Emma: Seeing some classics on day 2

28th February:
Despite not having the widest view of the contemporary jewellery world, it is amazing to meet artists who I've heard of or read briefly about in books. They've all been so lovely to us; telling us their stories and sharing their work and ideas. It's inspiring to see the way different people work, think and create in their different spaces.

Ela Bauer was the first artist we visited. She had a very cute little studio right on the banks of a canal. The room was filled with evidence of her work. Her walls were white but had work, photos, inspirations and samples pinned to them (which I loved! See the photo). Myself and some of the others were talking about how this is important because somehow you always seem to draw inspiration from old work. It's like the stepping stone to the next material or idea. The other thing I liked about Ela's talk was seeing and hearing about her exploration of materials polyurethane and silicone in particular. She talked about how we should talk with the things we are making: not only imposing your ideas but working with the material and using that to take you places as well.

We went to Gallerie Ra and had a really interesting talk with the owner (who is also and artist with some amazing work!). It was a kind of 'behind-the-scenes' look at the way a gallery and it's artists interact.

The part of the talk that interested me the most was about the directions contemporary jewellery could've gone in in comparison to where it has gone. Of the three options: art, industrial/product design and fashion, Paul said that it ha gone in the art direction whilst it forgot that the other options were there too. He also said that we forget about young people sometimes and that we need to enlarge the size of our market.

"when it's out of fashion, we call it classic"
(Paul Derrez)

Peter - Day Two - Tram, Frugal and to be a Child again

Day two, jet lagged was not a serve as it could have been since my roommate and I all woke at five o'clock in the morning . But instead of getting out of bed, we stayed in them, while hoping we won't wake anyone else up as we played on our smartphone or tablets.

Few hours later, after breakfast, we started our way to visit Ela Bauer, Gallerie Ra, and Ted Noten. This was where we experienced Karin's walking pace, which some would consider fast and yet she doesn't. It wasn't long till we soon learnt what she considers fast walking.

In order to get around to the places we need to get to, we took a few of the many trams that roamed  Amsterdam streets. The trams here a quite unique in the sense that it was a fusion of a bus and train. Also, one notable thing with all this public transport is the fact that if you want to get off at a stop, you need to press the button to open the door. This was a very interesting perspective as, in the places that I've lived in, you usually press the button to stop at a station an all the doors open.

In the morning and afternoon, we meet with Ela Bauer and Paul of Gallerie Ra and saw their work and that of others. Then in the late afternoon, we visited Ted Noten and his studio. However, since we were a bit early, Karin decided to teach us her, rather amusing, warm up dance. Now, like many other have done, Ted started with a his presentation. He first started off with his life and how he was from bricklayer background with both family and personally, and how he got fired from changing the brick pattern because he was bored. It was at this point he started to make some very interesting and arguable points.

One strong point that Noton made which made us all chuckle at was the fact you should be like that of child, and not to adhere to these academic question as why you chose this material or colour or blah... and simple reply back because you wanted to. Admittedly, we've all had that moment when we simply wanted to "Because I wanted to." However, in this stage for us to develop, we are not at that stage when we can simply do that. It is important to be asked these question as it helps develop our thought as young artist.

Secondly, another point he made are that jewellers are cheap/frugal and really don't think big or grand. This does seem to be an issue with contemporary jewellery, as it was also pointed out by Susan Cohn with Unexpected Pleasures. During her selection process, she noted that the she could have made a section base alone on similarity in size, as jeweller didn't push the boundaries. So on this point, it could be agreed that we should act like children and not be afraid to push the limits other artist of other medians do.

After a few more point, Noton continued on to discuss his best, worst and different project he had done in the past. We were shown around the studio, his works and then we were off, thanking him for the gift we'd received from him.  

Off we went to dinner and then to bed.

