Jewellery Project- Development

I have been researching various creative projects to provide me with inspiration for my independent jewellery project entitled 'The Extraordinary Ordinary'.

My aim was to produce a collection of interesting, quirky, odd, slightly crazy unusual items from a broad selection of materials- beads, buttons, recycled items, old unused kitchen appliances, ribbons etc.

However I have reached a pause in my project- I am looking back on what I have made- and feel that I have not created as distinctive pieces as I hoped. Instead they appear too generic and not as experimental as planned. This maybe because I have doubted my work along the process and therefore I have left my original concept thinking it was unattainable.

But I feel the items I have currently made are not very interesting so I need some inspiration which I found in:

FISCHLI/ WEISS: 

The collaborative series of photos by Peter Fischli and David Weiss, taken in 1984, presents a collection of ordinary items balanced in an unusual sculpture and the photograph is taken moments before the new creation collapses. The series is entitled 'Equilibres/ Quiet Afternoon' which captures the moment caught between stability and instability.

I am inspired by the technique of mixing random objects together (tin kettles balanced with a floor brush). I should progress onto achieve this broad design to create 'experimental' jewellery pieces. I should not be scared. 

A perfect relation to my project with this quote by the Guardian's critic Adrian Searle who stated that Fischli and Weiss "celebrate the normal. Normal pleasures, normal fears, normal wonders and irritations." 

Love Love Love

Art Days

Theme of day= crazy paint splodges, accidental spills etc. Quite a crazy mess.  Once dried write calligraphy over the top.  Battle of colourful paint and black ink.

An explosion! 

Dream Catchers

Rules of Adornment

On the evening of Friday 29th, me and mum went to the event 'Rules of Adornment' at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Related to the Pearls exhibition, which explores the history of the natural pearl and their symbolism, currently on at the museum this event was to make us all question why we choose to wear what we do. Even though I make a lot of jewellery I have previously never thought of the role that my bracelets and necklaces have on a person accept for aesthetic value. So this enjoyable evening was quite thought provoking!

• Why do we adorn ourselves with jewellery, accessories, technology and tattoos?
• What is the role for adornment in popular culture?
• Is it about status or personal expression?
• What meanings are communicated and concealed through the language of body adornment across different cultural backgrounds.

Adornment= something that beautifies,  adorns or decorates; an ornament.

                               

Highlights:

• Skin Deep, Brothers of the Stripe
• Marks of Social Identity, Sharon Hung
• The Alternative Limb Project, Sophie de Oliveria Barata
• Pearls, Myths, Symbolism and fashions, Dr. Najia
• Beirut, I love you - In Conversation with Zena el Khalil

Whimsical Light Vibrant in the Sky

   Autumn image lit up by the winter glow. A lonely bench desperate for some one to sit and read a book! ;)

On our drive home we were met by a beautiful orange winter sunset. 

It was one of those moments/ memories you really want to capture so I took some (blurry) photos.

 There is such power in the strength of the setting sun. 

Such vivid colour, that it makes you forget all your worries of the present.

Rise up again tomorrow. 

New Business Cards

Yippee! Our new business cards have arrived- just in time to hand out during the Christmas stall season!

Beads, Buttons... and tape.

Love making jewellery!

Lots of different ideas and designs on my mind this year.

Bold bracelets with glass, marbled and quirky beads as well as buttons (couldn't miss them out!)

Crazy (hopefully) necklaces out of plates, coffee beans, buttons, rope, cardboard, acetate- anything I decide will look good!

Dreams

Exhibition Visits By Shona Coyne

On a recent trip to London I stumbled across three very interesting galleries just by I making the decision to get off one tube stop earlier and walk the rest of the way.
Moral of the day=  take time to actually look and you will be surprised.

• Corinne Day: May The Circle Remain Unbroken
• Damien Hirst, Candy
• Johan Van Mullen, Origin

The collection of Corinne Day's earliest photographs, taken between 1987-96, are 'filled with humour and life where one can almost hear the laughter out of shot' is relevant to the work that I have been looking at involving friendship (the youth culture project).
Therefore I particularly enjoyed the set of short videos on show at the exhibition- with a punky sound track it showed the life of these young people relaxed, free, happy but with the same anxieties about life as everyone else. Overall the idea portrayed is that we all go through the same circle of life; even though we have individual journeys.

Corinne's grandmother on her 90th Birthday. Corinne's partner Mark Szaszy described this image so beautifully 'the thing about old age is the complete and total loss of all inhibitions.' - What an interesting outlook!!!

 I love the subdued light and thoughtful expression of this image.

So many sweets had people wondering- are we supposed to take one? But has this idea of the audience participating in the artwork become over used now...

Johan Van Mullem's very beautiful and fascinating exhibition entitled 'Origin' contained a collection of unclear, muddy images which at a distance formulated images of the human face. I loved how the painting technique was scratched and 'messy' as it enhanced the foggy, ghost-like quality in the  development of these images of the human face. 

This was my favourite painting from the collection as the colour palette of brown, blue, yellow and green gave a natural and earthly reflection on this painting of a developed face. For me it was a very fresh painting and the perfect representation of this exhibition 'Origin'.