NINE ELECTRIC NEW TALENTS
15th Nov - 27th Jan 2013

OUT THE BLUE

Nine Electric New Talents

Kath Libbert Jewellery Gallery, which in 2012 celebrates sixteen years at Salts Mill, has selected and exhibited the work of new graduates since its inception. In numerous cases these emerging talents have gone on to gain wide acclaim for their work, and many continue to be represented by the gallery.

For Out The Blue Kath Libbert has chosen nine new BA and MA graduates from all over the UK: ‘Spotting and then supporting the work of cutting edge new graduates has always been extremely central to the ethos of the gallery. Forging a career straight out of college is really challenging. Now, more than ever, it is vital to exhibit and encourage these incredibly talented jewellers at this formative stage in their careers. In this Olympic year we think we can spot a winner….the gold medalists of the future!’

Just like this year’s graduates, renowned goldsmith Jacqueline Mina, who has won the Jerwood prize for Applied Arts and this year received an OBE for services to Art, started out on her jewellery career over 40 years ago after graduating from the Royal College of Art. She is now exhibited and collected worldwide with pieces in the Victoria & Albert Museum and in the Museum of Art and Design in New York. Currently represented by Libbert she says:

‘Galleries such as Kath Libbert Jewellery play a very important role in the career of the new graduate because they educate and encourage their clients and can also advise budding jewellers to go in a certain direction. With her background in psychology, I think that Kath is particularly good at tuning in to new designers who are prepared to take risks in their own careers, people who will stick it out. Knowing this, collectors have confidence in who Kath selects to be in the gallery’s exhibitions. A new graduate exhibition such as Out The Blue allows collectors to spot someone right at the start and then follow them throughout their career.’

The Nine New Graduates that Libbert Tips for Gold are:

Francesca Flynn, Glasgow School of Art, whose sparkling crystalline collection epitomizes the title of the exhibition, Out The Blue, explores the facets of natural and constructed crystals creating vibrant jewellery. Edinburgh College of Art graduate Mariko Sumioka is inspired by the natural materials used in Japanese architecture and creates elegant pieces that interact sculpturally with the human body.

Joanna Hemsley, RCA, London, makes playful, mobile pieces that surprise and delight by revealing hidden elements, while Cristina Zani, Edinburgh College of Art, creates striking, erudite work inspired by her travels in Seoul and the writings of Italo Calvino.

Amy Logan, Sheffield Hallam University, creates pieces which play with concepts of space, containing and encircling it with elegant swirls of finely curved coloured metal. Heather Woof, Edinburgh College of Art, forms windswept looking pieces from the hardest of metals - titanium and steel, not normally used to express movement as they are so very difficult to work with. Very much inspired by the wild Scottish weather she experienced whilst studying in Scotland!

Also an Edinburgh graduate, Nabla Pall’s work is joyfully colourful, each piece like a miniature modernist painting, inspired by circuses, exotic birds and her early exposure to a multitude of cultures. In contrast, from Central St Martins, London, Yannan Song’s work is meditatively simple - elegant neckpieces in fine stainless steel curves and lines mimic the way that strands of hair rest on the body. Finally Marek Svana, De Montfort University, Banbury, constructs superbly engineered geometric copper bangles, darkly oxidized on their exterior, with contrasting flashes of enamel inside in brilliant primary colours.