ABSTRACTS
Peter Bauhuis - Keynote Presentation
Armillaria, Arithmeticians and other Amazements: Something’s going on in the margins
Armillaria (actually Armillaria Mellea) is the Latin name for the Honey Fungus - a species of fungus, that forms a huge and invisible underground network. When we see its fruits popping up here and there, we call them mushrooms. No one would realise that they are interconnected, and yet that is what determines the organism as such. The mushroom image provides a felicitous analogy for an interconnectedness between things that is not immediately visible. It serves as a metaphor for Peter's work, which might often appear as collection of disparate objects. But things that appear unconnected can very well be close to each other.
Peter will speak about the work of the last 20 years of artistic practice, his fascination for casting, working in precious metals, embracing mistakes. Fine fissures and surface blistering, both natural by-products of lost wax casting, become central features of his works, many of which look like oxidized pieces of organic matter—beans, pods, small rocks. Bauhuis celebrates his material by retaining the accidents that others might not.
Though his metal work appears to be immediate, it is nonetheless embedded in discourses that determine its perception, meaning and function. Peter believes that things are interconnected, and for sure his things are. In his recent exhibitions Armillaria in London and Melbourne he has been displaying a multitude of links and connections within the range of his works. Similarities of ideas and forms create a network between thinking and making. His recent book, the ABECEDARIUM (a dictionary on Peter Bauhuis' work, Arnoldsche Art Publishers, 2012) is another attempt to do this and so is the lecture Armillaria, Arithmeticians and other Amazements – Something is going on in the margins. It is linking the objects in Peter Bauhuis’ work with stories and thoughts from various fields like mathematics, biology and archaeology.
Peter will speak about the work of the last 20 years of artistic practice, his fascination for casting, working in precious metals, embracing mistakes. Fine fissures and surface blistering, both natural by-products of lost wax casting, become central features of his works, many of which look like oxidized pieces of organic matter—beans, pods, small rocks. Bauhuis celebrates his material by retaining the accidents that others might not.
Though his metal work appears to be immediate, it is nonetheless embedded in discourses that determine its perception, meaning and function. Peter believes that things are interconnected, and for sure his things are. In his recent exhibitions Armillaria in London and Melbourne he has been displaying a multitude of links and connections within the range of his works. Similarities of ideas and forms create a network between thinking and making. His recent book, the ABECEDARIUM (a dictionary on Peter Bauhuis' work, Arnoldsche Art Publishers, 2012) is another attempt to do this and so is the lecture Armillaria, Arithmeticians and other Amazements – Something is going on in the margins. It is linking the objects in Peter Bauhuis’ work with stories and thoughts from various fields like mathematics, biology and archaeology.
Biography
Peter Bauhuis was born in 1965 in Friedrichshafen, Germany. He studied at Staatliche Zeichenakademie, Hanau and Academy of Fine Arts, Munich with Otto Künzli. His work is represented in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Museum fuer Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg; Alice and Louis Koch Collection, Basel; Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim. Since the mid 1990's Peter Bauhuis' output has been extensive and wide ranging, including jewelry, vessels, artists books and optical installations ranging in size from handheld to architectural. In 2000 he won the Debutanten prize of the Munich Academy of Fine Art, in 2001 the Prize of the City of Munich for the applied Arts. In 2011 he won the Bavarian Sate Award for and in 2013 the main prize of the International Silver Triennal in Hanau, Germany. He lives and works in Munich, Germany.
Peter gave lectures and workshops at various schools and institutions in Germany, Great Britain, Danmark, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, USA; since 2008 he teaches at Alchimia Alchimia Contemporary Jewellery School in Florence
Peter Bauhuis is fascinated by the possibilities by casting metals. He understands and exploits the essential nature of the casting process - that molten metal flows as far as it can before it cools down to become solid. With very fine cavities, or too low a casting temperature the metal solidifies before it can completely fill the available volume. Used to advantage this can produce results that can't be totally controlled - metal anarchy! In the world of goldsmithing the precision relating to the processes and material usually control the result but here the main work is tied up in the preparation of the wax forms and then a combination of fate, experiential knowledge and intelligent anticipation take over.
