the backstory

it's heads down these days. more shots soon.

A bit for you and a bit for me

The souvenir connecting to the luggage I bring and make. Works made while thinking about travel, pilgrimage and displacement on a momentary level. Something magical, something concrete; Auckland, Cleveland; freedom and faimly comitments. And the link to the body, well that is still in the works.







The way that I see it...
Jewellery is the physical manifestation or representation of a relationship.
Instead of a gallery or commercial space, I am making relationships to put my jewellery into.
I am crafting relationships.
I want my work to create relationships.

what a lovely transculturation brooch you are wearing today, my dear

"I am interested in borderlines, in the frayed borders between fashion, art, design and applied art. At the borderlines new energy inflames.”1

cultural, media, material borderlines, how are they are blurred, crossed, smeared?
migrants, transculturation, diaspora, and creation of the new.

stir experimentation with a heavy dose of exploration. let rest in cool dark place overnight. divide into two and give half away. add layering, fabrication, pattern, repetition and pinch of research to remaining batch and mix thoroughly, bake on high. when golden on top remove body of work. set aside and let themes cool. wear and reflect, it's jewellery baby.

1. Den Besten, Liesbeth. “Borderline Jewellery.” On Location making stories:
siting, citing, sighting. Ed. Karin Findies. Pyrmont NSW: Jewellers and Metal smiths Group of Australia, 2007. 15-22

jam time

the workshop is all closed up for the holidays.
time to make jam.

plum jam

recipe paraphrased from Jams & Preserves - by Syd Pemberton

1 kg plums, halved and stones removed

600 g white sugar

smash up plum stones in a mortar and pestle or however you can (this was interesting). make a muslin bag and tie up the stone bits. place plums in stainless steel bowl with sugar and bag of stones. cover and leave in cool place overnight.

transfer whole lot to a preserving pan and slowly bring to a boil, stir gently. cook for 25 - 35 minutes, removing any scum as jam reaches setting point. I used the spoon test to determine setting point. Remove jam from heat, take stones out and spoon jam into sterilised jars and seal.

make fun labels. the end.

Different roles in the same family: energising agit-prop craft and specialist craft artists

After reading the heated debate to Bruce Metcalf's talk: DIY, Websites and Energy: The New Alternative Crafts at SNAG in Savannah 2008 and feeling rather conflicted about the whole ordeal, I found Kevin Murray's recap of Glenn Adamson's keynote address at the AAANZ conference spot on. Adamson delivered a paper entitled, Modern Craft: Directions & Displacements at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art. Murray commented on the discussion after the talk and mentioned some interesting thoughts about the relationship between agit-prop craft versus specialized craft artists.

I really like the way that this is expressed and wonder if we understand each group's objectives more clearly then the divide might not be so big after all.

"It was a masterful talk that introduced fascinating new practices, particularly in the agit-prop domain. Adamson continued the line from his book Thinking Through Craft that while craft sits alongside visual art, is still a distinct practice of its own. A particularly charged word in Adamson's talk was 'friction', which was used to express that element in craft that resisted conceptualisation.

The discussion that ensued was very interesting. The last questioner proposed that what made craft different from art was that 'anyone can do it'. Adamson differed and argued that the 'friction' of craft is produced by many years of dedicated training in the understanding of materials. There seems quite a divide between the agit-prop craft that is energising collectives and the specialist craft techniques practiced by artists. How to bridge this divide is a very interesting challenge facing commentators on craft."