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Elements: metal

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Craft ACT Gallery: 10 February to 19 March 2011








Elements: metal and the Centre's 40th year celebrations were officially opened by Mr Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister and Minister for the Arts and Heritage, Australian Capital Territory on Thursday 10 February 2011.

In 2011 Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre is celebrating its 40th birthday. Elements is a dynamic series of group exhibitions celebrating the Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre membership of leading craft practitioners and designer makers. The first in the series, Elements: metal, highlighted invited artists Eugenie Keefer Bell, Sean Booth, Robert Foster, Johannes Kuhnen, Rohan Nichol, Sabine Pagan, Gilbert Riedelbauch, and Oliver Smith.

 

Elements: metal

by Emeritus Professor David Williams AM, Australian National University Research School of Humanities and the Arts

Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre's exhibition series Elements celebrates the organisations 40 year anniversary. Elements: metal is the first in the series.

Elements: metal showcases the outstanding work of artists Eugene Keefer Bell, Sean Booth, Robert Foster, Johannes Kuhnen, Rohan Nichol, Sabine Pagan, Gilbert Riedelbauch and Oliver Smith. The selection of the artists for the exhibition has been guided by their active involvement and the various roles they continue to play with Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre.

The artists in the exhibition Elements: metal are leaders in the field of metal work. They all have a very active involvement in education and training through the various workshops and universities with which they are associated. This in turn links to the Centre, especially with current trainees, students and graduates. As emerging artists, designer/designer makers and craftspeople, they benefit by accessing mentor and support programs initiated by the Centre and also by participating in exhibition opportunities, work experience and invitations to display and sell work in the Centre's Shop.

The Elements: metal exhibitors themselves are directly involved with the Centre as Board or Committee members, Accredited Professional Members, or participate as roving ambassadors. This kind of support for Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre is a notable aspect of the connections the artist/designer makers have with the organisation. They are an influential group in the cultural life of Canberra.

The Elements: metal exhibitors have also enjoyed an association with the Australian National University (ANU) School of Art Gold and Silversmithing Workshop either as a graduate, visiting artist, guest lecturer or staff member. 35 years ago, the Canberra School of Art was established. In 1992, the School amalgamated with the Australian National University to become the ANU School of Art. It is now 30 years since the School's Gold and Silversmithing Workshop was established and the metalwork program introduced. Since that time, staff members of the School's craft workshops have played an important role in the activities of the Crafts ACT: Craft & Design Centre.

The 1970s were exciting times. In 1971, the ACT Crafts Council of the A.C.T. was formed with all states following the lead from the Crafts Council of Australia which was established in 1968. The organisation is now known as Craft Australia. From the outset, the Crafts Council of Australia was developing resources, advocacy strategies and forming international networks through the World Crafts Council. In 1972 the Crafts Board of the Australia Council was established providing funding support for traineeships, workshop development, exhibitions, artists in residence and crafts organisations. Higher education reforms in the late 1970s facilitated opportunities for university degree level visual arts, crafts and design studies. In 1975 the newly independent Canberra School of Art developed its own visual arts degree courses with a unique emphasis on the crafts. A new philosophy established for the School derived from the Bauhaus atelier model of art and design education based on studio practice as central to the teaching, providing access to specialised facilities and organisational arrangements. The blue print for the Canberra School of Art established ten dedicated visual arts and craft workshops under the leadership of experienced professional artists. Each workshop focussed on the traditions in its own discipline as a context for developing contemporary concepts and mastering relevant skills. The idea was to provide a teaching environment closely related to day-to-day professional artist studio practice. The teaching program was supported by visiting artists in residence, guest lecturers and exhibitions. Many of the School's visitors brought an international perspective as their contribution to the student experience. The School of Art's Gold and Silversmithing Workshop continues to be part of this dynamic learning environment.

 

During the 1970s and 1980s there was worldwide interest in experimentation and innovation with the emergence of a new visual arts and craft aesthetic. The availability of alternative low cost materials including metal alloys, acrylics, paper, textile, glass and ceramic presented opportunities for a more contemporary approach to design and making. The use of specialised tools and technologies opened up completely fresh possibilities. Diminishing interest in traditional gold and silversmithing and metalwork applications such as hollow-ware coincided with the emergence of a new generation's interest in home ownership, individual preferences for unique pieces and an embrace of the fashion world, clothing design and body ornament. This paved the way for the creation of innovative object designs, wearables and unique jewellery creations. Interest and patronage from collectors, specialist galleries and art museums validated these new approaches to design and the making process and helped to create a market for this kind of work.

