‘National Contemporary Jewellery Award‘ @ COTA

Hooowee, I’d forgotten how humid Sydney can feel in Spring; but the sun was out and that always makes me happy.

As planned, I popped into Courtesy of the Artist to see the ‘National Contemporary Jewellery Award‘.

Exhibition media: “The National Contemporary Jewellery Award was started in 1992 by the Griffith Regional Art Gallery to support the development of the National Contemporary Jewellery Collection.”

photograph with gallery permission

COTA’s gallery room is a beautiful space.

It was a strange experience though – I think I’ve already seen the pieces (perhaps all; though if not, almost all) online, so seeing them in person wasn’t as much of a thrill as it would be without the prior exposure.

Of course I’m glad I saw them in person – and I really do think that the prevalence of online documentation of exhibitions is completely fabulous (especially for anyone not able to go due to geography or mobility etc) – though this may be something for curators to think about.

I wonder if the ease of seeing pieces online (facebook especially) is taking the edge off the need to visit exhibitions in person? Though I expect that it may also in fact be increasing traffic. Do any gallery staff have a feel for the impact of online photos? As a balance, I would suspect that a few key pieces online would be ideal, with full documentation after the show has closed (oh wait, that’s been the case here, as this is a traveling show!).

Thoughts from more experienced curators, and other exhibition visitors, are most welcome.

photograph with gallery permission

Participating artists are:

• Sun-Woong Bang, Alyra Bartasek, Julie Blyfield, Brendon Collins
• Emma Fielden, Karin Findeis, Felix Gill, Pennie Jagiello
• Lauren Joffe, Rebecca Hinwood, Carly Lay, Danielle Mackenzie
• Vicki Mason, Shan Shan Mok, Courtnee Nichols, Carl Noonan
• Juliette Pastorok, Felicity Peters, Jessamy Pollock,Phoebe Porter
• Jana Roman, Bridgette Shepherd, Emily Snadden, Sarah Spackman, Blanche Tilden

photograph with gallery permission

Highlights for me were:

• brooches by Emma Fielen
• brooches by Jessamy Pollack (whose work I admired in BUDA last year)
• colourful neckpiece (centre in image above) by Karin Findeis.

‘National Contemporary Jewellery Award 2014′ is at Courtesy of the Artist (Sydney) until 1st November 2014.

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Update (28th October): It was remiss of me not to link to the Griffith Regional Gallery, where “NCJA is an acquisitive prize sponsored by Griffith City Council and held at Griffith Regional Art Gallery biennially.“. This exhibition showed there 4th – 28th September.

Also, their facebook page is where I saw high quality images of the works.

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