Push The Button

Just when I thought I had my production range designed and ready to churn out, a series of sampling proved otherwise. I decided to abandon the idea and come up with a whole new concept for the range. Being slightly under pressure to find inspiration, I went to sift through my numerous collections of 'stuff'. I have always loved buttons - strange, I know. I particularly love buttons that are indicative of an era - the shapes, patterns and materials. This obsession is easily traced back to my childhood, when visits to my grandparents always involved time playing with Nana's Peters ice-cream tin full of buttons. Although my collections do not directly influence my work, they do remind me of what I like in design. Hopefully the next set of designs will be more successful!

My Junk.

Thanks to the wonderful sister, I now have some photos of the work I did at the Lisa Walker workshop. Here is a bit of an explanation of my experience at the workshop...

Lisa Walker: Environmental Adventure:

Lisa’s initial instruction before the workshop was to ‘Collect stuff you hate and you like’. We were told to not to think about jewellery, ‘… just to collect and obsess.’ Before the workshop had even started, I felt a little out of my comfort zone. I already collect what some would describe as rubbish, but to collect items that I don’t like was a concept that was foreign to me. I forced myself to pick up a number of pieces that I would normally not pick up from the roadside. I was glad that I had - I found myself deconstructing the broken sprinkler heads and plastic shards from cars, and it was these parts that made up some of my favourite pieces. It initially took me some time to learn how to ‘play’ with material, as I was used to doing a lot of research and planning before making, but once I learnt how to ‘cut loose’, I had a lot of fun. There are pieces that I made that have gone on to help me in my understanding of my own aesthetic.

I did not think about the piece of jewellery that these objects would become as I constructed them. I was interested to ask Lisa whether she always knew what her pieces would become as she worked on them. She told me that she did about half the time, and that the other half, she focused on the piece as an object, then how it would be worn.

It was insightful to see the type of collections that other jewellers brought to the workshop. Also to see the ways in which everyone grouped their own ‘rubbish’ together, colour coded bags of plastic, jars of toys and shoeboxes of hardware found at the back of the shed. It was even more interesting to see the numerous ways in which these collections were put together. The methods used for joining pieces together in the workshop with Lisa were stitch, binding with wire, and glue. I was most excited about the glue, as it is something we are taught to steer away from. The glue gave me great freedom with the materials I was using and allowed me to explore ideas more quickly than if I was working in a ‘conventional’ jewellery way.

By using materials that I had not invested a lot in, or felt a deep connection to allowed me to think outside the box, and again gave me a confidence in what I was working on – knowing that if my idea did not work, I could turn it into something else, rework it, or throw it back into the bin from where it had initially come from with out any guilt. Working like this has also has given me an understanding of the placement and combination of form, that I can use when working on more ‘precious’ pieces. Knowing that Lisa combines precious materials like gold with ‘found’ object, I was interested to ask her how she overcomes this idea of ‘preciousness’. She told me that she has come to accept that all materials have associations and histories attached to them. Lisa likened gold’s long history and uses to a Barbie doll’s head - both are loaded materials. The notion of Barbie represents and symbolises so many different ideas, as does gold.

Towards the end of the three-day workshop there was an opportunity for us to lay out everything that we had made and have time to discuss it with one and other, and get feedback from Lisa. I found it really inspiring to see everybody else’s approach. Lisa was very supportive. I was so pleased to hear that she thought I had an eye for working with ‘found’ material. She told me that usually when she sees someone working on the scale that I was, which was considerably smaller than everybody else’s, she feels she needs to tell them to work bigger. But she went on to say that this was not the case with my work - it worked. This positive feedback from the Lisa and the group has given me confidence in the work I do at university, and a greater understanding the direction I want my work to take.

Gold: Always Believe In Your Soul.

I have placed my first order for 9ct gold. I'm incredibly nervous and excited about using it, and can't wait for it to arrive. It is a very small amount, but it's enough for me to start thinking about living on Mie Goreng for awhile.

Presentation

Ingredients_Neckpiece 2008
Aquamarine, shell, linen, copper
22 x 29 x 3 cm_Archive No. 08-013

Ok, so it's Monday night, I've been at work for 11 hours and now I have no energy to complete the power point that I'm due to present tomorrow afternoon. The presentation is for my unit of Jewellery Design. I'm to show three examples of contemporary jewellers that use my chosen non-traditional jewellery material. I've chosen to work with thread/stitch. In my research I came across jeweller Iris Bodemer. I really connect with her aesthetic. At first glance, her work looks some what naive, yet she has used precious materials and complex techniques to achieve this look. I think I'll go to bed and finish my preparation before class...

It's Fun To Stay At The J.M.G.A.

So this past week, my mid-semester break has been totally consumed by jewellery. It has been fun and exhausting. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday was spent back at Curtin taking part in a workshop with Lisa Walker. It was a great experience, I'll ramble on about it next time. At the top is some of the rubbish that I put together.

The JMGA (Jewellers and Metalsmiths Group of Australia) biennial conference was held in Perth this weekend. I have been existing on wine and cheese, going from exhibition opening, to exhibition opening since Thursday night. I also had the pleasure of seeing my own jewellery in a gallery for the first time! I found the papers presented during the day inspiring, and found myself thinking and rethinking my designs as I listened. The second photograph is of some of the wishes posted at the Buddhist Festival, on the Perth Esplanade that we walked through on our way to the closing sundowner. I not only loved the concept of this wall of wishes, but also found it visually inspiring.

Melanie Bilenker

SUNDAY NIGHT

Locket (2007)
1 1/4" x 1 1/4" x 3/8" (locket), 20" (chain)
3.2 x 3.2 x .9cm (locket), 51cm (chain)

Materials: Gold, ebony, resin, pigment, hair
(Photo: K. Sprague)

Melanie Bilenker creates what I like to think of as a modern version of Victorian memento jewellery. Using hair, she recreates moments in time and sets them in resin. She states on her website:

The Victorians kept lockets of hair and miniature portraits painted with ground hair and pigment to secure the memory of a lost love. In much the same way, I secure my memories through photographic images rendered in lines of my own hair, the physical remnants. I do not reproduce events, but quiet minutes, the mundane, the domestic, the ordinary moments.

While her work with hair is amazing, I am more interested in her take on the locket. I really enjoy their simplicity, and the idea of a moment or memory remaining private and hidden.

'Matter Matters'

For my Art Minor unit, we have been given the theme that Matter Matters. I hope to look into the idea of memory and nostalgia - how our senses can trigger off a particular memory. Specifically, how a particular item of clothing can bring back a event, time and place. At the moment I'm experimenting with etching the pattern of fabric onto metal - above are some of the patterns I hope to transfer.