In Europe and the USA, the contemporary crafts movement brought a renewed appreciation of the hand made and high quality craft making skills. It also raised aesthetic aspirations and advocated appreciation of good design and innovation. Stereotypical concepts and methods were liberated with this thinking. Computer aided design and availability of new materials enhanced design possibilities. Through the World Crafts Council network, Australia was well connected with this movement and in the 1960s and 70s, a number of leading European and American silversmiths, jewellers and craftspeople migrated to Australia. They established studios and took up lecturing positions in the major cities. Their influence and contribution to developments in Australia has been very significant. In 1980, Norwegian Ragnar Hanson who was already in Australia, was appointed to establish the Gold and Silversmithing Workshop at the Canberra School of Art. Initially the teaching focussed on traditional metals and hollow-ware, but following worldwide trends with new interests and expectations, opportunities opened up for jewellery and design related object making. This approach was soon an integral part of course work in other art and design schools. In Canberra with Hanson's retirement in 2003, German trained Johannes Kuhnen was appointed Head of the Gold and Silversmithing Workshop. Kuhnen was among the first to recognise the potential of new technologies such as selected laser sintering, rapid prototyping, laser and TIG welding. He also encouraged the use of titanium, monel, aluminium, brass and stainless steel as less inexpensive alternatives to gold and fine/sterling silver traditionally used in metalwork. Acrylics, various forms of plastic, resins, rubber, wood, leather and recycled materials were possibilities to be used in various combinations and with all kinds of metals. Processes such as anodising, laser cutting and welding, fusing, and induction casting were other options made available in the process of creating new designs. While there is no real substitute for traditional hammering, saw piercing and silver soldering, the availability of new materials, technologies and techniques opened up exciting potential for contemporary metal working.

The exhibition Elements: metal exemplifies these developments. All the exhibitors are mature, experienced and trained artists. Their work is represented in significant exhibitions and major public collections. They enjoy a high standing in the visual arts world. The work in the exhibition demonstrates a sophisticated, high quality refined approach to design and it makes use of traditional and alternative materials. The country of origin of the artists reflects Australia's international cultural profile. Each draws on diverse personal experience and expertise to realise their design ideas which focus on metal. The exhibiting artists are connected with Canberra and the region and all are or have been professional members of Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre. The quality of the jewellery, flatware, cutlery and metal objects in the exhibition represents a high point in contemporary metal work. It reaffirms Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre's important role in showcasing Canberra's and Australia's outstanding achievements in work using the Elements: metal.

 

Elements: metal

Celebrating our 40th birthday in 2011
Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre Gallery: 10 February - 19 March 2011

This year Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre celebrates its 40th birthday. The organisation was founded in 1971 as the Craft Association of the ACT, subsequently the Crafts Council of the ACT and renamed Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre in 1998.

The Centre plays a pivotal role in the cultural landscape and identity of Canberra and provides services that support craft practitioners and designer makers to establish and maintain professional practices in Canberra and the region. The gallery is a destination for the Canberra community to experience and enjoy world class contemporary craft and design by local and national artists.

Canberra is home to many of Australia's internationally renowned practitioners and has a reputation as a seeding ground for creative development. To celebrate the achievements of our members, past and present, and Canberra's influential practitioners, the Centre has curated a series of group exhibitions titled Elements. This series highlights the diversity of craft and design mediums - metal and jewellery, glass, fibre, ceramics and wood - and showcases work by leading craft practitioners and designer makers.

Elements: metal, the first in the series, showcases artists:

Eugenie Keefer Bell

This collection continues Eugenie Keefer Bell's interest in using the linear qualities of wire to develop works conceived as a kind of 'drawing' in jewellery. A single line of fine silver, brass or lacquered copper wire, sometimes threaded with tiny silver or glass beads, is worked into dense surfaces and structures. Some are worked over wood or constructed silver forms, others are self-supporting as brooches or pendants. These works quietly make narrative references to recollections of Keefer Bell's travels in Scandinavia and Japan.

Eugenie Keefer Bell is Associate Professor of Architecture in the Faculty of Arts and Design at the University of Canberra and previous Accredited Professional Member. Keefer Bell is recognised as a distinguished teacher and has maintained links with the organisation through her practice as a designer and in her role as educator at the University of Canberra.

Sean Booth

The unlimited palette and freedom of working with metal as a material allow Sean Booth to create at a lively rate. His aesthetic draws from architecture, sculpture and nature. Booth's practice is diverse, with two main threads of investigation. The first focuses on the more traditional use of silver and hammerwork within a contemporary context, while the second challenges geometry and the structures that can be built with a sense of fluidity. His exhibition work is often 'research and development' for further production-style works.

Sean Booth became a member in 2002 as a student and is now an Accredited Professional Member. Booth has a successful professional practice exhibiting internationally and represented Australia in Collect Australian Contemporary at the Victoria and Albert Museum in UK in 2008. He remains an active member and has been a management committee member and Treasurer.

Robert Foster

The strong driving force behind Robert Foster's creative practice is to explore and invent. He transcribes over this fascination with visual language and the understanding of material and process. The results of his investigation are both diverse in form and function as well as appearance. In spite of this multiplicity, people say that there is a commonality in Foster's work, perhaps this is tied to his interest in expressing energy, implied movement, interacting forms and line, which are generally impressions of his surrounding environment. Foster believes that the diversity of his exploration has given him a growing bank of knowledge, creating a 'feed back loop' between aesthetics, process and ideas.