Day Two (David)

Day two was marginally more sedate than day one. It is now the end of day four, as I am writing. I enjoyed going to see artists in their studios, rather than just seeing their jewellery in galleries, although there is certainly merit to seeing the work of several artists in one place, and an exhibition is a different matter. We visited Ela Bauer in the morning, and visited Gallery Ra and Ted Noten’s studio afterwards.

Ted’s talk was very interesting, I was particularly intrigued by his early work, and what he said about his early life. I enjoyed the story he told about being a bricklayer at seventeen and getting fired for being creative with the layout of the bricks in his walls and the project in which he cut up the body of a Mercedes and turned the pieces, complete with the curves of the car body, into brooches, but the idea was rejected by Mercedes because it revealed the thinness of the metal that the car body is made of.  I think my interest in these stories stems not only from their inherent humour, but the way they demonstrate where our world and the ‘real world’ grate against one another, so much so that they’re almost allegorical tales, which warn us about the pitfalls involved with dealing with people from the ‘real world.’

Stephanie's day Twee in Amsterdam!

Ted Noten

Today we visited Ted Noten, the Damien Hirst of  the Contemporary Jewellery artists. Having recently read a fascinating blog post by Sebastian Marshall titled "Designers: Get Paid By Being A Primadonna", Ted's outlook concreted a lot of the assumptions made in the blog. The post details a 'how to' guide of sorts for creative professionals to relinquish their humble nature in favour of a more demanding one - reminiscent of the 'primadonna' stereotype. It details specific attributes and suggests uses for them in an artistic environment where the idea of self worth can be lost or easily undermined. I felt, after meeting Ted, that he has successfully put into play a persona as an artist that has managed to use this demanding attitude (that says by demanding, you receive) to his advantage. The most obvious advantage I felt was the recognition he was receiving from the public and the financial success he had with his art.
On a side note, I also bought the most fantastically etherial necklace, extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this world (pictured). It's by Esther Knobel. My life is complete.

Day 2 Ela Bauer studio visiting ( chris li)

Day two Ela Bauer studio visiting. Ela Bauer is a bit of a thinker as she said. She would like to free her

 mind and be just like apron that she has created. She often uses colours to express the story of her

works. She believes that everyone has a story, once you take off your apron, you will be able to be

yourself again but not that you have to listen to the boss and do whatever they said, which is to confront

our own will. The different stories can also be told from the apron's incidental drawing marks, for

example a shoe maker and a jewellery maker.After that we went to visit Ted Noten's studio and I found

that they share a similar concept of being free and not limiting yourself with your tools. For one of his

work "Chewing gum brooch" by letting his audience chew their gum and then cast them into silver.

This achieves his whole point of being free and the way to let people from different profession to be

creative.

Jenny - Day 2

Today was a completely different experience compared to yesterday. Having the opportunity to hear artists talk about their work in person was an amazing experience. It allowed me to really understand how these pieces came to be and where the idea originated from, rather than having a completely superficial reaction. The talks gave a platform from which you then have a deeper understanding and respect.This means that you will then be attracted to different aspects of jewellery or will be attracted to different types of jewellery than what you would normally drift towards.

In this case - when I first saw Ela Bauer's "aprons" I didn't fully appreciate them until she started talking about them, which changed my outlook on them completely. Once I had an understanding of the concept behind her work I then started to draw connections between things she had mentioned and ideas I find to be extremely compelling.

Ela with one of her aprons

However when put into museum context some problems arise in relation to information, language and time. There is usually limited information about work we see, when it is available there is a language barrier and because we're all running on quite a tight schedule, there is also a time restraint.

Being quite "newly" exposed to the contemporary jewellery scene and not knowing "everyone" all that well can have it's problems, so having someone there who can do a little explaining allows you to appreciate the work so much more, instead of relying on just aesthetics and conjuring up a superficial response.

