Jewellery for me is a medium to connect, it has brought Manon and I together via the internet, the tool which most of us are using to keep in touch with family and loved ones during coronavirus lockdown, plus to connect with the outside world.
What role might jewellery have in this new normal? Its physicality is so important. We can select something to wear for a zoom meeting, exhibit pieces on a wall, I put it on for comfort or strength some days. Seeing instagram posts with what people are wearing in lockdown and the stories behind the work brings some respite from isolation …
My first interactions with Manon have been via email, introducing my practice with images and writing as the world closes borders and our bubbles cope as best we can behind closed doors.
Manon suggests in order to develop and gain direction in my work I need to leave my comfortable realm of metal working and jewellery making for a while (%#@^$#!) and build up an inventory of woven forms, researching artists who reference weaving and knotting in their work. when i’ve caught a breath I start by collating my existing images and information and researching artists. I need to work on articulating my position as an artist working in the realm of contemporary jewellery with reference to historical and contemporary precedents. Much questioning is happening.
Leaving my comfort zone in a time of extreme upheaval has been tremendously challenging. I have moved back and forth between feeling overwhelmed, lost, that everything is pointless, blocked to ‘make’ anything and excitement at new potential. How to grow beyond an existing language? I recognise I need to work on my process.
‘It is of course not easy to slough off the goldsmithing conditioning and the materials I feel most proficient in, but I understand I’m operating in a comfort zone for myself and if I am to find my own patch of innovation to grow within I need to get uncomfortable’. – Mia
‘No it’s not going to be easy to let things go, it never is.. I wish I could say this gets better over time but I would be lying
I am always again extremely uncomfortable when I’m in the middle of trying new things and have no idea where it will go and what it will lead to..
to stay open at every point in the process and be prepared to change direction, get rid of things etc etc can be a very discomforting experience’ – Manon
I started doing some drawing as a way to get something out, lots of reading too. Lockdown has meant I still have the library books I had over committed to in March, a small blessing. Jeremy Lent’s The Patterning Instinct looks at how our language and conditioning has led to certain worldviews that pervade our thinking; how we might understand this to move beyond into a more connected and inclusive way of being.
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My philosophy is one of interconnectivity, so understanding how we have become so disconnected is useful to enable solutions moving forward. It is an interesting time to be thinking about interconnectedness.
The week before lockdown:
‘I have started looking at the artist examples you suggested: Lucy Sarneel, Sophie Hanagarth, Onno Boekhoudt, Sonia Gomess and Mira Gojak alongside Ruth Asawa, Doris Betz and Louise Bourgeois, (the latter for their processes particularly) and am finding it useful. I have collected rope, fibre, electrical cords, bamboo etc so will treat them as 3D drawing materials. I also found justification to go to an antique/second hand shop and craft shop yesterday to add to my collection of weaving related things to interfere with, I love this part! I avoided anything metal. ‘ – MS
Weeks 3 and 4:
In the past 10 days during of lockdown I’ve been going back to basics and practicing different stitches, knots and weaving/braiding/twining methods in some of the materials I had collected, using books and online tutorials. I think this is a step I’ve avoided to some degree, wanting to find my own way of doing things, rather than being instructed on the ‘right’ way of doing something that comes intuitively. Maybe some extra technical know-how will help me innovate. I pull apart one of my collected natural fibre baskets and deconstruct the weave to open out the form and introduce flexibility. I am focussing on tension and open/closed contrasts in my experiments, trying to work quickly and intuitively.
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Finally something gave in the last few days and I’m feeling a bit freer to work in materials without overthinking it too much. At the moment I think the best thing is to do as much as I can and try all sorts of different techniques/materials…within a loose weaving and knotting genre then reflect and identify some directions to pursue more closely.
I am still lost but entering a stage of play and wonder, a step on the way somewhere.
KIA KAHA, Stay safe, sane and well x
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