Not Too Precious

11th July – 20th September 2015 at Ruthin Craft Centre – The Centre for Applied Arts

Jewellery by 25 international makers.

Attai Chen, Carina Chitsaz-Shoshtary, Eunmi Chun, Warwick Freeman, Emmeline Hastings, Christel van der Laan, Felieke van der Leest, Sari Liimatta, Märta Mattsson, Jasmin Matzakow, Kazumi Nagano, Shinji Nakaba, Lina Peterson, Zoe Robertson, Michihiro Sato, Mariko Sumioka, Emiko Suo, Tore Svensson, Janna Syvänoja, Mirei Takeuchi, Timothy Information Limited, Terhi Tolvanen, Catherine Truman, Flóra Vági, Heather Woof.

Not Too Precious explores inspirational work by 25 international jewellers using materials for their expressive potential rather than for their intrinsic value. Radical artist jewellers of the late 1960s and 70s vigorously rejected the idea that jewellery should be considered ‘precious’ simply because of the materials of which it was made. Today, the use of a huge variety of materials in jewellery is far more accepted, but economic pressures are putting that freedom of artistic expression at potential risk as people revert to traditionally ‘valuable’ materials for ‘safety’. Not Too Precious challenges preconceptions about ‘non-precious’ materials by encouraging us to consider ‘accrued value’: what talented makers bring to their work through their ideas and skill.

The selected artists, who currently work in the UK, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, create innovative, skilfully-made jewellery that is insightful and culturally resonant. Sometimes poignant, sometimes witty, their work communicates at many levels. It is above all honest and – for want of a better term – not too precious.

An accompanying showcase exhibition in the Retail Gallery highlights work by more recent graduates and makers coming to jewellery from other fields.

Information from Ruthin Craft Centre for more details please visit Ruthin Craft Centre

Or watch the film HERE

Or for more images click HERE

Portfolio Summer Art School 2015

27 July – 25 August 2015 You can pick and choose between 4 blocks; each 2-day block is £12.50 or attend all 4 blocks (8 workshops) for £40.

The Summer Art School is back and this year we have a ‘pick and mix’ of workshops for young people aged 14 – 18 who have a particular interest in the visual arts and would like to develop their artistic practice further.

Throughout the summer holidays Ruthin Craft Centre will be hosting 8 workshops with 4 different artists – Elly Strigner, Zoe Robertson, Anne Gibbs and Buddug Humphreys.

During these sessions the artists will share their expertise, introduce new techniques and discuss your work and ideas supporting the development of your own personal portfolio towards your Art and Design studies

Block 2: Zoe Robertson 3 & 4 August 11.00am – 4.00pm

http://ruthincraftcentre.org.uk/learning/talks-events-workshops/

Study Afternoon: Not Too Precious 20 September 1.00pm – 4.30pm 

Join us for a special afternoon event to mark the final day of this major jewellery exhibition. Exhibiting makers will give insights into their practice, revealing the thinking and processes behind their work in ‘non-precious’ materials. Topics raised will be explored in a panel and audience discussion at the end of the afternoon.

Guest Speakers on the day will be:
Elizabeth Goring (Not too precious Curator)
Dr Elizabeth Goring has postgraduate degrees from the Universities of Birmingham and London, where her research focused on ancient gold work. She has had a longstanding interest in the social, cultural and political significance of jewellery of all periods. She worked at the National Museums of Scotland for many years, where she held several curatorial and management posts including Curator of Modern Jewellery and Deputy Project Director: Museum of Scotland Project. Although her specialist expertise lies within jewellery and metalwork, she has a wide-ranging knowledge of, and interest in, other areas of craft.

Gregory Parsons (Not too precious Curator)
Gregory Parsons graduated from the Royal College of Art with An MA in Constructed Textiles. He has lectured widely including at Glasgow School of Art, Central Saint Martins and University of Brighton. He has worked for the Crafts Council; as both interior and fashion fabric designer in Switzerland and India; as senior Product Developer/Design in soft accessories at Burberry; and most recently product development consultant for the British luxury brand Halcyon Days, and as freelance exhibition curator and retail consultant.

Zoe Robertson (Jeweller)
Award winning jewellery artist Zoe Robertson is a practice-based researcher at the School of Jewellery, Birmingham City University. Her current studio practice explores the notion of Jewellery and Performance, in which the relationship between the object, the body and space is explored. Her work is exhibited within the international arena and recent accolades include being awarded an Honorable Mention at the Cominelli Foundation’s International Competition for Contemporary Jewellery 2012(Italy), as well as being selected for the European Prize for Applied Arts (Belgium) and the ITAMI International Contemporary Jewellery Exhibition (Japan).

Timothy Carson | Timothy Information Limited (Jeweller)
Timothy Information Limited aka Tim Carson is co-founder of Timothy Information Limited. He has been making jewellery for 25 years in a Portakabin in Catford, London, and then a shed in Penge, London. He has shown work to bemused and polite audiences all over the world. Timothy Information Limited has been academic for 20 years. Presently, he lectures on the BA Jewellery programme at Middlesex University. Timothy Information Limited claims to be a Punk and also claims that the jewellery he makes is Punk. Other people don’t think he is a Punk or that his jewellery is Punk. So what is Punk jewellery and what materials do Punks use in their work?

Felieke van der Leest (Jeweller)
The work of Dutch jewellery and object artist Felieke van der Leest expresses the very special affection that she has for animals. She combines techniques used in textile work, such as crochet, with precious metals and plastic toy animals.

Within the international art jewellery scene she has developed her own special language with which she narrates intelligent and witty stories about and with her animal protagonists; her pieces inevitably conjure a smile upon the faces of those who view them. Characteristic for Van der Leest is the joy in her work, which is ever present. Van der Leest also describes her work: ‘Whenever I work with colour, I feel like a painter; whenever I work with metal, I feel like an architect, and whenever I work with toys, I feel like a child.’ However, serious themes in her work are also expressed, including environmental protection and human approaches to animals.

Janet Hinchliffe McCutcheon (jeweller)
Janet is a jewellery artist based at Platform Arts Studios Middlesbrough. Throughout her career she has exhibited widely in UK and international galleries and fairs and she is represented by Contemporary Applied Arts London. She is completing a two year Residency at Teesside University and mima with a focus upon promoting the new Gallery at mima to display their International Jewellery Collection. Janet has known the collection from when it started in the early 1980’s and with her colleague Gemma Draper is working on a Teesside University funded research project to investigate and record its early years.