71 Eunoma

71 Eunoma
30 x 30 x 30
Wood, wire, fire

Things are gearing up as the countdown for my Thesis show begins in earnest ... I have 40 days to go before my exhibition opening and 13 days til my draft Thesis statement is due to be handed in.

Today one of my pieces was photographed for the NSCAD Graduate Exhibition Catalogue, which is designed by NSCAD students Grace Laemmer and photographed by Erica Flake.  A big thank you to them both for their magic x

Ground Now Workshop with Ruudt Peters

Windmills in Holland

I was invited to participate in Ruudt Peter's Ground Now workshop that was held in the countryside in the south of the Netherlands from 3-9 August 2015.

The FarmHouse 

Ruudt has been a professor at two of the most prestigious universities in Europe, the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam and Konstfack University of Arts and Crafts in Stockholm. He has extensively exhibited his work, which can be found in many public and private collections around the world.

In short, he is a rock star in the art world!

Studio Garden 

The Ground Now workshop is intended for artists who seek to deepen their work and I was with an international group of artists from Moldova, Korea, New Zealand, America, Trinidad and Holland to name a few.

Table set for lunch

The theme of the workshop was 'Ground Now' with a focus on our feet. Often we are not aware that our feet do more than transport us. They can be used as tools and also assist to connect us to the ground.

My pair of shoes made from natural materials (leather, feathers, ivy)

We had to make a pair of shoes using natural materials ahead of the workshop. Being in Florence I used materials that were readily available : an old leather jacket someone had discarded, pigeon feathers and ivy.

Modelling my shoes
Image by Lucienne Buga 

These were then swapped with another workshop participant (Fiona) who manipulated them. Fiona joined the leather and ivy shoes together and painted them.

Shoe manipulated by Fiona.

Afterwards they were buried in the shoe grave yard.

The shoe grave yard.

 The the theme 'Ground Now' we focused on our feet as both the inspiration for our drawing and creating of objects, as well as using our feet to make images.

We also had blindfolded drawing assignments, and drawing responding to touch. These exercises were to assist us to work with 'the belly' or the unconscious, rather than our rational logical brain. 

Ruudt interpreting a blind drawing.

 We had many different experiences and assignments over the course of the week. A highlight for me was a visit to the local church that was constructed on ley lines (ancient earth lines of energy that connect spiritual sites across Europe).

The Old Church

 Using divining rods we were encouraged to find the energy lines in the area. Excitingly (and also a little mysteriously, which gave me goose bumps) most of us responded to the energy on the site. I even found the point at which the energy line entered the church site.

Searching for ley lines 

 We were also encouraged to select a natural material and spend the day investigating its potential, exploring how it reacted to different treatments. I chose to work with the discarded leather jacket, and undertook a series of treatments that involved burning, binding or boiling the leather.

leather bound around rocks using copper wire.

The results of boiling leather

boiled leather samples

The results of the experiments were exciting and often unpredictable. I found that boiling leather for 10 minutes was the most effective and it would shrink around objects, become hard and hold its shape.

Others experimented with bamboo, rice, paper, fabric, paperbark, and metal. 

My Opal ring

 We were asked to bring along an object that grounds us. I chose my Australian Boulder Opal ring, which was given to me by my Nan, and I like it because I have a piece of Australia with me whenever I travel.

the first interpretation of my ring.

 Using the ring as inspiration we had to copy it using natural materials. Because my object was so small, Ruudt encouraged me to work big.

second interpretation of ring

 Once we made the first interpretation, we had to make an interpretation of the interpretation. My second one wasn't as successful, and so I was encouraged to make more.

Third interpretation of opal ring

Fourth interpretation of opal ring

Whilst the workshop was intense (we started at 7.30am every morning with meditation and finished around 11pm after sharing a communal meal) I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. The environment was amazing, and it was lovely of Ruudt to share his studio space with us. The other artists participating were also wonderful and I got to know some very talented and clever people. And the best bit was that I was encouraged to grow and expand my artistic practice.

For many more images of our workshop experience visit Ruudt's Facebook page.

Pioneer Landscapes on exhibition at Craft ACT: Craft + Design Centre

Pioneer Landscapes is a selection of works created in response to my Artist in Residence at Hill End, NSW in 2013. 