Long standing Accredited Professional Member and owner and principal designer of F!NK + Co., Robert Foster is a strong advocate for craft and design and continues to strengthen the sector through his commitment to education and mentoring programs. Sean Booth undertook a mentorship with Robert Foster in 2005. Foster remains an active member of the Centre through exhibitions, as a stockist for his F!NK range and as an ambassador for the organisation.

Johannes Kuhnen

Johannes Kuhnen is one of Australia's most well recognised silversmiths, exhibiting extensively in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Europe since 1979. His practice has remained at the forefront of innovation, in particular his pioneering use of anodised aluminium and his interest in exploring and extending the technical and aesthetic possibilities of this material.

Johannes Kuhnen is Head of Gold and Silversmithing Workshop at the Australian National University (ANU) School of Art and a past Accredited Professional Member. Kuhnen has maintained strong links with the Centre through his education and leadership role at the ANU School of Art, as co-founder of Workshop Bilk and as a leading Australian practitioner. Three 2010 graduates from the ANU School of Art Gold and Silversmithing Workshop are recipients of our annual exhibition award and are represented in the Crucible Showcase exhibition series, Harvest.

Rohan Nichol

Rohan Nichol works across a variety of craft and design disciplines. Jewellery, silversmithing and industrial design are his familiar turn and reference points. He is interested in making work that is one-off and pieces that explore limited production. Nichol believes that it is important to work from a variety of angles, and finds that developments in one aspect of his practice are to the ultimate benefit of his work as a whole. Recent works in jewellery have provided him with new knowledge in terms of techniques and aesthetic development.

Nichol is a past member and represented in the recent Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre international touring exhibition, F!NK: Fostering Design. He has returned to the ANU School of Art as Associate Lecturer Core Studies, strengthening links with students and emerging Canberra practitioners.

Sabine Pagan

Sabine Pagan's work revolves around the idea of designing pieces that evoke a machine look but are partially or entirely handmade. At first glance the work always appears simple; as you look closer at the object, it reveals details that prompt you to consider how the different elements hold together. The manner in which objects are made - where the boundaries between craft and engineering become blurred - has always fascinated Pagan, particularly in larger works such as buildings and bridges.

Pagan is a past member and currently Course Coordinator and Lecturer in the Bachelor of Arts (Jewellery) program at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga. Under Pagan's leadership, graduates have achieved an industry presence across the sector and received several nationally recognised awards. Pagan maintains important education and student links with the organisation and is a strong advocate for craft and design in Canberra.

Gilbert Riedelbauch

As much as the mind links an idea with a design solution, the hand connects design to the making process. Making becomes the extension of design and forms the essence of craft.

New technologies play an ever increasing part in Gilbert Riedelbauch's working practice. The skilful manipulation of tools and process - the basis of making - is equally important for digital work and requires an experienced hand. These augment and expand all aspects from the sketching to the making, digital technologies have a hand in it. Using the old together with the new calls for new design solutions and informs the resulting objects. Traditional silversmithing techniques interact with rapid prototyping parts and the virtual 3D space of the Computer Automated Design program feels like an extension of Riedelbauch's workshop.

Gilbert Riedelbauch is a long standing Accredited Professional Member, stockist and past member of the management committee. He is Head of Core Studies at the Australian National University (ANU) School of Art. Riedelbauch is a strong ambassador for the organisation and continues to play a pivotal role in building and strengthening relationships between the Centre and the university.

Oliver Smith

Oliver Smith is a silversmith with a particular interest in hammer techniques and a passion for hot forging. The production of flatware and hollowware using traditional materials and techniques is the foundation of his practice and the source of much of his creative thinking. In making objects for the table, Smith is inspired by the conviviality of the shared meal.

Launching from this platform are the many and varied areas of Smith's craft and design work. The multiple levels that he operates on in the creation of objects demonstrate the dynamic role of the contemporary craftsperson and designer. Each of his projects can fall into one or several categories: unique handcrafted objects, commissions, collaborative work or design for production. He is driven to make the spirit of the handmade object more broadly accessible through the concept of 'the best of craft and industry', and to enrich people's lives through beautiful, functional objects.

Long standing Accredited Professional Member and stockist, Oliver Smith maintains and strengthens his links to the organisation through his strong professional practice and commitment to the sector. The Centre facilitated a product launch for Smith's range of utensils in 2004, he was awarded the Maker to Manufacturer to Market grant and represented Australia at Collect in London at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Images

Photographs: Creative Image Photography

 

 

Craft ACT is supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian Government and all state and territory governments, and also gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance it receives from the Australia Council for the Arts, the Australian government's arts advisory body. Craft ACT is a member of ACDC, Australian Craft Design Centres.