Regular readers will know of my exceptionally strong admiration of Helen Britton‘s jewellery (she’s on my lust-list and I’ve been smitten for a while now).
Well, I was beside myself* while viewing her latest exhibition: ‘pairs of pieces‘ at Gallery Funaki.
photograph taken with permission
The exhibition media is eloquent and enlightening, and worth repeating in full:
““When I’m making my work, although I rarely have a clear idea of the end result, I am in pursuit of a fleeting vision that I chase along until the pieces start to materialize on my worktable. Over so many years of making I have observed that this often results in pairs of pieces. There they are then, in the end, these two friendly companions, singing together, vibrating at the right intensity, complementing each other, yet quite autonomous.
What happened along the way? Was there just too much to say to fit into one work? The vision is often dense and chaotic, so perhaps it is a kind of spreading and organizing within the creative process that produces the two possibilities. And this is jewellery after all, so there needs to be space for the wearer.
It not only like this though. At other times, works are being made or coming back to the studio. I lay them out to revisit them, learn more about them, and during this process I recognize quite clearly relationships between pairs, that may in fact be separated by months or even years. For this exhibition I have made and gathered works that examine this experience.”
Helen Britton, 2014”
photograph taken with permission
Once again the monochrome rings called out to me. They’re absolutely stunning.
If the one on the left in the image below hadn’t already been sold I expect I’d be fretting over whether to purchase it or not … completely amazing.
courtesy of the gallery; click on image for original source
The neckpieces are beautiful too – which even surprised me, as I don’t usually respond to too much colouring in jewellery. There was a brooch with the most enchanting lavender / pale rose kind of colour that I couldn’t take my eyes from.
And then there was this ring .. swoon.
courtesy of the gallery; click on image for original source
I also really liked the exhibition design: the uneven and rough-edged constructions are ideal stages for the jewellery.
Make sure you look at all of the images on the Gallery Funaki site – too beautiful. In fact, go and see it in person if you can.
Helen Britton ‘pairs of pieces‘ is at Gallery Funaki until 14th June 2014.
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* I may have squealed a little when I spotted the rings.
I’m also pretty sure I did a little skippy-dance as I made my way towards them.
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Melbourne Jeweller 