Day Fifteen (David)

Day fifteen we took the train to Nuremberg, and on the way we stopped in Pforziem to visit the Pforziem Jewellery Museum, and saw snow falling. The Museum was fascinating. I was particularly taken with the historical section. I must admit that I was sidetracked a bit by the jewellery from the era I recreate as a reenactor, however, I feel now that even this isn't “getting sidetracked” in an absolute sense. The date and time on this entry is a blatant lie, I am writing this after Easter. Soon after getting back from the trip, I had a smash in my car and this is informing one of my current projects quite a lot. It seems to me that since the trip I have really come to appreciate the fact that, as artists we are always working, however “sidetracked” we feel. Whilst I have always known this for a fact, I think I have just learned how to actually live it. So, although I have a lot more photos of jewels from 5^th and 6^th Century Western Europe than anything else, among those I took at Pforziem, I don’t feel that I was wasting my time, in taking them.

Day Eleven (David)

The thirteen galleries we saw on day eleven (and one from day ten) have inspired me to talk about presentation. We saw a display in a garret, where all the jewellery was laid out on easels, and one in a basement where the jewellery hung from hooks which were arguably part of the jewels themselves. Another gallery we saw at the end of the day was in the front of a second hand bookstore. It seems that there is some element of the artists making use of the spaces they can get, but it is obvious that they are using them to their best potential. It would be interesting to know when the gallery space has had some influence upon the work itself (at least in some instances, this must be the case). This is an area in which I have had trouble before, the presentation and display of work, but I believe this is due to a lack of experience, rather than a lack of aptitude. Seeing the way the galleries here have handled the presentation of work may well be helpful, I certainly hope it is.

Days Nine and Ten (David)

Days nine and ten seemed to smoosh together into one, for me. It became clear to me, over these two days that I couldn’t process and digest everything I was seeing, there is simply too much. We saw eight galleries on day nine and ten galleries on day ten. By the end of each day I had reached a state in which I couldn’t take anything in. We are often told to “be a sponge,” to absorb all the information we can, but when a sponge is submerged completely, the water will stream out of it when it is unsubmerged. I think that is the stage I have reached. However, I hope that I am more intelligent than a sponge, and will thus retain that which I feel to be the most interesting work, out of what I see.

Day Eight (David)

Day eight we went to the Shmuck fair and later visited Mari Ishakawa and Laura Deakin in their studio. At the fair, the most interesting jewellery thing I saw was the kinetic jewellery of Michael Berger, even though it doesn’t appeal to me aesthetically. There isn’t really much to say other than that it is wonderful to see such technically complex work so elegantly achieved, such that it looks simple. It takes something like this to really make it clear that I don’t need to like the aesthetics of work in order to appreciate it. However, in this case, the work wouldn’t suit itself if it appealed to my aesthetics. The clean lines and high polish, being the elements of the work which grate on my aesthetic senses, are reminiscent of celestial bodies, which plays into the kinetic aspect of the work.

Day Seven (David)

After taking a day off on day five, and spending day six travelling to Munich from Amsterdam, on day seven, we visited Helen Britton and David Beilander in their studio. I remembered some of their work from when they visited us in Sydney, but I was fascinated to see it in person. I particularly like the way David works. To hear him say that he decides: “ I want to make a snake,” and then the technical details, the materials and how he makes it are decided from there (often over the course of a year or so) was very refreshing. Whilst his work is technically extraordinary, it is wonderful to see that this is not for its own sake, it is driven by the fact of what he has chosen to make and what he wants to achieve with it. His technical skill is demonstrated, but not shown off, and usually achieves some auxiliary aim, for example every one of the snake neckpieces he makes will move in a marvellously reptilian fashion, as the wearer wraps it around their neck, even though they are really just a strip of metal coiled around itself.

Day Four (David)

Day four we visited Ruudt Peters and Andrea Wagner in their studios. I found Ruudt Peters’ presentation on his work and how he makes it fascinating. I noticed similarities between the way he gathers inspiration and the way I have worked in the projects I consider to have been my most successful (although of course, my procedure is comparatively undeveloped, hence, perhaps, the presence of this fledgeling likeness only in my best work). With this knowledge, I believe I could learn a lot from his work, but of course I don’t want to become a clone (I have a different aesthetic, anyhow, but I am fascinated by the way he gathers inspiration).

It is difficult to compare myself with such a successful artist without feeling pretentious, but two days earlier, Ted Noten told us to “find a hero,” and to steal shamelessly from them, until we’ve learned all we can from them (of course this was all a bit tounge in cheek and it was obvious that he wasn’t advocating plagiarism). Ted then went on to say that once you have learned all you can from your hero(es), to “kill” them (meaning to stop “following” them, or to challenge them and outgrow them). I am sure that Ruudt wouldn’t object to this treatment, because he said himself: “Burn the books,” take all the knowledge you can from them, then go and burn them (not literally, everyone seems to be talking in metaphors), he means to gather all your inspiration, but not to let it burden you when you’re actually going on with making your own work.

Day Three (David)

Day three was a bit of a non event for me. Whilst we saw allsorts of interesting pieces in the Stedelijk Museum and at Gallery Koudijs,nothing really stood out for me. However, to kill some time inbetween, wevisited a design store called Frozen Fountain:

http://www.frozenfountain.com/?___store=en&___from_store=default

I found this store very interesting, although I didn’t buyanything. I was intrigued by all the ‘boy stuff,’ which one tends to become alittle starved of when looking in jewellery galleries all day I consideredpurchasing a wallet or a folding knife, but I didn’t. I was interested to see,in person, an Opinel knife (three, actually), which are a wonderfullystreamlined design, which follows very much the form follows function axiom and has stood the test of time.

Unfortunately I wasn’t taking photos or notes because Iexpected not to be writing about this.  But what intrigued me even more than thosethings I considered buying, was a pair of cufflinks and a matching wallet (byan unknown designer, who I wasn’t able to find on the website either).  These cufflinks consisted essentially of asteel clasp with a square face, but on top of this was stitched a square ofleather, the same finish as the wallet, which was an unusual orange-tan colour,in distressed leather. This notion of matching accessories is something I amvery interested in. I certainly have gone to some effort to make those items Icarry every day aesthetically united, but what I saw in the shop is a slightlydifferent matter, because cufflinks are only worn with special clothing. Ishould point out that I consider the boundary between jewellery and accessoriesto be blurred. I would have liked to see some other items with the set, perhapsa leather key fob or even a pair of shoes which matched the other bits andpieces. To crown the whole assembly, there could be a pair of glasses, afountain pen, a tie clip and a belt, all incorporating the same leather, butthat’s really just my imagination going too far and imposing my ownsensibilities upon something which the designer intended to be somethingdifferent, but I am glad that this unknown designer has made me think this much.