RMIT Masters Fine Art exhibition

It’s only on for a very short time … the RMIT Masters of Fine Art (MFA) exhibition [link].

image taken with gallery permission

Gold and Silversmithing artists are:

• Mary Hackett [site, MFA page]
  

  image taken with permission

• Claire O’Halloran [site, MFA page]
  
  

  image taken with permission

  

  image taken with permission

• Leah Teschendorff [MFA page]
  

  image taken with permission

Other participating artists are:

• Emily Boyle [MFA page]
• Michael Carolan [site, MFA page]
• Leonie Connellan [MFA page]
• Nicholas Dallwitz [MFA page]
• Paul Dew [MFA page]
• Maryla Elmahdy [MFA page]
• Mary Gray [MFA page]
• Beka Hannah [blog, MFA page]
• Samantha Harris [tumblr, MFA page]
• Clinton Hayden [site, MFA page]
• Ben Howe [blog, MFA page]
• Paul Keller [MFA page]
• Aaron McMurray [MFA page]
• Harry Metcalf [MFA page]
• Robert Mihajlovski [MFA page]
• Marisa Ramos [MFA page]
• Hayley Scilini [site, MFA page]
• Mateja Simenko [MFA page]
• Agnes So [MFA page]
• Wan Su [MFA page]
• Tul Suwannakit [MFA page]
• Helen Taylor [MFA page]
  

  image taken with permission

• Kate Walsh [MFA page]

The RMIT MFA Exhibition is at Gossard Project Space until 8th December 2011.

Box Hill graduates ‘silverspun’ @ £1000 Bend

Oh man … art fatigue.

Last in the series of exhibition I managed to visit at the last minute was that of Box Hill TAFE graduates (Advanced Diploma Engineering Technology specialising in Jewellery; 2yrs) ‘silverspun‘ at 1000 Pound Bend (check out their tumblr site).

installation

I had a little bit of a disturbing experience as I walked in … I mistakenly thought that the RMIT show was at this gallery, and was finding myself a little bewildered at the difference to what I expected (I was expecting more colour, more outrageousness) … then I realised it was Box Hill TAFE and all was well again.

installation

Participating artists (in alphabetical order):

• Amber Arizono
• Sarah Austin
• Zvia Ben-Rahamin
• Sarah Blundell
• Ally Callinan
• Pamela Camille
• Ashfaaq (Ash) Carrim
• Hannah Chambers
• Stephanie Jianjun Guo
• Sherry Jin Chunyun
• Vicky Kanellopoulous
• Jenna O’Brien
• Lauren Pitt [blog]
• Katelyn Sheldrick
• Rebecca Thorpe
• Micheline Zezula

‘silverspun‘ is at £1000 Bend until 4th December 2011.

RMIT graduates ‘It was like a Fever’ @ No Vacancy Gallery

Continuing the fun that is the graduate show fiesta – this time the RMIT Gold & Silversmithing (Bachelor of Fine Arts, 3yrs) graduates and Honours in ‘It was like a Fever‘ at No Vacancy Gallery.

installation image

Participating artists are (in alphabetical order by surname):

• Ruby Aitchison
• Katie Jayne Britchford [blog]
• Clementine Edwards
• Allona Goren
• Yasmin Hackett [blog]
• Wendy Korol
• Lin Lin
• Claire McArdle (Honours) [see my post about her recent solo exhibition; site]
• Joelle Peters
• Khyran Randall-Demllo – really liked the pieces below
  

  Khyran Randall-Demllo

• Sarah Wallace – her Miro pieces certainly channelled the artist (I picked up the influence before reading the titles)
• Aurelia Yeomans [kit and caboodle profiles]

installation

Check out my story on the 1st and 2nd year exhibition ‘Got a Nice Ring to it‘, to see some of their work from last year.

‘It was like a Fever‘ is at No Vacancy Gallery until 4th December 2011.

Update (12th December): Katie Jayne Britchford has some great images on her blog too!

NMIT graduates ‘Auteur’ @ Northcote Town Hall

It’s that time of year – many graduate exhibitions to visit.

