object eye
The Prolific Work of Melinda Young
Friday November 23 2012
Melinda Young is a highly talented artist that makes the most beautiful and covetable jewellery pieces that I have laid eyes on in a long time. And with all the jewellery I buy or window shop that is saying a lot! (Editor’s note: Sophie has over 300 pairs of earrings, so her opinion can probably be trusted.)
Here at Object we are lucky enough to stock Melinda’s work in our Collect online store and in the current pop up shop we have on, Made By Hand. But that’s not all! We are also lucky enough to have Melinda on staff so we get to see her pretty face often and pick her amazing brain about her inspirations and process.
Melinda’s work varies from gorgeous pieces that you could wear every day to the gallery pieces that are multilayered and intense. One such piece is her work in the current exhibition on at Object, Life In Your Hands: art from solastalgia. The oversized neckpiece is a response to her interaction and work with the Canberra community affected by bush fires in 2003 and is stunning not only for it’s size but also for the uplifting feelings of rejuvenation and hope it evokes.
National Contemporary Jewellery Award at Metalab
Monday October 15 2012
Last week I managed to get along to the National Contemporary Jewellery Award 2012 finalist exhibition at Metalab and it was fantastic! The converted industrial space that Metalab is housed in, just off Crown Street in Surry Hills at 10b Fitzroy Place, is a hidden gem itself. With its polished concrete interior it creates a cool and reverent atmosphere for what almost feels like a temple of worship to the beautiful and brilliant pieces exhibited.
The contemporary works by the 23 finalists in the awards (Nina Baker, Julie Blyfield, Claire Brooks, Bin Dixon-Ward, Joungmee Do, Sian Edwards, Emma Fielden, Yuko Fujita, Kath Inglis, Bridget Kennedy, Vicki Mason, Leslie Matthews, Christopher Earl Milbourne, Sarah Murphy, Nicole Polentas, Brenda Ridgewell, Kaoru Rogers, Emily Snadden, Andrew Welch, Alice Whish, Amy Zubick, Pennie Jagiello and Helena Bogucki) are diverse and truly push the boundaries with design and execution of jewellery production.
Object magazine 62 — Wood You Wear Review
Monday May 14 2012
Linda van Niekerk’s exhibition Wood You Wear? boldly and aptly questions assumptions about functionality and provenance and reflects her curious and audacious process in creating her new jewellery designs.
The small scale of the community in Tasmania and connectedness inherent in this proximity has led to a collegiality among designer makers and a collaborative spirit. In this exhibition van Niekerk capitalises on these exchanges through the design process she employs.
To create these new works there have been ‘partnerships’ with six different designers makers who each knowingly, either at the time of making or event after, have consented to van Niekerk using their completed components or discarded remnants as the major feature of her jewellery. Remarkably she resists temptation to re-design, adapt or re-mould, instead simply honouring the form and subverting the function.
Object magazine 62 — Lola Greeno
Wednesday May 02 2012
In late 2011, Object announced the next two recipients of the Living Treasures: Masters of Australian Craft honour, which has shifted to being a biennial event, with alternating years seeing an exhibition centred around a particular craft medium.
With Nick Mount taking the 2012 honour, 2014 will see Lola Greeno, an Aboriginal shell worker based in Launceston, open her Living Treasures exhibiton. With a career spanning over thirty years, Greeno is one of the most well-respected shell workers practicing in Australia.
Taking her cues from nature and history, and using the landscape as her studio as much as any dedicated space, Greeno herself was only inspired later in life, when she recognised how important the practice was to her culture and her heritage. Upon this realisation, she set about learning as much as she could from her mother, ensuring not only shell-work but family history remained intact.
Object magazine 62 — Cinnamon Lee
Friday April 27 2012
Cinnamon Lee began her metalsmithing journey at a TAFE course in Sydney, falling in love with the workshop and the process of manipulating metals into jewellery. However, a lighting project rounded out that course, and set her off on another path, one that took her to Canberra for her undergraduate degree in order that she could begin to work with larger objects.
Through her entire undergraduate degree in silver- and gold-smithing, Lee created only lights. But she is not interested in pursuing a career in mass-produced lamps for general consumption — she is attracted to what she terms ‘preciousness.’ Indeed, this is where she draws the connection between her lighting practice and her jewellery (which she has returned to since her undergraduate studies.) Lee says ‘I’m interested in using the same kind of philosophies that underpin making previous objects for the body, but not making them for the body.’
Insects
Thursday August 11 2011
I have a love for insects, they are beautiful and tiny and even though they roam around almost unnoticed, they are a big part of the environment and help out with the general maintenance of the earth.
Ants and bees are amongst my favourite, little hardworkers who make our life very pleasurable too, with pollination and honey.
In my ant-obsessed world I started making and drawing ants a little while ago, so when I discovered Sandra Bowkett, a Victorian-based artist who works with porcelain and creates these little marvels, my day for a little ray of light brighter. Her porcelain and ceramics range is made up of a bunch of different images that remind you of every day life. Porcelain brooches of insects and of course including ants. I confess that when I discovered them I gave in and got myself a double ant and a bee. The bee came in just yesterday and I jumped at it before we even put it out with the rest of her display (sorry, it was love at first sight!).
If you’re in Sydney, pop into Collect for some lovely insects and crochet – I guarantee you’ll love them!
Tjanpi Desert Weavers
Tuesday March 29 2011
Look what came in a few weeks ago! These bright and colourful necklaces and bracelets are hand painted by the Tjanpi Desert Weavers of central Australia.
‘When we have got all the tjanpi we need, we light a fire and make a dinner camp and sit around and have tea and put the kuka on the fire and share out all the bush tucker and talk together about different, different things. It’s the same way when we make tjanpi work, sitting around with family and sharing stories. Sometimes joking around, sometimes talking seriously, but always sharing stories. Family is where we learn from each other and how we hear all the news.’
- Jennifer Mitchell, Tjanpi weaver, 2006
Nanette Goodsell in Collect
Saturday March 26 2011
Some lovely new items from Nanette Goodsell have arrived at Collect. Not only do we have baskets, but we have necklaces too! This is certainly an exciting new branch (ha!) of Nanette’s work.
Visiting Object
St. Margarets, 417 Bourke St
Surry Hills NSW 2010
Gallery:
11am to 5pm
Wednesday to Saturday
Object Ground Floor:
11am to 5pm
Wednesday to Saturday
+61 2 9361 4511
object@object.com.au
