Melbourne jewellery galleries and artists: part 1

PART 1 ——————————————————————————–

I’ve been thinking about this for a little while … the relationships between the key Melbourne jewellery galleries / retail spaces and the artists they stock.

For each of the below galleries (in alphabetic order) I went looking for a page on their websites showing a full listing of the artists whose work they represent. Not as standard as I actually expected – a bit surprised really.

• Alice Euphemia – a ‘jewellery page‘ but this may not be all their artists?
• Black Finch – no artist page
• Craft Victoria – there is a accredited member list, but is this actually an artist listing of represented artists? (the example I’d use is that I didn’t see Elfrun Lach or Karla Way here but I thought they has work at Craft Vic?)
• e.g.etal – no artist listing / page
• Gallery Funaki – artist page, links to biographies
• Lord Coconut – only a text listing (not a bio on each)
• Pieces of Eight – a page for each artist
• Self Preservation – no artist listing / page
• Small Space – a page for each artist
• Studio Ingot – artist page, links to biographies

From seeing which artists are with which galleries, it looks on the surface that artist agreements with these galleries are not strictly exclusive.

Some examples are below. I haven’t chosen these artists for any other reason than I likely love their work and therefore remember them in each gallery (note though, these may not be the only galleries they have work in):

• Anna Davern: Alice Euphemia & e.g.etal & lots as per her stockist list
• Darren Harvey: Black Finch & e.g.etal & Studio Ingot (complete list on his site)
• David Neale: Gallery Funaki & his own online store
• Julia deVille: Alice Euphemia & e.g.etal & lots as per her stockist list
• Justin Austen: Lord Coconut & Pieces of Eight
• Katherine Bowman: e.g.etal & Studio Ingot & her own online store coming soon
• Karla Way: Pieces of Eight & Craft Victoria (and many others, as per her site)
• Lucy Hearn: Studio Ingot & Craft Victoria and her own online store
• Sue Ewington: Small Space & Self Preservation (complete listing on her site)
• Suzi Zutic: Black Finch & Pieces of Eight (complete listing on her site)

So it’s pretty clear we have a pretty amazing group of galleries in Melbourne that are okay with giving artists a greater chance of making a living by being stocked in a number of locations (and not locking them in exclusively).

The only possible exception to that is Gallery Funaki … I think … I thought their artists were exclusive, though the David Neale example has confused me.

Also, I vaguely remember being told that Alice Euphemia had ‘exclusive-range’ requirements of artists – though I’m not sure that’s the case for the above artists, so maybe the arrangement is artist-specific?

I also thought some of the other galleries prefer a separate or exclusive group of pieces / collection from the artist; so that it is unique to their retail space.

So to be sure I had the correct information, I wrote to each gallery to ask.

…

So all of the above text was written before contacting any of the galleries. I wanted to keep it unedited, as it shows the thought process of this post.

Also, while researching the above, I remembered the first post I wrote on this kind of topic earlier this year – it is still relevant and I’d like to expand on it a little further in this post too.

PART 2 coming tomorrow—————————————————————–

Emma Sher @ Self Preservation

The alumni of my RMIT class have been super-busy lately. Among them is Emma Sher, who has a display in the window of Self Preservation. I last wrote about Emma’s work almost a year ago when she had a solo exhibition at Charles Smith Gallery [here]. Also see Emma’s website for more images of her work.

window of Self Preservation

It’s a bit tricky to get a good image of the work in the window, due to the structure of the window itself!

Self Preservation window

I also popped along to Black Finch on the weekend and found some more of her work there too, alongside another classmate Michelle Taylor. Excellent work ladies!

‘Peep Show’ @ Self Preservation

As I mentioned in the quick calendar update earlier this week, the 2nd year group (oops, I initially thought they were graduates – sorry about that!) from jewellery at Box Hill Tafe, collectively ‘The Body Corporate’, have a exhibition ‘Peep Show‘ at Self Preservation.

front window; photograph taken with permission

Participating artists are (alphabetic order):

• Amber Crocker [blog]
• Alexandra Downes
• Puneet Jodhka [blog]; I particularly liked the ‘spikey ring’ with scrolls of paper and an unusual shape (there is an image on her blog)
• Kate Marshall [blog]
• Karyn Nankivell; the polypropylene rings are expressive and effective
• Stephen Robb [blog]
• Misako Sakai [blog]
• Sarah Thomson [blog]
• Jane Walker [blog]

It’s interesting that most of the students have blogs, which I incidentally discovered a few weeks ago – each started in October and have a few posts. Perhaps it was a class project? I think it’s great that jewellers, and in fact any artist, explore the possibilities of connecting with others using this kind of format. I am interested to see how many of the students take to this form of communication and thought-collection, and intend to check again early next year to see which blogs have been abandoned (after all, this is not for everyone) and which have been taken up with gusto!

photograph taken with permission

The layout of Self Preservation has changed since I was last there. The larger first room, beyond the cafe area, which was once full of cabinets of jewellery, now is a larger cafe space with a large communal table and other tables and chairs. I was told that the kitchen has also been extended and that the menu is more comprehensive – while I won’t wander into food-blogging territory here, I plan to go back soon and try some food.

Anyhoo, the jewellery cabinets have been moved into the back room which was the gallery. This room was often bare when an exhibition was not on, so this move is a good one. However it does mean that when there is an exhibition, like this one, it is a little crowded in there.

‘Peep Show‘ is at Self Preservation until Sunday 29th November 2009.