The NMIT graduate (Advanced Diploma of Engineering Technology (Jewellery), 2yrs) exhibition is ‘Auteur‘ at the Northcote Town Hall.

image taken with permission

Participating artists are: Emilia Athanasiadis, Katia Di Crescenzo, Emily Jane Edwards, Maximillian Egan, Tatiana Torres Garcia, Carla Garro [site], Maha Ghobrial [site; particularly liked the enamelled neckpiece], Rayin Haining, Jayde Hollingworth, Kate Jungwirth [site; her pieces were quiet and beautifully made], Carole Kernohan, Jenny Maynard, Rikki Moore, Rebecca Munn, Asha Nicholas, Larah Nott, Stephanie Putker, Chanittha (Gibby) Satitphat, Penny Scallan, Siobhan Elise Schembri, Paula Slutskin, Chloe Smith [blog], Rhiannon Smith, Michelle Stewart [site], Khanittha (Karen) Suwitthayaporn, Ilze Svarcs [site], Jessica Helen Travassoros [site], Chi Trung Trinh, Henrietta Walker, Joel Walton [I really liked his 'Orbit' piece, and think it'd look great as an object], Robert Withall.

image taken with permission

I wrote in my review post on the last NMIT exhibition of the different focuses of NMIT and RMIT. I don’t want to repeat myself, but it’s hard not to notice – especially when I visit the exhibitions on the same day. The most obvious observation is that the NMIT exhibition has so much more highly polished metal (not a finish I like unfortunately).

image taken with gallery permission

If you’re interested, check out my post on last year’s exhibition ‘Forge‘.

I’ve seen so much art today, I have art fatigue!!

‘Auteur‘ is at Northcote Town Hall until 27th November 2011.

RMIT students ‘Work Hardened’ @ Spill Art Space

It’s pretty strange sometimes how fast time goes – I’ve not been well and have been missing exhibitions all over the place.

Though I did finally make it to the RMIT 1st and 2nd Year Gold & Silversmithing (Bachelor of Fine Arts) student exhibition ‘Work Hardened‘ at Spill Art Space at Boscia Galleries, unfortunately it was on the last day (good for me, not so good for readers).

installation; image taken with gallery permission

There’s a lot to look at – there are 130 pieces of jewellery and smithing here.

And I very much liked the gallery space – light-filled and not as empty as some spaces can feel. I’ll keep this in mind for any of my future exhibition ambitions.

installation; image taken with gallery permission

!st year students: Meg Ayton, Chloe Biddiscombe, Sue Buchanan, Pamela Chan, Katie Collins, Eli Giannini, Cecielia Gregory, Ada Hodgson, Sarah Jones, Kim Jonsson, Jasmina Krupic, Patrick Mays, Roslyn Peric, Jana Roman, Kate Wischusen, Michael Wong, Xuelin Wong

installation; image taken with gallery permission

2nd year students: Bridget Barnes, Isobel Fish, Annie Gobel, Eva Gaitatzis, Anna Gibbs, Annie Gobel, Lucinda Knight, Chris Massey, Ally McNaughton, Lindy McSwan, Danica Moorcoft, Thomas O’Hara, Stephen Robb, Elise Sheehan, Lena Danli Sun, Romy Sweetnam, Breanna Timmins, Natt Underwood, Esther Weinberg, San Young Kim

installation; image taken with gallery permission

The smithing pieces were most impressive to me. I do love raising … ah, the memories. I was wondering who was the smithing teacher this year, as the pieces were all pretty great and a number particularly adventurous and took a great deal of skill.

Standout pieces for me were:

• Annie Gobel, ‘Elevated from the Ground‘, vessels and tray; beautiful colourful enamelled pieces; it seemed to me that there was a sureness and maturity in this piece, so that I wondered if the artist had previous experience before this degree; see the far left in the third image above
• Danica Moorcoft, ‘Fritzel, Baby Bowl‘, vessel; this is included in the stand-out list mainly because it totally freaked me out! it’s interesting and I like some personality (though it made me really very uncomfortable); see top left in the second image above
• Lindy McSwan, ‘Four Score Years and One’, vessels; actually, this was my favourite of the show, truly gorgeous vessels
  

  Lindy McSwan 'Four Score Years and One'

• Eva Gaitatzis, ‘The History of Everything‘, tray and related objects; a lyrical arrangement I really liked (second favourite, if I may)
  

  Eva Gaitatizis 'The History of Everything'

• Ally McNaughton, ‘ExtraTEArrestrials‘, teapots; absolutely loved the deconstructed teapots, stunningly made; left and bottom in the image below
• Sue Buchanan, ‘Hold‘, container; folded black gorgeousness (no image here unfortunately)
• … there were many many wonderful pieces, though I cannot write about them all (it was a struggle to limit myself to six, even when I promised myself I’d only choose five!)

