! Now it's full steam ahead getting the last of my pieces ready for the upcoming exhibition... stay tuned!

Some new works...#2

Some new works... group #1

Upcoming Craft Vic show and new E.g.etal pieces.

The first two images are to give a heads up and little update on my work slowly coming together for a very exciting show happening in September at Craft Victoria. Karla and i will be presenting a body of work in the main gallery exploring themes of talismanic and lucky charms titled Bad Beasts Do Not Harm Me. Each of us are approaching the topic individually, tapping into our own research into myth, ceremony, superstition and ritual, exploring the potent and transformative capabilities of materials and belief.

The last image is of some new work being developed for e.g.etal. This blue set titled Lagoon has been dropped off already, with more colours on the way.

Pieces of Eight - new work.

Photography: Andrew Barcham

Images Courtesy of Pieces of Eight gallery.

First batch of work getting ready for the new Pieces of Eight gallery opening up very soon in Russell pl, Melbourne CBD.

Garlic Medallion

With a few big projects out of the way, things have kicked into higher gear in preparation for our (Karla and myself) joint show coming up in September at Craft Victoria.

Here is a piece i recently finished title Garlic Medallion. There's a reason why i've gone and made a massive piece of garlic... but i'll fill you in another time... don't want to give it all away right away.

Stay tuned for more tid bits as they come.

My new favourite piece...

Steadily working on my collection for the new Pieces of Eight gallery, and this is my latest piece. I'm so glad i trusted my magpie eye and bought these fluorescent orange beads. I wasn't sure why i liked them, but now i know.

Quickie update...

Busy times as usual in the studio with simultaneous projects on the go. At the moment i'm focusing on getting my work completed for the annual Winter Brooches show at Stdio 20/17 in Sydney, i had a lovely pendant commission utilising a very sentimental if not rather large crystal. i've been building up my new colection for the new city Pieces of Eight, Melbourne, and have place my thinking cap on firm and fast for the body of work i'll be producing for my upcoming joint show in September with studio buddy Karla Way at Craft Victoria. Oh and i had a bit of a chat recently with e.g.etal about starting to consider a few 'precious' elements to add to the collection there. So, late last week i dropped off a special little ring to be cast in 18ct yellow gold... boy and i excited! stay tuned!

The list of images from top to bottom are as follows:

• A bit of press (utilising my image!) in the Tuesday Age for March 23rd, for the now wrapped up FIGMENT show at e.g.etal. I'm not quite sure about the other artist works, but mine have stayed with the gallery and are available for sale.

• A lovely commissioned pendant project using a very sentimental and large crystal.

• 'When Salt Clogs the Shaker'. The latest and i think final addition to my Weather Lore collection for the Winter Brooches show.

• A few pieces ready for my Pieces of Eight collection.

FIGMENT around the corner...

Stay tuned for the invite...

...and more PHM work...

Whittled Rainbow

More Penthouse Mouse work on the go...