Peter Bauhuis was born in 1965 in Friedrichshafen, Germany. He studied at Staatliche Zeichenakademie, Hanau and Academy of Fine Arts, Munich with Otto Künzli. His work is represented in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Museum fuer Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg; Alice and Louis Koch Collection, Basel; Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim. Since the mid 1990's Peter Bauhuis' output has been extensive and wide ranging, including jewelry, vessels, artists books and optical installations ranging in size from handheld to architectural. In 2000 he won the Debutanten prize of the Munich Academy of Fine Art, in 2001 the Prize of the City of Munich for the applied Arts. In 2011 he won the Bavarian Sate Award for and in 2013 the main prize of the International Silver Triennal in Hanau, Germany. He lives and works in Munich, Germany.
Peter gave lectures and workshops at various schools and institutions in Germany, Great Britain, Danmark, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, USA; since 2008 he teaches at Alchimia Alchimia Contemporary Jewellery School in Florence
Peter Bauhuis is fascinated by the possibilities by casting metals. He understands and exploits the essential nature of the casting process - that molten metal flows as far as it can before it cools down to become solid. With very fine cavities, or too low a casting temperature the metal solidifies before it can completely fill the available volume. Used to advantage this can produce results that can't be totally controlled - metal anarchy! In the world of goldsmithing the precision relating to the processes and material usually control the result but here the main work is tied up in the preparation of the wax forms and then a combination of fate, experiential knowledge and intelligent anticipation take over.
Jess Dare
Thailand residency: a string of flowers – a sequence of events
In 2014 I was granted an Asialink artist residency in Bangkok, Thailand, supported by Arts SA and hosted by Atelier Rudee, International Academy of contemporary jewellery.
The main objective was to learn the traditional craft of Phuang Malai (floral garlands) to incorporate into my work, to translate into glass and metal. Phuang Malai is traditionally an ephemeral craft using flowers strung in different patterns and formations for different meanings and occasions.
I was initially drawn to this craft as it is used to honour “seen and unseen beings” alike, echoing the themes of memory and honouring past loved ones that is core to my exhibition work. However the experiences that I actually had were infinitely richer than I could have possibly imagined. My journey took me all over Thailand: from moulding cow dung in a remote village in the province of Ubon Ratachathani to casting bronze bells the same way that has been done for over 4000 years, to working with delicate orchids in the Museum of Floral culture. To threading hand-cut leaves in Pak Ret. To holding up traffic on a photo shoot in the streets of Bangkok.
I am now beginning to process the vastness of these experiences and slowly seeing how they are informing my new work, specifically the collections: Offerings and Remains of the day. I offer you an account of an experience, a journey, a sequence of events that took me across borders, pushed me to the edge in many ways and is enriching my making.
Some of my earliest memories are of stringing daisies together in the back garden of the house I grew up in. I never imagined that this little game I played would one day lead me to Thailand stringing orchid petals, hand cut leaves, jasmine buds, crown flowers and champee.
The main objective was to learn the traditional craft of Phuang Malai (floral garlands) to incorporate into my work, to translate into glass and metal. Phuang Malai is traditionally an ephemeral craft using flowers strung in different patterns and formations for different meanings and occasions.
I was initially drawn to this craft as it is used to honour “seen and unseen beings” alike, echoing the themes of memory and honouring past loved ones that is core to my exhibition work. However the experiences that I actually had were infinitely richer than I could have possibly imagined. My journey took me all over Thailand: from moulding cow dung in a remote village in the province of Ubon Ratachathani to casting bronze bells the same way that has been done for over 4000 years, to working with delicate orchids in the Museum of Floral culture. To threading hand-cut leaves in Pak Ret. To holding up traffic on a photo shoot in the streets of Bangkok.
I am now beginning to process the vastness of these experiences and slowly seeing how they are informing my new work, specifically the collections: Offerings and Remains of the day. I offer you an account of an experience, a journey, a sequence of events that took me across borders, pushed me to the edge in many ways and is enriching my making.
Some of my earliest memories are of stringing daisies together in the back garden of the house I grew up in. I never imagined that this little game I played would one day lead me to Thailand stringing orchid petals, hand cut leaves, jasmine buds, crown flowers and champee.