Ally McNaughton, Elise Sheehan, Stephen Robb

I look forward to seeing some of the works these students make when they’re given free rein in third year… I was thinking how I liked first and second year work, for you can see the spark of ‘what they want to do’ starting to shine through ‘what they need to do’ for the degree … if that makes sense.

For a little bit of fun, check out my 1st and 2nd year exhibition review from last year:
‘Got a Nice Ring to it‘.

‘Work Hardened‘ was at Spill Art Space at Boscia Galleries from 16th to 26th November 2011.

Katherine Bowman ‘Locutions’ @ Craft Victoria

Speechless.

Katherine Bowman‘s exhibition ‘Locutions (the loved object)‘ at Craft Victoria left me lost for words.

photograph taken with gallery permission

Exhibition media: “Poetry and craftsmanship in artist’s new exhibition, two years in the making

locution n. 1. a particular form of expression; a phrase or expression. 2. a style of speech or verbal expression; phraseology. (from Latin locutio an utterance, from locui to speak)

Katherine Bowman’s new work examines the way we imbue objects and artefacts with meaning. Through a series of small box like vessels, themes of containment, secrecy, talismanic power and personal mythology come together to create a collection of mysterious and quiet pieces that draw the viewer in like a small poem. Pulling inspiration from sources as diverse as Federico Garcia Lorca, Jean Baudrillard and Nick Cave, these intricately decorated boxes not only provide a secret space to carry one’s true self but a shelter for the vulnerable heart and the spirit animus.“

photograph taken with gallery permission

I appreciated, and understood the artist process better by, the accompaniment of the objects with the watercolour paintings – I am baffled by, and admire, artists who paint and then make from the paintings (another who comes to mind is Hermann Junger) … I find it amazing!

The objects spoke to me more than the paintings though … incredible. Three of the five especially made their presence felt strongly:

• untitled (amulet box) – see Katherine’s post; left in above images
• untitled (3 sided box) – see Katherine’s post; third from left in above images    
• untitled (3 wine cups) – see Katherine’s post; below

photograph taken with gallery permission

I am absolutely in love with the white wine cup above … I dearly wanted to take it home, though the three are a group to stay together. They endear themselves even more for their reference of embroidery, a long-time love of mine too. They are engraved on the outer sides, which cannot be seen above, but can be in images on Katherine’s blog – beautiful.

The objects on a simple table is a beautiful presentation; though I was a little unsure of the wood colour and grain against the surfaces and beauty of the objects … though I must admit to not being able to offer an alternative. Though that said, I can see that the plain simplicity of the unadorned wood could be seen as a foil for the objects too … so perhaps it’s just a matter of difference in aesthetics (and/or my misunderstanding of the connection).

photograph taken with gallery permission

Regular readers will know how much I admire Katherine and her work … though it still surprises me that no matter how much I respect and admire and covet the works of an artist, I still find it difficult to connect with representation of animals! It’s just weird to me, I’m not sure why it’s a problem … though I have written about it a number of times before.

Katherine’s sensitivity and respect of the artistic process translate so well from jewellery into objects – I’m so happy she has a place to show her exhibition, and I congratulate her on the beautiful work. The connections are clear to the work I remember seeing of hers when I was still at RMIT in my degree and she was having her masters show (I think?) at Craft Vic – black embossed containers / houses.

It is absolutely worth making time to see this exhibition.

‘Locutions (the loved object)‘ is at Craft Victoria until 15th October 2011;
and there is an artist floor talk at 2pm on 8th October 2011.

Update (30th September): see also the post on Craft Victoria blog