Peter - Day One - Travel, Travel and Jetlag

Twenty five hours, that was the length of time it took us to travel to Amsterdam from Sydney. I am quite use to this type of travel by air since I was 2 months, however it is always a different feeling or experience when you are travel with a group of friends verses with travelling with family or by yourself. For me, I just became more aware of wanting to look out of the windows to see life below, observe the fellow travellers jammed with you in their seats, and wondering if your bum has gotten bigger or have the seats shrunk.

On the second length of the journey, I was sat in the window seat, which is quite unusual for me as I am normally an aisle person. But the experience I received from sitting in that seat was absolutely amazing. As I drifted in and out of my sleep, I would look out my window to see the world below, each moment a unique one. The first image I saw was this blanket of cotton fluff clouds, illuminated by the soft dull light of the moon and one cloud illuminated by it's lighting. Then at other time, within the last few hours of the flight, there were patches of city with their streetlights sparkly though the night as such of starfishes. Which lead me to recall of other time, as a child, of how these little airplane window hold behind them such many memories for me. As tacky as this sounds, these windows are "window into my memory."

Finally, we landed, got off, collected our luggage, and off we went to hostel. But not long after we arrived to our hostel did we turn around to a catch a train to Apeldoorn to visit CODA to see the exhibition "Un peu de terre sur la peau". By now it was close 9 'clock in the morning, everyone was out and about. This is nothing new to me, except for the fact that instead of looking out of large vehicle, such as cars, buses and trams, you have to watch out for the bicycles, and they're more dangerous! Never in my life have I seen bicycles be preferred to that of a car, it was truly intriguing. Then onto the the train for one hour to see our first exhibition.

"Un peu de terre sur la peau" was an interesting exhibition, showing the works of contemporary jewellery artist who worked with material that came from the earth, basically ceramics.

After seeing this exhibition, we continued onto another trained ride to Nijmegan to visit Galerie Marzee. The train rides were another point of interest for me, not only to for the views of the countryside but also for the people on train. Since we were wanting to stick together, we're sat in groups on the train, which often lead to someone being trapped by us. However, since we often to lead to subjects of amusement, they were quite happy to sit and blatantly listening in on our conversations, chuckling at some points.

We arrived at Nijmegan, at this point jetlag was starting to kick in, which was not a good thing when visiting Galerie Marzee. The reason was that Galeria Marzee's collection was amazing. It was huge, and had contemporary pieces that I only saw on the web or in books. So one word of advice, come to this gallery not tired and also give a few days to actually look to the pieces in detail rather than rushing it all in one day since it a truly unique experience to visit.

Off back to Amsterdam by train, then eating dinner at the public library, finally off to the hostel to bed. Night.

Location 1

We made it! 24 hours travelling and we have now hit the cold weather. Adjusting may take a moment or 2...
but we have things to do and places to go.  To start with the exhibition "Un peu de terre sur la peau" at CODA Museum in Apeldoorn. This is an exhibition of jewellery made out of ceramics curated by the European curator/ artist Monika Brugger. 

Emma: Day 1 and Overwhelmed Already

After almost 24 hours on planes we finally arrived in Amsterdam! It's my first time in Europe so I'm excited about everything: the buildings, the people, the culture - its fascinating. We ventured to CODA in Apledoorn and Marzee in Nijmegen - two amazing galleries in two gorgeous towns.

There are cobblestones everywhere! We kept noticing that when they need to do repairs or fix something, they just dismantle the pavement and then put it back together after. I really liked the idea that something can be so easily fixed and moved

I also really love the character that the cobblestones give Amsterdam itself and in Apledoorn/Nijmegan. I like that you couldn't really tell where the footpaths ended and bike lanes started (especially in the towns) apart from a subtle change in the pattern or level of the cobblestones. The other thing about Amsterdam that I find absolutely charming are all of the finishings on the houses. Every window and door frame is white (mostly), the balaconies and moulding are decorated, there are coloured tiles and bricks worked into the walls; they are mostly old buildings but have elements thay have been renovated and changed. It's also been interesting to see 

The galleries themselves had their own character but i found Marzee particularly striking.  I really liked the industrial, raw look of the gallery: The old pipes, concrete floors, galvanized steel stairs, exposed brick walls. When we were going upstairs someone said "shhh" because we wereaking noise on the metal stairs but my thought was that if they wanted us to be quiet they wouldn't have made metal stairs. I think it enabled us to talk more freely about the work in the gallery and to really explore every part of it. 