Biography
Contemporary jeweller Jess Dare completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts in 2006.
Since 2005 she has been practicing lampworking, having been taught by local and international glass artists. Glass now forms an integral part of her practice.
Dare joined Gray Street Workshop (est.1985) as an access tenant in 2007 and in 2010 became a partner of the workshop, joining Catherine Truman and Sue Lorraine in continuing its legacy and shaping its future.
Dare has exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented in major national collections including The National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia and the National Glass Collection.
Contemporary jeweller Jess Dare completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts in 2006.
Since 2005 she has been practicing lampworking, having been taught by local and international glass artists. Glass now forms an integral part of her practice.
Dare joined Gray Street Workshop (est.1985) as an access tenant in 2007 and in 2010 became a partner of the workshop, joining Catherine Truman and Sue Lorraine in continuing its legacy and shaping its future.
Dare has exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented in major national collections including The National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia and the National Glass Collection.
Mark Edgoose
Craft objects in exhibition and domestic spaces
In the field of gold and silversmithing, both nationally and internationally, contemporary jewellers are increasingly interested in creating specific environments to display their work, in order to influence how their work may be perceived and to intervene and engage in the dominant discourses of craft object presentation. However, in contemporary silversmithing and craft object practice, which is somewhat distinct from jewellery practice, there is less evidence of such intervention.
The ambition of this paper is to test and extend awareness of the craft object as a trigger for shifts in perception and resonance for the viewer, and thus in the activation of meaning. What is the scope for this to occur?
The proposition is that such triggers occur when the craft object’s form is varied and when it is placed within varying contexts of, and relationships to, its immediate and surrounding environments. The outcome of such triggered effects is to question the dominant discourses of subject–object relations in the making of meaning of a craft object. Thus the paper seeks to identify the kinds of conditions that come into play in the making of knowledge in and of the craft object. It looks at how such different forms, carefully located in particular environments, can activate perceptions and awareness of time and space in relation to the viewer. The paper also notes the role of the craft object and how it can be experienced through these activations. The specific environments under consideration are the exhibition space and domestic settings.
The ambition of this paper is to test and extend awareness of the craft object as a trigger for shifts in perception and resonance for the viewer, and thus in the activation of meaning. What is the scope for this to occur?
The proposition is that such triggers occur when the craft object’s form is varied and when it is placed within varying contexts of, and relationships to, its immediate and surrounding environments. The outcome of such triggered effects is to question the dominant discourses of subject–object relations in the making of meaning of a craft object. Thus the paper seeks to identify the kinds of conditions that come into play in the making of knowledge in and of the craft object. It looks at how such different forms, carefully located in particular environments, can activate perceptions and awareness of time and space in relation to the viewer. The paper also notes the role of the craft object and how it can be experienced through these activations. The specific environments under consideration are the exhibition space and domestic settings.
Biography
Mark Edgoose has undertaken 30 years of independent practice in object making for commission, exhibition and limited production.
Completing his PhD at RMIT University in 2014, his research focuses on the space and habitation aspects of the craft object. In part, it is about the re-orientation of the experience of the craft object-now central to his practice.
He has been committed to the education of emerging object makers and jewellers for 30 years, holding lecturing and coordinating positions in Metal Studies, Peninsula School of Art, Monash University, Jewellery and Object Design, Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney and his current role at RMIT University.
He has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, including Melbourne Now, NGV, Melbourne AUS 2013, Unexpected Pleasures, Design Museum, London and NGV, Melbourne AUS 2012. Other achievements include a large silver commission for a dining table centrepiece and candelabras to commemorate the Federation of Australia for Government House, NSW in 2001.
Mark Edgoose’s work is represented in major public and private collections.
Mark Edgoose has undertaken 30 years of independent practice in object making for commission, exhibition and limited production.
Completing his PhD at RMIT University in 2014, his research focuses on the space and habitation aspects of the craft object. In part, it is about the re-orientation of the experience of the craft object-now central to his practice.
