Work for Bell Weather, our Graduate Exhibition 2010

Artists:

Kim Victoria Wearne
Anita van Doorn
Colly Lu
Bin Dixon-Ward
Inari Kiuru
Soo Jeong Jo
Courtney Jackson
Marcos Guzman
Emi Fukuda
Emily Drummond
Lauren Joffe
Timothy Smullen
Alysha Batliwalla
Romy Mittelman
Sarah Fletcher
Chloë Powell


Finally, the assessment is over, work finished (almost : D, i've just been granted the permission to do some very final welding) , and our graduation exhibition Bell Weather mounted, opened and running successfully.

To me, it's a beautiful, personal show and I appreciate every piece in it: Having travelled with my fellow students for three years, all the work in the exhibition speaks about the experiences, learning, challenges and changes we've all gone through, and most of all, of the passion and creative discoveries of each individual. I hope you get to see it too.

It's at 1000 Pound Bend, 361 Little Lonsdale St (just 30 metres uphill from Elizabeth Street), very central Melbourne until next Friday the 12th, 6 pm. Welcome!

Here are some snapshots, taken in low light, from my work at the show. It's a small selection from this year's projects, and I'm reasonably happy how things turned out. It was great fun and a deep adventure researching and creating the works. I've been saying that it feels as if I've found a path or direction of some sort, creatively, and really look forward seeing where it can take me, and the other way round.

The main materials this year have been steel and enamel, often constructed by welding, to safely take the heat of the kiln. I've also been experimenting with various other materials, such as glass and wax. Without further ado, the titles of the work are:



Table 1 - Silversmithing, from the largest vessel anti-clockwise:

Honey Blossom Sting / spun, etched steel, copper, enamel

Orange container from Let us be lovers – New Jersey industrial landscapes series / mild steel, sugar fired enamel. The series gets its name from the opening line of the old Simon & Garfunkel ballad 'America' which was playing in my head when we took a train from Manhattan to New Jersey last winter. The objects are based on the photos from that journey.

Evening emerges from Day meets night series / mild steel, galvanised steel,
enamel, liquid gold

Fragile nightmares from Day meets night series / mild steel shim, etched and heat coloured

Andalucia brooch / mild steel, glass, 925 silver, stainless steel pin















(More objects from the New Jersey series, photographed by Jeremy Dillon 2010.)


Table 2: Jewellery

Selected pieces from Winter thoughts (between two summers) series
mild steel, enamel, glass, brass, encaustic wax, safety pins, steel coated copper mesh

* * *

At the end of the exhibition images, some of the background / process images too.
Hope to see you at the show!













"To me, creating objects and jewellery feels exactly like playing and discovering new things did as a child. There is a timeless sense of wonder about bringing abstract concepts, ideas and inner worlds into a tangible form, and witnessing how raw ingredients begin to take on a life of their own. I enjoy experimenting with different materials, learning their language as we spend time together, taking a few risks to see what would happen if ...

I am curious, and I definitely want there to be madness in my method.

As an artist my key objective is to never lose my sense of humour – or of the absurd. Examining our immediate environment, the strange depths of the most mundane things and interactions, is my way of looking for light. A way to survive in this world. There are maps in the dirt, stories in wrinkled wrappers, and whole histories discarded on roadsides. Taking time to honour and share these observations through making feels not only like magic, but like a constant renewal of some kind of human hope. I would like my work to convey this."

Inari Kiuru November 2010


And here, some images leading up to the final works:



Partly finished steel objects, and an etched aluminium cone for the other large vessel.



Etching Honey Blossom Sting the Swedish way (ja ja!)– in an IKEA rubbish bin!
The copper sulfate and salt liquid I've been using works especially well if
mixed with hot water.




Vessel with a copper flange which has a steel support with prongs,
and another large spun vessel with shifted enamel, not yet ready.
I had a lot of trouble getting the enamel to stay on the golden coloured
piece, it kept pinging off in a circular pattern, perhaps because I didn't
prepare the steel surface well enough (emerying off spinning ridges).



Sprayed with Klyrfire and water mix, shifted. I thought at the time
that the shifting was maybe too thick at places, perhaps that's why
the enamel surface was rather uneven initially, and kept breaking.





The welded steel top and an aluminium insert. The top
now has texta drawings of cranes and a thick coat of encaustic
wax – will post a photo as soon as I get a chance to take a proper one.



One of the smaller trivets I made for hanging delicate objects in the kiln.



Etched steel plate and shim; a smaller etched steel vessel
and the beginnings of Fragile nightmares.




My bench at uni, leading up to the final weeks : )

And as a post-scriptum, some images of the Winterthoughts pieces taken in a better light, later on.