Cultivate
Saturday 26th November - Saturday 14th JanuaryFor this exhibition we have invited 12 contemporary jewellers to respond to the work of printmaker Angie Lewin whose work is inspired by plants and gardens. Angie Lewin's prints will form part of the exhibition to complement the jewellery and vice versa. Jewellers include Alan Ardiff, Laura Baxter, Jessica Briggs, Shona Carnegie, Paul Finch, Catherine Hills, Clare Knox-Bentham, Julia MacGregor, Ruth Praill, Nikolay Sardamov Simone Salandini and Ruth Tomlinson.
About Angie Lewin
Angie studied Fine Art Printmaking at Central St. Martins College of Art and Design between 1983 and 1986, followed by a year’s part-time postgraduate printmaking at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts. After working in London as an illustrator she studied horticulture and a move to Norfolk prompted her return to printmaking.
Inspired by both the clifftops and saltmarshes of the North Norfolk coast and the Scottish Highlands, she depicts these contrasting environments and their native flora in wood engraving, linocut, silkscreen, lithograph and collage. These landscapes are often glimpsed through intricately detailed plantforms. Attracted to the relationships between plant communities on an intimate level, even the fine lines of insect eggs on a flower bud are observed in her work. Still lives often incorporate seedpods, grasses, flints and dried seaweed collected on walking and sketching trips. A Wedgwood cup designed by Ravilious, may contain feathers and seedheads.
A recent anthology of garden writing published by Merrell, ‘Garden Wisdom’, is illustrated throughout by my prints, and author Leslie Geddes-Brown explains:
“The whole book was, in its turn, inspired by the art of Angie Lewin, who brings her own vision of the natural world to her work. She sees the beauty in all seasons and all manifestations of plants: the ordered pattern of the blooms, the thrusting energy of the emerging buds, the prolific seedheads and the varieties of shapes, colours and habits to be found in meadow and border.”
As well as designing fabrics and stationery for St Jude’s, which she runs with her husband Simon, Angie has worked for Penguin, Conran Octopus and Picador as well as Liberties of London.
About the Jewellers in this exhibition.
Alan Ardiff launched his revolutionary movement on the unsuspecting Irish market in 1994. His miniature kinetic jewellery works were embraced enthusiastically and over the years he has achieved a massive group of emotional followers all around the world. Alan Ardiff also likes to express himself in a variety of different ways. He is equally comfortable through the medium of paint, drawing and sculpture. Alan has been invited to exhibit his artwork in a number of high profile exhibitions both nationally and internationally.
Laura Baxter was born in 1973 in Lincolnshire, England. She studied Three Dimensional Design at Manchester Metropolitan University, graduating in 1996 having specialised in metal and glass. Laura's work is inspired by botanical forms:The Plant Detail collection is a body of work developed from visits to Chelsea Physic Garden, London. The Blossom collection is inspired by apple, cherry blossom and Spring time. The Garland Collection explores flower heads and leaves picked from the garden and arranged in clusters and small posies. Her work is stocked by leading British and European galleries.
The work of Jessica Briggs shows an inherent simplicity in both form and function. All designs, whatever the inspiration are translated into elegant pieces with subtle textures or more complex and layered finishes. Each item is handcrafted by Jessica and thus the characteristics of all aspects of my work are under constant review. The result is an ever-changing range of very wearable jewellery, often inspired by natural materials and botanical curves.
Originally from Glasgow, Scotland, Shona Carnegie lives between the UK and the French Alps designing and making jewellery and small scale silverware.Her main collections include work influenced by exotic travel and the imagery within her travel diaries, along with a fascination for tactile objects and the spirit of movement. Botany and delicate flora are also inspiration, and her most recent work includes a range of 18ct yellow and white gold rings incorporating stones set into flowers.
Paul Finch was inspired to make jewellery during his travels in Asia. He has been working as a self-taught designer jeweller since 1998 and is now based in France. He uses a variety of techniques to create distinctive ranges of jewellery which are characterised by simplicity and elegance, using organic forms. The jewellery featured reflects a love of strong form with few embellishments. In one range, natural curving forms combine with subtle stone sets and silver pieces are enhanced with 18ct gold beading. Another range contrasts texture with colour and features diamonds “trapped” within shell-like forms. Both ranges offer a wide variety of items such as rings, bangles, pendants and earrings.
From a very early age, Catherine Hills have had a passion for drawing. Her passion for jewellery and working with precious metal is perhaps a natural extension of what has always been held to be an expression of emotion in giving and receiving a precious gift." My grandmother gave me a silver charm bracelet when I was a young girl. I adored it and every year she would have a new charm added. I had a wonderful relationship with her and that bracelet still gives me much joy and comfort." Her own highly decorative, 'Pod Charm' Bracelets, have become signature pieces in her work. Her 'Cluster' Pendants and many other necklaces and bracelets are made up of many small decorative 'seed-pod like' charms. Her biggest inspiration is in the natural world; plants, insects, sea life and the organs in the body. The surrealist art movement and jewellery from different ethnicities have also influenced her work,and her pieces are both detailed and rhythmic, decorative and tactile; combining sensuous smooth shapes with highly textured surfaces, contrasting both positive and negative elements through both form and colour.
Clare Knox Bentham creates illustrative installations in bright-coloured plastic using heat-extruded EVA and lacquer. She also creates jewellery which alludes to precious lacquerwork, moulding to the body and blurring the line between liquid and solid. Her work is about a playful attitude to materials. She likes to disorientate the viewer by using non-traditional media to create something novel and innovative. However drawing is the mainstay of her practice and her work is an amalgam of figurative graphic forms and abstract shapes. Her overall intent is to connect with the wearer by the novelty of the media, then to engage and enchant by allowing the viewer to ‘discover’ hidden elements and symbols within.
Julia Macgregor is a jewellery designer and maker who uses traditional and contemporary techniques to create striking, one-off pieces in silver. Her work includes bold and organic shapes, some with hammer and making marks which enhance the elemental qualities of the silver, others with a dramatic high polish finish. Semi-precious stones are often used to complement the natural essence of her designs. Each distinctive piece bears the marks of its unique origin – reinforcing the relationship between maker and metal.
Based in East Sussex, Ruth Praill designs beautiful jewellery in silver and gold using natural forms for her inspiration. She is also one of the UK's foremost beach glass artists, which shows her passion for the world around her.Her wildlife collection was inspired by Rye Harbour's flora and fauna and many of her pieces include found objects and natural elements.
London based artist Simone Selaib-Salandini draws inspiration from everyday experiences and a fascination for Japanese Characters. Simone says "My jewellery is an intuitive and spontaneous process, reflecting my artistic background, influenced by sculptural and architectural works. I like to play with line, space, light and shadow; where clear forms are an integral part of each piece. I try to reduce forms to the barest minimalism while emphasizing metallic properties by working with organic textures."
Bulgarian jeweler, Nikolay Sardamov uses the seemingly simple in repetition to create his current jewelry forms. "I like how complicated the work can get by varying scale and layering. He am also very interested in those little spaces in between and the pattern on pattern that results." Sardamov is renown across Europe for his work using both precious metals and re-cycled materials including rubber bicycle inner tubes. His work is meticulously designed and made and characterised by poignant conceptual concerns. His collections vary from heart felt messages to social commentary, from organic forms to natural graphic fusion.