He has been committed to the education of emerging object makers and jewellers for 30 years, holding lecturing and coordinating positions in Metal Studies, Peninsula School of Art, Monash University, Jewellery and Object Design, Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney and his current role at RMIT University.
He has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, including Melbourne Now, NGV, Melbourne AUS 2013, Unexpected Pleasures, Design Museum, London and NGV, Melbourne AUS 2012. Other achievements include a large silver commission for a dining table centrepiece and candelabras to commemorate the Federation of Australia for Government House, NSW in 2001.
Mark Edgoose’s work is represented in major public and private collections.
Vicki Mason
Broaching Change: The social brooch
This paper looks at Broaching Change, a project designed for the exhibition Signs of Change in 2010. The project raises the possibility of Australia one day becoming a republic through bringing people together via contact with three brooches circulating in the world. These brooches promote the social value of gardens as reflective of notions of community, the essence of republicanism. Given out for free at the end of the Signs of Change exhibition to lucky winners, the owners of each brooch agreed to adhere to a covenant stipulating that the wearer must give the brooch to whoever admires it if they want it, and this beneficiary agrees in turn to do the same. These temporary owners were also asked to comment on the project on a blog that is open to all. It is a project that is still alive and kicking.
Through creating social jewellery objects, animated into action in a relational turn by their custodians, these jewels come to life after the exhibition is over as they travel in the community. They open up opportunities for conversation regarding the ideas embedded in them. These are jewels for sharing, available to all. They offer an alternative model to individual consumption as they are distributable outside traditional consumerist systems. Through employing the internet as a conduit (enabling each jewel’s journey to be traced), new platforms for engagement with jewellery are created. It’s a risky project, reliant on reciprocity but it reveals the potential jewellery has to test our understanding of what jewellery can do, where it can go and what it might mean in an age of change.
Through creating social jewellery objects, animated into action in a relational turn by their custodians, these jewels come to life after the exhibition is over as they travel in the community. They open up opportunities for conversation regarding the ideas embedded in them. These are jewels for sharing, available to all. They offer an alternative model to individual consumption as they are distributable outside traditional consumerist systems. Through employing the internet as a conduit (enabling each jewel’s journey to be traced), new platforms for engagement with jewellery are created. It’s a risky project, reliant on reciprocity but it reveals the potential jewellery has to test our understanding of what jewellery can do, where it can go and what it might mean in an age of change.
Biography
Vicki Mason was born New Zealand and now lives and works in Melbourne. She has been making jewellery since she was five or six and wearing it since she was two. After her initial training in New Zealand she completed a Master’s degree in Gold and Silversmithing (Research) in Australia at ANU. She teaches, exhibits both nationally and internationally and writes. Mason has been awarded grants in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, her most recent being from the Australia Council for the Arts in 2014. Her work is held in both public and private collections
Vicki Mason was born New Zealand and now lives and works in Melbourne. She has been making jewellery since she was five or six and wearing it since she was two. After her initial training in New Zealand she completed a Master’s degree in Gold and Silversmithing (Research) in Australia at ANU. She teaches, exhibits both nationally and internationally and writes. Mason has been awarded grants in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, her most recent being from the Australia Council for the Arts in 2014. Her work is held in both public and private collections
Pravu Mazumdar - Keynote Presentation
The Between and the Beyond. Contemporary Jewellery at play with the Sublime
The ultimate question is: Whom do we see as the wearer of jewellery – a body or a being? With respect to a body, jewellery might count as an accessory. With respect to a being, it must be seen as an essential, for the very act of wearing jewellery stems from a deep-seated urge to be or become more than just a frail and finite body.
Pravu’s talk will be an invitation to explore the role of jewellery as a medium, mediator and intermediary, starting out in the gap between a body and its environment and indicating a beyond that tugs at the being of the wearer and reveals the process of bejewelling oneself as one of the oldest human experiments with the possibilities of glamour.
The trajectory of these reflections will lead to some of contemporary jewellery’s most prominent explorations of the intermediary space of jewellery, as well as some lesser known experiments with the possibilities of “wearing the world” by connecting jewellery with the sublime.