There is so much to see in the cities and in the galleries, so many artists and an entirely different culture. It's  a lot to take in, but I am loving it! 

Day 1 (David)

Day one passed in a blur of trains and gallery exhibits. I am writing this at the end of day three, having scarcely had time to breathe, let alone write, until now. We visited CODA in the morning and Gallery Marzee in the afternoon.

I find it very difficult to choose a ‘favourite’ out of everything we saw,but  what I found the most striking was a large vessel, entitled Kom, by Tore Svensson, which we saw at Marzee. I really do mean the most striking, because the vessel is really quite large, almost a cauldron, in size terms, but nonetheless intimately captivating due to a subtle finish which can only be appreciated upon close inspection and a row of evenly placed holes drilled below the rim of the vessel. For one who understands the processes involved in making such a vessel by hand, this creates an especially intense effect because, having made such a painstakingly time consuming vessel, putting holes in the side seems like an incredibly brave action, a nerve-racking experience in light of the huge amount of work that one is tampering with. It exemplifies the fact that details are all-important and shouldn’t be neglected, even if the key impact of a piece is in it’s size and form.

Day 1 gallery Marzee (Chris li)

After a long day trip we have arrived at Nijnlegen by train to visit gallery Marzee. Gallery Marzee has a

broad collection consisting of different artists which I have been inspired by artist such as Dorothea

Pruhl, Flora Vagi and Jenny Kleming have all collected their inspiration from the nature and the

connection around them. The infinity probability texture that nature can create is perfect. For example

Jenny Klemming's "Grandiflora " ring which is made out of apple wood, it has the unique form of

growing and by adding silver, enamel and silk which becoming a contradistinction  to a hand made

object and a natural object. And I'm really interest in the different between them because the colour of

the silver is totally different to the apple wood, and the unusual combination is turning the piece from

raw materials into an artificial jewellery. And this is the junction between of the natural object.

Jenny - Day 1 the Jewellery Explosion

Apeldoorn!

The past 48 hours have been excruciatingly long, tireing, inspiring and enlighten. After stumbling off the plane in Amsterdam we hit the road without delay, an hour later we were in Apeldoorn stepping through the doors of the CODA museum. 

'A little earth on the skin'

Tiina Rajakallio
Purity, 2008
Necklaces, brooch | porcelain, clay, lint, human hair, shellac, alginate, wood, vinamold, bioresin

Peter Hoogeboom

Gallerie Marzee was next, it was a lot more intense compared to CODA but I guess you can't compare two galleries that are so different to begin with. There were so many things to see at Marzee I found myself opening and closing draws aimlessly and no longer absorbing anything, but I think that was also a side effect from the lack of sleep and hunger.

Tiina Rajakallio's use of human hair as a necklace cord, a natural fibre not normally associated with jewellery, a material and concept I find to be the most intriguing. Exploring and experimenting with different materials can be a fascinating part of the development of work, something I know I will find myself doing when I get back to the bench. 

Stephanie's day éen in Amsterdam!

Marzee

As a gallery, the Marzee Gallery in Nijmegen, works to an extent, unless you are tempted by the hundred or so drawers filled with fantastic and intriguing works. The sheer volume saturate the mind to a point where only the artworks you personally find the most amazing or endearing to your personal taste manage to stay with you - and usually, unless you have previous knowledge, this choice works on aesthetics alone. However as a combined gallery space as well as commercial library of contemporary jewellery, the Marzee Gallery, I believe, has the possibility to expand.