suspend.ed is evolving....

Hello!

Exciting things are underway... and a new suspend.ed is on its way- Suspend.ed in pink

Artist Call Out:

You are invited to participate in ‘Suspend.ed in pink’, a touring exhibition that seeks to explore the world of jewellery as it is NOW.  With a focus on concept driven jewellery, also known as art or research jewellery, this call out is looking for wearable pieces that contain the colour PINK.

Submission Deadline:


Submissions for initial selection must be received by SEPT. 21, 2012, electronically to suspendedinpink@gmail.com

Exhibition dates/Information:

The Atrium Gallery, The School of Jewellery, Birmingham University. England. 7^th-28^th January 2013.

Studio Gabi Green, Munich, Germany. As part of Schmuck 2013 from 7^th - 11^th March 2013.

Further venues to be confirmed, exhibitors will be notified as these are secured.

Jury:

Timothy Information Limited.

Laura Potter

Curator:

Laura Bradshaw-Heap

All inquiries and contact:

http://suspendedinpink.blogspot.co.uk/

suspendedinpink@gmail.com

Laura Bradshaw-Heap

The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitude of mind… If you change your mind, you can change your life.

- William James.

  

My process.

My practice seeks to create a social experience within marginal community groups with little or no experience of the creative arts. For me, the end product is not the jewellery produced by the group. Rather the producing of jewellery is a means for developing a social experience within the group. It is these social experiences, of which I become a part of, which then inform my work.

This is me; a project.

The ‘this is me’ project was developed through a series of informal jewellery workshops with a group of women from the Irish Traveller community based in London, in co-ordination with Brent Irish Advisory Services (B.I.A.S.).

The aim of the women who took part was to show an alternative side to Irish Traveller life; one very different to that shown in the Channel 4 series “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding”. B.I.A.S.’s aim was to create a coffee morning which would give the women a place to meet outside their site once a week, to offer new experiences and to develop self-confidence.

My aim as an artist was to create a shared dialogue with the women through the creation of jewellery; to gain a small insight Irish Traveller culture and to develop a collection of jewellery pieces which reflected the themes that emerged through our informal conversations.

My resulting jewellery pieces look to embody these themes. They are informed by the womens’ sense of colour and fun; the objects created during the workshops, and the processes used to create them.

 Without these women, these pieces would not exist.





Rebecca Skeels

SKEELS is a growing jewellery and product design company. It was established in Cambridge in 1994 by Rebecca Skeels. Rebecca is now based in Farnham, Surrey after completing a residency and solo show at South Hill Park Arts Centre, Berkshire.

Over the past 17 years, Rebecca has worked on commissions as well as her own collections of unique hand made cufflinks and pendants to inspirational furniture and games. These are exhibited through, galleries, shops, craft shows and trade exhibitions.

In 2009 Rebecca became senior tutor for the undergraduate Three Dimensional Design and Product Design courses and is the Jewellery and Metalwork Pathway Leader at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham. Rebecca has more recently become cluster leader on the MA course at the University for the Creative Arts, working with students across Interior and Architecture, Jewellery, Glass and Ceramics specialist areas.

As a member of the Board of Directors for the Association for Contemporary Jewellery (ACJ), Rebecca encourages jewellers to network online. The Association for Contemporary Jewellery is devoted to the promotion, representation, understanding and development of contemporary jewellery.

Very recently, Rebecca became a Trustee for the New Ashgate Gallery in Farnham. The New Ashgate Gallery is a non-profit educational charity, which promotes contemporary visual arts and crafts to as wide a public as possible.

Through research and experimentation with alternative materials, Rebecca produces a number of one-off pieces to complement her existing ranges. This led to managing and running a symposium/exchange with the Jewellers and Silversmiths Network (JSN) and the Critique Collective Network in San Francisco in 2010. The JSN is a group run by its members for its members with the aim of getting to know other makers. 

Rebecca’s recent collection of bird inspired rings and pins are made from a mixture of metals, from metal clay, brass, steel and silver using a variety of processes including casting, hand building, soldering, texturing and oxidizing. The legs of the ducks, chickens and crows become individual display stands of the jewellery when not worn.

Rebecca intends to expand her recent collections with more research and experimentation, taking opportunity of new, developing and different materials and technologies. Research will also take place to develop the method in which jewellery and metalwork is taught, widening the understanding of how we learn and the knowledge of the jewellery and metalwork industry.