Pravu’s talk will be an invitation to explore the role of jewellery as a medium, mediator and intermediary, starting out in the gap between a body and its environment and indicating a beyond that tugs at the being of the wearer and reveals the process of bejewelling oneself as one of the oldest human experiments with the possibilities of glamour.
The trajectory of these reflections will lead to some of contemporary jewellery’s most prominent explorations of the intermediary space of jewellery, as well as some lesser known experiments with the possibilities of “wearing the world” by connecting jewellery with the sublime.
Biography
Pravu Mazumdar studied physics in New Delhi and Munich and has a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Stuttgart, Germany. He lives as a writer and teacher in Munich. His areas of work include art and philosophy, and his books are closely related to French postmodernism, in particular the philosophy of Michel Foucault. Forthcoming is a book on jewellery titled Gold und Geist (Gold and MInd), Berlin: Matthes & Seitz.
Pravu Mazumdar studied physics in New Delhi and Munich and has a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Stuttgart, Germany. He lives as a writer and teacher in Munich. His areas of work include art and philosophy, and his books are closely related to French postmodernism, in particular the philosophy of Michel Foucault. Forthcoming is a book on jewellery titled Gold und Geist (Gold and MInd), Berlin: Matthes & Seitz.
Kevin Murray
Latin Australia Objects!
The emergence of contemporary jewellery in Australia and New Zealand was guided by individuals and institutions from Northern Europe. As such, it was underpinned by the value of artistic originality. While Western culture has been globally dominant for the past four centuries, today there is great multilateralism. Scenes are emerging in non-Western cultures that provide alternative perspectives on contemporary jewellery. Across the Pacific, Australasian and Latin American cultures share histories of colonisation. A feature of this was the denigration of ritual objects as childish trinkets or evil fetishes. The post-colonial project includes a recovery of their meaning as 'power objects' that can affect relations between people. This talk reflects on two projects that attempt to open this trans-Pacific dialogue. The first, Joyaviva, provided a platform for artists to consider the modern amulet. This was part of an exhibition tour that included Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Mexico. The second, Sorry Object, in development, concerns the legacy of mistrust due to historical conflicts, principally the treatment of indigenous populations in Australia and the civil war with guerillas that led to 92,000 deaths in Colombia. Shared workshops between Australia and Colombia offer examples of how objects can help us say sorry.
Biography
Dr Kevin Murray is Adjunct Professor RMIT University, Research Fellow University of Melbourne and Australian Catholic University. 2000-2007 he was Director of Craft Victoria where he developed the Scarf Festival and the South Project, a four-year program of exchange involving Melbourne, Wellington, Santiago and Johannesburg. He has curated many exhibitions, including 'Signs of Change: Jewellery Designed for a Better World'; 'the World of Small Things'; 'Symmetry: Crafts Meet Kindred Trades and Professions'; 'Water Medicine: Precious Works for an Arid Continent'; 'Guild Unlimited: Ten Jewellers Make Insignia for Potential Guilds'; 'Seven Sisters: Fibre Works from the West'; 'Common Goods: Cultures Meet through Craft' for the 2006 Commonwealth Games and 'Welcome Signs: Contemporary Interpretations of the Garland.' His books include Craft Unbound: Make the Common Precious (Thames & Hudson, 2005). He is currently a Vice-President of the World Craft Council Asia Pacific Region, online editor for the Journal of Modern Craft and coordinator of Southern Perspectives, a south-south intellectual network. Projects in development include a history of Australian & New Zealand jewellery, the exhibition Southern Charms: New Power Jewellery Across the Pacific and a platform for Craft-Design Collaborations. He is convenor of Sangam: the Australia India Design Platform as part of the Ethical Design Laboratory at RMIT Centre for Design.
