Frangipani Neckpiece 1 2010. Fine silver, silk thread. (work # 20)

Frangipani Brooch 5 2010 (foreground.) Fine Silver. (work # 24) Frangipani Brooch 4 2010 (background.) Bright Silver. (work # 23)

Cookeina Brooches 2010. Sterling Silver (natural and oxidised) spray paint. (work # 16 – foreground)

Grey Cookeina Shelf 2010. Copper, spray paint, pine. (work # 3)

Three Layer Star 2010. Stainless steel, steel cable. (work # 74) Consecutive Strung Planes 2010. Stainless steel, silk thread. (work # 73)

Eight Point Powder Case Set 2009. Hand pierced recycled brass powder case, stainless steel. (work # 66 + 67) Tobacco Tin Set 2009. Hand pierced recycled tobacco tin, stainless steel. (work #68 – Marked as Cigarette Case Set.)

Flora Momento Pendants, 2010. Anodised aluminium, linen thread. (work #47)

Ovoid Flower Necklace 2010. Oxidised sterling silver, pink tourmaline cabochon beads. (work # 38) Flora Momento Bowl 2010. Anodised aluminium. (work # 36)

‘Installation’ 2010. Recycled, found and constructed objects. (work #52)

untitled #6, 2010. Insulation wires, collected and crafted objects (work #58)

Images of work in-situ coming soon.

The project was called Sense of Place and had to be some sort of box. I struggled with this theme as I didnt feel like I had a place. I was still living at home after going straight from school to uni. So I made a box with hinged pieces and each part of the pieces were different.

I had spikes coming through the other side,a repoussed castle in the sky. I think I was referencing confusion, life struggles and the future. I see a bit more in it now than when I made it. Though at least my skills have gotten better.

When I finished uni I decided to go travelling. I was overseas for 3 years, living in different places  then came home to perth and started travelling around Australia.My grandmother who lives in Wales calls me a gypsy. And I was for many years. I did return home to perth every now and then but then kept taking off.

This is the first neckpiece I made in second year of uni. It is made of sterling silver and I hand cut every piece.It has quite a lot of movement in it.

After years of travelling around I decide to go back to uni and do a post grad in 2004. I majored in jewellery production which set me on my way to where I am now. In 2006 I was accepted into the JamFactory as a Design Associate and I am still here in Adelaide. Its the longest I have been in one place since leaving home as a teenager.

This is my work now. The wall piece is called the ‘Forest of Fungi’ and is 1200mm x 600mm and made from silver, copper and nickel silver.  As well as jewellery I make wall pieces and installations.

The neckpiece is part of my ‘Cookeina’ collection. Made out of silver and oxidised. It has movement in it as well which relates nicely to the first neckpiece I made at uni.

This was around February of 2004.

In April I attended a mini-symposium of jewellers on a Saturday mornng. Organised by FORM, it allowed the four jewellery artists who were making works for an upcoming show called Home Ground to speak to a small audience. Helen Britton and Carlier Makigawa were on the one bill (with Sarah Elson and Bronwyn Goss) and seeing their work while hearing them speak about jewellery was beyond inspirational. Almost another epiphany.

For me, (interior designer, remember, albeit one with an appointment to meet Brenda Ridgewell in the jewellery department at Curtin the following week) seeing this take place before my bewildered eyes was incredible. These were actual jewellery artists, they had found a way to become what I had only just started to sense was what I wanted to be. They spoke so naturally and with such knowledge about what was for the most part still a new world to me. And their work was amazing. Incredible.

Of course it helped that they had a little less of the ego that I had so often seen in lectures delivered by people in my profession – architects and designers. The commitment to art as well as their language and delivery helped to woo me.

And in all this there was the added knowledge that they all started off in Perth… That was, and still is,  really important to me.

In May that year I started a new job, with an awesome boss and a great team around me. If I had not already been hooked by jewellery, I may never have been while in that job, I was that much happier.  Timing is everything.

The exhibition takes place from the 8th of April and continues unti the 29th of April, 2010. (Opening Friday the 9th of April, 5pm – 7pm.) The show’s opening is timed to coincide with the Jewellers and Metalsmiths Group of Australia (JMGA) conference in Perth, Western Australia. The conference is being held at the Central Institute of Technology in Northbridge on the weekend of the 9th til the 11th April 2010.

Return is an exhibition curated by Melissa Cameron, and features the works of jewellery artists Michelle Kelly, Regina Middleton, Belinda Newick and Robin Wells as well as Melissa’s own pieces.

Showcase Gallery,
Central Institute of Technology,
12 Aberdeen St, Northbridge, Perth.