The Australian jewelry and metalsmithing community is active, always busy pushing boundaries and creating thoughtful works of great beauty and cultural value. This report gives a snapshot of what’s on now or coming up, and it also celebrates what’s happened over the year. From conferences to major shows and festivals, the calendar has been full, with much still to come.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
• Renowned jeweler Julie Blyfield’s ICON exhibition, Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion, runs through September 14, 2024, in Gallery One of the JamFactory, in Adelaide. Along with an accompanying book launch, it presents a stunning collection of new works by a master of chasing and repoussé techniques and celebrates one of the country’s most well-respected makers. Info.
• Gallery Two of the JamFactory hosts Zu Design & Jane Bowden. Bowden established Zu design in 1997. Zu design has showcased the works of over 130 contemporary jewelers from around Australia, and given makers bench space. On show in this exhibition: work by Jane and Zu design’s current tenants. Info.
• Island Welcome, a group exhibition that explores contemporary jewelry as a gesture of welcome, continues its tour of South Australia. The works poignantly reflect on jewelry’s ability to act as a vehicle for political discussion, compassion, and our common humanity. Info. Touring schedule.
• In 2025, Gray Street Workshop will celebrate its 40th anniversary with the exhibition Beautiful Tensions. The partners—Jess Dare, Lisa Furno, Catherine Truman, and Sue Lorraine—are working toward this milestone show and the launch of an accompanying book. The exhibition will then tour Australia for three years. Info.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
• The 19th national conference of the Jewellers and Metalsmiths Group of Australia (JMGA) will be hosted by the JMGA – Western Australia branch, in Fremantle, October 5–7, 2024. An exciting program of talks, exhibitions, and workshops is planned. Titled Involution: Making Jewellery, Creating Change, the day-long conference, on October 5, will feature a range of talks, including a panel led by Michelle Broun featuring indigenous Australian makers. Headlining shows include Graduate Metal XVI, an award exhibition of final year works from recent graduates of TAFE, university, and polytechnic institutions in Australia and New Zealand 2017–2023; and reflect/refract, a national exhibition of current JMGA member’s work. Info.
TASMANIA
• Tasmanian silversmith and jeweler Sean O’Connell presented a series of beautifully designed and made stainless steel kettles produced for the Tasmania Makes exhibition. It was held at Design Tasmania, in Launceston, in February/March 2024. The kettles then headed to Australian Design Centre, in Sydney, where they were on show in April/May. On his Instagram account, O’Connell says his kettles “are made slowly, to last, and to add a deep sense of joy to the act of boiling water, every day, over the years.” More.
• In November, an exhibition curated by Tasmanian makers Rohan Nichol and Sabine Pagin will bring together works from the National Gallery of Australia’s jewelry holdings and the Griffith Regional Art Gallery National Contemporary Jewellery Award collection. Comprising around 45 works, the exhibition will tour nationally for three years. To learn more, check the Griffith Regional Gallery’s website closer to November (it’s here).
• Australian jewelers, don’t forget to enter the National Contemporary Jewellery Award biennial award! Applications are due by September 20, 2024. Info.
QUEENSLAND
• Chantel Fraser’s The Ascended exhibition tours Queensland in 2024 and 2025. The New Zealand-born Samoan-Australian investigates “the aesthetics of power and reflects on the experiences of the artist’s family and community in class-based discrimination.” Fraser explores ritual and adornment, among other themes, using beauty and ornamentation to raise up objects and materials affiliated with the working classes. Her series Riot Gear uses everyday materials and protective equipment to construct body adornments as part of an armory. Info.
NORTHERN TERRITORY
• Halfway between Australia and New Guinea, in the Torres Straight, lies the remote Mua Island, with its Indigenous art center, Moa Arts. Recently, some of their artist jewelers have moved from making solely traditional beaded jewelry into bespoke sterling silver pieces. These pieces draw from Melanesian mark-making traditions with strong cultural storylines and knowledge, and speak to ancient totemic belief systems and cultural iconography. The works will be featured at the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, July 25–28, 2024 (info), and at the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, August 6–11, 2024 (info).
NEW SOUTH WALES
• The Australian Design Centre hosts the annual Sydney Craft Week festival October 11–20, 2024. (Website for Australian Design Centre. Info for Sydney Craft Week.) It will show two contemporary jewelry exhibitions October 3–November 13, 2024, as part of its wider programming.
• First, in an exhibition titled Out of Date, Canberra-based maker artist/jeweler Zoe Brand will present new work and a selection of works from the past decade. The works take a wry and humorous approach to what it means to be out of date since they’re not only literally out of date, they were made in response to ideas and moments once considered relevant. Brand uses ready-mades, quintessential jewelry forms, and text to explore the act of wearing jewelry as both a performance and method of communication.
• Also on display: the third annual iteration of Remade/Reloved. The exhibition, curated by jeweler Bridget Kennedy, will showcase what artists can do with unwanted and unloved costume jewelry. Reworking and repurposing this jewelry through creative thinking, the makers write new narratives for the jewels, giving them a second life and a chance to be loved once more.
• Also as part of Sydney Craft Week, the Jewellers and Metalsmiths Group of Australia, NSW branch will show works by its members in an exhibition titled Review. React. Respond: Jewellers and Metalsmiths. They will investigate such themes as craftsmanship, innovative approaches to materials and ideas, and explorations of beauty and identity. Info.
VICTORIA
• Radiant Pavilion is a highlight in the South’s jewelry calendar. It celebrates the many aspects of contemporary jewelry and object practice. In its fifth edition, September 14–22, 2024, artists from Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, the UK, and the US will showcase their work in 60 events across Naarm/Melbourne.
The Radiant Pavilion selection committee has assembled a rich and wide-ranging program. Here are a few highlights:
• Work from Numbulwar, in South East Arnhem Land, takes the stage in an exhibition titled Curios from Country. This show includes traditional body adornment and utilitarian objects made from both traditional and contemporary materials. It explores the intersection between adornment, craftsmanship, utility, and the importance of Country.
• Also in the program, shared:ground, an exhibition featuring seven first nations artists who have come together to present work. It aims to showcase the experimentation taking place in each artist’s work and comes from a foundation embedded in the ancient tradition of storytelling.
• Sound and jewelry will come together in two shows. All Is Intimate will present an installation of sculptural objects and sound by Michaela Pegum. In the collaborative exhibition Sift, Liv Boyle and Sara Retallick will explore material exchanges and relations between contemporary jewelry and sound art practices to trace the possibilities of sculptural and sonic assemblages.
For a full list of events check out Radiant Pavilions’s website.
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
• Craft + Design Canberra hosts two metals exhibitions through August 24, 2024. Chasing Clouds features new work by Jonathon Zalakos. Zalakos received the 2022 Craft and Design Canberra CAPO Award. This allowed him to purchase hammer-forming tools, and the resulting work explores high-relief chasing and repoussé employed in motifs of cloud-like abstraction. Info.
• Five Dresses for a Wari Goddess shows work by Ximena Briceño. Briceño works with the Andean iconography of camelids (alpacas, llamas, and vicuñas) in a series of metal dresses. Camelid emblems have been represented in crafts since the Pre-Columbian period in Peru. They now take the stage in five dresses made from titanium, aluminum, and cardboard that explore color, materiality, and iconography in fashion through an Andean lens. Info.
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