Dr Kevin Murray is Adjunct Professor RMIT University, Research Fellow University of Melbourne and Australian Catholic University. 2000-2007 he was Director of Craft Victoria where he developed the Scarf Festival and the South Project, a four-year program of exchange involving Melbourne, Wellington, Santiago and Johannesburg. He has curated many exhibitions, including 'Signs of Change: Jewellery Designed for a Better World'; 'the World of Small Things'; 'Symmetry: Crafts Meet Kindred Trades and Professions'; 'Water Medicine: Precious Works for an Arid Continent'; 'Guild Unlimited: Ten Jewellers Make Insignia for Potential Guilds'; 'Seven Sisters: Fibre Works from the West'; 'Common Goods: Cultures Meet through Craft' for the 2006 Commonwealth Games and 'Welcome Signs: Contemporary Interpretations of the Garland.' His books include Craft Unbound: Make the Common Precious (Thames & Hudson, 2005). He is currently a Vice-President of the World Craft Council Asia Pacific Region, online editor for the Journal of Modern Craft and coordinator of Southern Perspectives, a south-south intellectual network. Projects in development include a history of Australian & New Zealand jewellery, the exhibition Southern Charms: New Power Jewellery Across the Pacific and a platform for Craft-Design Collaborations. He is convenor of Sangam: the Australia India Design Platform as part of the Ethical Design Laboratory at RMIT Centre for Design.
Atinuj Tantivit
Blurring the Edges, Crossing the Borders, Closing the Gaps…The ATTA’s Style
“Contemporary art jewelry” field is fairly young in Thailand and Asia in general. The development of the field has been a challenge as it encompasses many artistic and creative disciplines--visual art, craft, design and even fashion. As a non-purist form of art, it has not been widely accepted into the art field. Nor has it been accepted into the design field due to its maker-centric characteristic. As a result there has not been much interest and support from any public or private sector.
Opening a gallery is a challenging ordeal at the best of times. Opening the first contemporary art jewelry gallery in Bangkok in 2010 was a daring step for Atinuj Atty Tantivit. Against all odds in a very conservative environment, Atty forged new directions in jewelry design and marketing styles with ATTA Gallery--a creative hub that fosters established and emerging artists, both local and international.
Atty has been exploring how to blur the edges, cross the borders and close the gaps existing within the field AND between related fields through many interdisciplinary activities. She will share her experience in establishing ATTA Gallery, an entity she employs in order to lift this “controversial” field off the ground.
Opening a gallery is a challenging ordeal at the best of times. Opening the first contemporary art jewelry gallery in Bangkok in 2010 was a daring step for Atinuj Atty Tantivit. Against all odds in a very conservative environment, Atty forged new directions in jewelry design and marketing styles with ATTA Gallery--a creative hub that fosters established and emerging artists, both local and international.
Atty has been exploring how to blur the edges, cross the borders and close the gaps existing within the field AND between related fields through many interdisciplinary activities. She will share her experience in establishing ATTA Gallery, an entity she employs in order to lift this “controversial” field off the ground.
Biography
Atinuj (Atty) Tantivit, born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand, first experienced jewelry making in college while studying Environmental Science in the US. It was a short evening class on how to make a ring. She made her first ever ring with a hematite intaglio and sterling silver and she was hooked ever since.
Unfortunately, it took her five more years to get back to making jewelry again. After receiving her MA’s in Marine Policies, she found a workshop outside Miami where she then lived. It was only once a week but soon after that it was not her day job that kept her motivated. She realized for the first time that she not only enjoyed making jewelry, she wanted to do it everyday, all day long!
It was a hard decision to leave a career path in science. However, she realized that the passion that she once ignored was still very much alive and it would be wrong to dismiss it this time.
Atty's path in jewelry making has taken her from the US to Europe and back to Asia. Atty moved back to Thailand in 2006 and has been making hand-made contemporary studio jewelry under the brand La Chiocciolina since 2007.
However, Atty still felt that she wanted more out of this field…a deeper understanding of contemporary jewelry…so she took a conceptual design course in Italy and visited many jewelry exhibitions and jewelry galleries in Europe in 2009. After being exposed to contemporary art jewelry scene in Europe, Atty has found her new calling…to open a contemporary art jewelry gallery in Thailand. After much research, networking and preparation, her vision became a reality with the opening of ATTA Gallery in August 2010.
ATTA, means "SELF" in Pali—an ancient Indian language also used in Thai. Atty intends to promote self-expression of jewelry artists as well as wearers alike. ATTA Gallery exhibits works of established and emerging jewelry artists, local and international, in order to promote the use of jewelry as a medium for artistic expression, as well as to promote the art of contemporary jewelry to a wider public.
