Calendar: August 2014

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post last updated: 22nd August

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Drawing leaves

As regular readers know, I’m taking a break from making jewellery.
It’s okay.
I do however want for something else to fill that creative void.
The urge to create is to be answered.
To assuage the need, I’m taking a botanical art class.

I’ve done plenty of drawing classes before, both formally (including an RMIT class) and also through evening classes and such; and I decided on this class to reawaken that love.

Our first lesson was talking a bit, and a few of the basics (in pencil).

I learned new things … not that I know lots, but I was surprised to learn something brand new in the first few hours of a class. This pleased me immensely.

Most importantly, a lovely statement from our teacher: “drawing is putting a line around a thought“.

drawing 26Jul14; not to be reproduced without permission

This is one of the pages from my first lesson.

The centre leaf is my absolute favourite; mostly because the lines were felt and came from my hand exactly as I wanted them first time. The clarity of the act was utterly enjoyable, and the lines are beautiful to me.
Just that one leaf though, the others are learning doodles.

Kirsten Haydon ‘Ice storeroom’ @ Craft

Kirsten was one of my two enameling teachers at RMIT. And for that I will be forever grateful – I love the practice, though of course haven’t done any for many years now. Not like Kirsten – she continues to explore the technique and her connection with the Antarctic in ‘Ice storeroom‘ at Craft.

installation; photograph taken with gallery permission

The installation is wonderful. I like how it transports you to another space – moving through the structure it encloses you and it genuinely feels like you’re quite separate from the gallery. It evokes a sparsely built storeroom.

The brooches are mostly circular (though with differing diameters), and seem to me to refer to ice cores.

Exhibition media: “The ice has a remarkable quality of preserving and storing knowledge within its structure. Inclusions, both micro and macro, in the ice can provide detail about the moment the ice was formed. This knowledge could be accessed from analysing the trapped gases or dust particles or by connecting with the narrative of an enclosed man-made object.
In this installation Ice storeroom builds on Haydon’s previous work with Antarctica and explores the notion that Antarctica is a repository for environmental and cultural knowledge.”

photograph taken with gallery permission

There is more colour in this show than in her previous; with the additional hues within a limited palette of greys and blues and rusts, with a shot of dark grey / black in the bracelet in the foreground above.

Once again I like the neckpieces made of tube-components; and I loved the little objects and the neckpiece ‘ice monitor‘.

I initially thought that many of the pieces could be considered to be quite similar to previous collections (certainly not meant as a criticism but more an observation). However then I realised that newer pieces in this exhibition are accompanied with a smattering of older pieces (from 2006 and since), which may explain my sense of familiarity. I may also be experiencing ignorance or failing memory – I’m absolutely sure that were all the work to be in one room a progression would be completely obvious; and can you imagine how gorgeous that room would be!

That said, some of the neckpieces here show incredibly interesting development of form and construction (as in the ‘Lure of Radium‘ below).

I’d also like to know more about the installation on the back wall; for it is unique in the exhibition in including porcelain in the materials – though I couldn’t quite tell where…

media image in SMH article; click on image for original source

This exhibition has also been reviewed and written about by:

• SMH: with a beautiful photograph and well-researched and thoughtful commentary
• HandMadeLife: with many stunning photographs (including one of ‘ice monitor‘; my favourite statement “Every time we’ve seen her work there has been a level of finesse that makes the ideas feel as complete as the actual work. That accuracy of thinking and of execution is evident in every object, every surface, every well-considered corner of this installation.”
• BlouIn ArtInfo

And make sure you check out the Craft interview with Kirsten here.

Kirsten Haydon ‘Ice storeroom‘ is at Craft until 26th July 2014.
[Sorry sorry – it closes tomorrow – I’ve had some trouble getting to this one.]

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See also: 10th June 2011 Kirsten Haydon ‘ice structure‘ @ Gallery Funkai

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More Madrid

More travel memories.

I promise, jewellery-related posts soon …

main rail station