CRAFTS
November/December 2002
DISTINTO-DISTINCT
Kath
Libbert Jewellery, Bradford
5 July - 1 September 2002
Catalogue: £3 + p&p
Distinto-Distinct was an exchange project between Kath
Libbert of Kath Libbert Jewellery in Saltaire and Maria Lluisa Sameranch,
owner of the Hipotesi Gallery in Barcelona. Drawing on their own
preferences and reflecting the foci of their respective galleries,
the work of six British jewellers - Jessica Briggs, Christina Hirst,
Kathryn Marchbank, Jo McAllister, Dot Sim and Sarah Stafford - were
exhibited in Barcelona while the work of six Catalan jewellers was
shown in Saltaire.
In comparison with the more design-led work of the British jewellers,
the Catalan work appeared to be much more idiosyncratic. Xavier
Ines Monclus integrates images of popular culture, reminiscent of
childhood toys and characters in comics, into surreal and often
funny combinations. The ambiguity thus achieved . between figuration
and ornament is carefully balanced and visually intriguing. The
playful aspect of the work was well contained in the collage-like
appearance of the pieces. It communicated a thoughtful approach
to design, while still considering the kaleidoscopic appearance
of images in a post-modern culture.
Judging from the work and supported by the artists' statements all
six jewellers have a strong investment in the storytelling aspect
of jewellery. Even Montserrat Marin, whose work is abstract, states
that the play between emotive qualities, the rational and the sensory
are important to her. She created a range of circular silver jewellery
pieces, playing with different levels and silver-gold juxtapositions,
though my feeling was that the partial surface treatment with gold
leaf was not altogether successful, creating conflict between the
flaky appearance of the leaf and the clarity of the white metal
surfaces. The appearance of the gold needed to be developed three-dimensionally
into an almost fur-like appearance. Only then would it have made
the strong aesthetic statement which was needed to succinctly communicate
the artistic ideas behind the work.
Carmen Amador's work was aesthetically very different. Here the
traces of the making process and the tentative appearance of the
work was controlled and handled with intention. Amador's delicate
objects look as if they could be means of transport, only that the
sort of travel she has in mind is in the imagination or in dreams.
Like little machines from a Jules Verne story, these objects are
delightful inventions, wonderfully ornate and poetic.
The allegorical aspect of storytelling was strongest in Grego Garcia
Tebar's work. Her postcardsized wooden boxes framed mixed media
collages: found and made parts are brought into a visual context
to symbolise subjective narratives. Pieces such as these demand
good titles, to offer the viewer an interpretative pathway into
the work. Unfortunately, these titles had not been exhibited alongside
the work and so one was left with a purely visual appreciation.
Alongside, Garcia Tebar exhibited a range of pearl necklaces extending
the traditional format of the pearl design: these I found particularly
beautiful. Silvia Piva's work was accompanied by a carefully choreographed
video, which communicated far better than any written statement
her concern with movement and fragility. In a landscape of sea,
sand and stone she placed objects made of fine black wire, studded
with pearls or stones, which appeared light and vulnerable; wire
cages were holding or maybe entrapping dried roses and pearls. Without
the contextualising support of the video, I would have missed much
of the depth in this work and it made me aware again how difficult
it is to transpose sensual artistic agendas to the jewellery display
case. The placing of narrative objects in abstract wire structures
was also, if in a very different way, the theme in Milena Trujillo's
work. Here tiny plastic figures inhabited small worlds made of ornate
wirework. The objects described places where people come to rest
quite peacefully, places between reality and fantasy. This sense
of transition was beautifully captured in the pendants, where these
little imaginary worlds, suspended from the neck in mid-air, travelled
along the ribbons and chains, which were holding them.
JIVAN ASTFALCK
Selected highlights of the British work will be at Kath Libbert
Jewellery, Salts Mill, Victoria Road, Saltaire, West Yorkshire BD18
3LB, (01274) 599790, from 1 October - 5 November 2002.