Atinuj (Atty) Tantivit, born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand, first experienced jewelry making in college while studying Environmental Science in the US. It was a short evening class on how to make a ring. She made her first ever ring with a hematite intaglio and sterling silver and she was hooked ever since.
Unfortunately, it took her five more years to get back to making jewelry again. After receiving her MA’s in Marine Policies, she found a workshop outside Miami where she then lived. It was only once a week but soon after that it was not her day job that kept her motivated. She realized for the first time that she not only enjoyed making jewelry, she wanted to do it everyday, all day long!
It was a hard decision to leave a career path in science. However, she realized that the passion that she once ignored was still very much alive and it would be wrong to dismiss it this time.
Atty's path in jewelry making has taken her from the US to Europe and back to Asia. Atty moved back to Thailand in 2006 and has been making hand-made contemporary studio jewelry under the brand La Chiocciolina since 2007.
However, Atty still felt that she wanted more out of this field…a deeper understanding of contemporary jewelry…so she took a conceptual design course in Italy and visited many jewelry exhibitions and jewelry galleries in Europe in 2009. After being exposed to contemporary art jewelry scene in Europe, Atty has found her new calling…to open a contemporary art jewelry gallery in Thailand. After much research, networking and preparation, her vision became a reality with the opening of ATTA Gallery in August 2010.
ATTA, means "SELF" in Pali—an ancient Indian language also used in Thai. Atty intends to promote self-expression of jewelry artists as well as wearers alike. ATTA Gallery exhibits works of established and emerging jewelry artists, local and international, in order to promote the use of jewelry as a medium for artistic expression, as well as to promote the art of contemporary jewelry to a wider public.
Renée Ugazio
Jeweller down the rabbit hole…
Let’s say you remove the aim of making objects out of a jewellery practice, what do you have left?
This paper tracks this makers’ journey ‘down the rabbit hole’, seeking a new kind of jewellery practice – creating a new way of crafting in the world … or perhaps a new way of crafting the world.
Marcel Duchamp’s relocation of the everyday provokes revelations of both the gallery site and the everyday.
This paper explores Shifting Sites, a project that exploits this methodology to relocate the actions and gestures from jewellery practice out of the context of object production and into other contexts.
As a jeweller, through exploring the ‘actions’ in my practice I have come to consider the relationships that are implied within them and how they might reciprocally relate to alternate spatial and temporal sites.
Shifting Sites reveals an itinerant strategy, providing a model of practice that is not media specific, claiming an openness of territory. In this way it sits at the very fringes of contemporary jewellery, calling back up the rabbit hole, recalling the methods of jewellery to discover different ways of enacting and employing jewellery practice.
_
This paper tracks this makers’ journey ‘down the rabbit hole’, seeking a new kind of jewellery practice – creating a new way of crafting in the world … or perhaps a new way of crafting the world.
Marcel Duchamp’s relocation of the everyday provokes revelations of both the gallery site and the everyday.
This paper explores Shifting Sites, a project that exploits this methodology to relocate the actions and gestures from jewellery practice out of the context of object production and into other contexts.
As a jeweller, through exploring the ‘actions’ in my practice I have come to consider the relationships that are implied within them and how they might reciprocally relate to alternate spatial and temporal sites.
Shifting Sites reveals an itinerant strategy, providing a model of practice that is not media specific, claiming an openness of territory. In this way it sits at the very fringes of contemporary jewellery, calling back up the rabbit hole, recalling the methods of jewellery to discover different ways of enacting and employing jewellery practice.
_
Biography
Renée Ugazio is a Melbourne-based gold and silversmithing (G&S) geek, producing jewellery since 1998 and exhibiting locally and internationally. ‘Shifting Sites’, her current Art PhD at RMIT University, manifests jewellery, installation, performance and text based artwork.
On top of teaching, public speaking and publishing papers on her practice (as well as on other provocations), Renee also has a penchant for filing lamp posts or filming a drill in an attempt to explore the relationships that occur as a result of reconsidering jewellery as an itinerant and expanding practice.