Lichen Bells 2014

Silk, fine silver, enamel

Image: Art Atelier

Steel String Wood Necklace 2014

Materials: steel, cotton, wood

Image: Art Atelier

The impact on the landscape by the pioneers was evident by the scarred earth, colonial architecture and forest re-growth. I was fascinated by the bush fences in various states of disrepair and the decorative picket fences of the townships which clearly delineated ownership of space by the early colonial settlers. Despite the impact on the Australian bush by the pioneers, the resilient nature of lichen covered all surfaces. The texture and colour of it captivated me and I noticed that it grew on trees, rocks, fences and even on the sealed roads. 

I commenced a new body of work in 2014 which explores the materials and construction methods used to create these fences whilst incorporating ideas of regrowth and regeneration through the symbolism of lichen. 

Pioneer Landscapes at Craft ACT : Craft + Design Centre
Image courtesy of the Gallery

Pioneer Landscapes at Craft ACT : Craft + Design Centre
Image courtesy of the Gallery

Pioneer Landscapes at Craft ACT : Craft + Design Centre
Image courtesy of the Gallery

The experience at Hill End had a lasting impact on me and it continues to inform my work  Master in Fine Arts (MFA) degree at NSCAD (Nova Scotia College for Art and Design) in Halifax, Canada.

For more images of the exhibition please visit my Facebook page. 

Rural Fence Studies

Following on from my residency at Hill End in 2013 I continue to have a fascination with fences. I was interested in the decorative picket fences, many of which in the town were particularly old and were made using shapes and designs that are no longer in use. I photographed and shared some of them with you in a previous blog post. 

 

Since then, the structure of the fence has been appearing in my artworks. First as a ring design, then a brooch and finally a necklace. 

Over Christmas I had the opportunity to go home to Australia and one of the first things I did was to photograph the Australian landscape and admire the rural and rustic fences.

I particularly enjoy the details of how the wire is attached to the posts and the weathering that occurs from being exposed to the harsh Australian elements. 

These images are going to be the starting point for my MFA work for this semester. The theme is The Body as Landscape and I am looking to create jewellery that interacts with the body based on the idea of fences and gates. 

I love the golden tones of the setting sun against the tall grasses in the paddock. Interestingly this image serendipitously (accidentally) sums up my current interests: communication (telegraph pole and letter box), remote rural landscapes and fences. 

End of Semester Summary

My first semester in the MFA program for studio was with Professor Gary Markle. Gary is the Head of the Fashion studio at NSCAD and he has extensive experience working in New York in fashion, film and sculpture. He was the ideal professor to work with given my interdisciplinary nature and desire to explore ideas across a range of materials.

Lichen was the launching point for a series of investigations and I represented shapes found within the lichen using paper, the lids of tins and enamel (a whole blog post was written about the enamel necklace here). The pieces also continue to reference my interest in pioneers and the isolation they experienced.

Continuing to explore my interest in women's domestic objects I made some thimbles and experimented combining porcelain with crochet and gold lustre.

Continuing to play with domestic kitchenware I was interested to see what happened when you filled the void with rocks, thinking about sense of place and your ties or attachments to a geographic location. 

Living in Canada enables me to objectively look at my Australian history and heritage. I am interested in how our ties to the past inform our present and I am exploring this through the imagery of cameos, chain and branches.

This final piece is still in the middle of being created. Originally a porcelain tea cup, it has been broken and pieced back together. All attached by a silver chain. Here I am interested in the notions of sentimentality and how we place such importance on fragile objects. 

All these ideas seem quite disparate at the moment although I am hoping to distill their essence in my next semester next year. Its going to be quite the journey! 

Limited production pieces

Our last assignment for Jewellery 2 was to create a limited production line of jewellery. 

The intention for this project is to give us an idea of what it is like to create production pieces, starting with  designing a prototype - and then once the design had been tweaked - we then had to make 9 versions of the design.

Prototype of my pendant design

One of the great things about our Professor, Pam Ritchie, is that she encourages us to use materials not always associated with jewellery. So, inspired by my current love of lichen, I designed a pendant that incorporated found wood and copper discs that were covered with a green patina.

I was a little apprehensive at having to make 9 identical pieces, however once I got into the swing of things, I realised that there was a method to making on a larger scale. And I really enjoyed it.

Along with developing the prototype I also had to undertake some experiments on how to seal in the green patina so that it didn't rub off on the wearer. I started off with a clear matt enamel spray on the domes, but I felt that they needed to be shiny so I then experimented with a clear enamel.

I was having so much fun with the design that I also created matching earrings.

Here are the pendants all lined up waiting to be attached to handmade copper chain. They turned into an army of stick insects!

I totally forgot to take a picture of the pendant attached to the chain before I handed them in, so Ill have to share that with you in the new year when I get the marked pieces back.