Renée Ugazio is a Melbourne-based gold and silversmithing (G&S) geek, producing jewellery since 1998 and exhibiting locally and internationally. ‘Shifting Sites’, her current Art PhD at RMIT University, manifests jewellery, installation, performance and text based artwork.
On top of teaching, public speaking and publishing papers on her practice (as well as on other provocations), Renee also has a penchant for filing lamp posts or filming a drill in an attempt to explore the relationships that occur as a result of reconsidering jewellery as an itinerant and expanding practice.
Zoë Jay Veness
To make an end is to make a beginning
This paper draws from my PhD thesis, which examines the sculptural dimension of jewellery through the paradox of autonomy. In my thesis the notion of ‘autonomous jewellery’ describes forms that are simultaneously separated from and connected to the body, and is based on theories about transitional phenomena in infant development articulated by British psychologist Donald Woods Winnicott (1896-1971) in the mid-twentieth century. The idea of autonomous jewellery suggests a space, boundary or threshold between the body and ‘free’ space.
Aside from certain Winnicottian concepts my research of the sculptural dimension of jewellery via the notion of autonomy is inspired by qualities of Winnicott’s writing like playfulness, simplicity of language, and an emphasis on paradox and contradiction. The experience of reading Winnicott is a cyclical process, which resonates with my framework of the loop that underpins investigations in my studio research. By fusing the ends of a long strand of folded paper my studio research explores loops in the form of necklaces. These necklaces interrogate sculptural presence and autonomy in the mind of the viewer, as they are almost impossible to wear however, they entice the viewer to enter the void space rendered by the loop form.
This paper refers to the necklace loops from my PhD exhibition To make an end is to make a beginning (2014) as well as examples of contemporary art jewellery by the Dutch artist Willemijn de Greef (1973) that bring together supplemental and autonomous tendencies in the one work. The discussion particularly focuses on incremental increases in scale and the capacity for jewellery to attain a sense of self-sufficiency both on and off the body.
Aside from certain Winnicottian concepts my research of the sculptural dimension of jewellery via the notion of autonomy is inspired by qualities of Winnicott’s writing like playfulness, simplicity of language, and an emphasis on paradox and contradiction. The experience of reading Winnicott is a cyclical process, which resonates with my framework of the loop that underpins investigations in my studio research. By fusing the ends of a long strand of folded paper my studio research explores loops in the form of necklaces. These necklaces interrogate sculptural presence and autonomy in the mind of the viewer, as they are almost impossible to wear however, they entice the viewer to enter the void space rendered by the loop form.
This paper refers to the necklace loops from my PhD exhibition To make an end is to make a beginning (2014) as well as examples of contemporary art jewellery by the Dutch artist Willemijn de Greef (1973) that bring together supplemental and autonomous tendencies in the one work. The discussion particularly focuses on incremental increases in scale and the capacity for jewellery to attain a sense of self-sufficiency both on and off the body.
Biography
My jewellery is characterised by an idiosyncratic paper-folding process that has incrementally developed in complexity and scale since 2001. The ideas behind my work have been shaped by research for a Master of Design (Honours) (2005) and a Doctorate of Philosophy (2015), both from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, as well as my experience as Artist-In-Residence at the Edinburgh College of Arts in Scotland (2006). I have been the recipient of a number of grants and awards including Australia Council grants (2002 and 2006), two Object: Australian Design Centre ‘Craft-in-Site’ grants (2006), an Australian Postgraduate Award (2011-2014) and a UNSW Art & Design Scholarship (2011-2014).
My jewellery is characterised by an idiosyncratic paper-folding process that has incrementally developed in complexity and scale since 2001. The ideas behind my work have been shaped by research for a Master of Design (Honours) (2005) and a Doctorate of Philosophy (2015), both from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, as well as my experience as Artist-In-Residence at the Edinburgh College of Arts in Scotland (2006). I have been the recipient of a number of grants and awards including Australia Council grants (2002 and 2006), two Object: Australian Design Centre ‘Craft-in-Site’ grants (2006), an Australian Postgraduate Award (2011-2014) and a UNSW Art & Design Scholarship (2011-2014).
