20th July - 30th Sept 2007

Exciting new showcase of thirteen internationally renowned jewellery artists working in wood.

MetroLife interview with Julia Harrison, July 2007

METRO
July 19, 2007
FIVE QUESTIONS FOR . . . JULIA HARRISON
Julia Harrison carves mouths, cleavages and other intimate body parts out of wood. Her sensuous and unsettlingly lifelike jewellery forms part of Wood You? an exhibition at Kath Libbert Jewellery Gallery comprising 13 artists producing innovative wooden adornments.

What do you like about carving wood? I like the immediacy of it. Also the wood comes in a range of colours and the grain is really lifelike. I'm at an age where I'm watching myself change from day to day, with wrinkles appearing. If I carve something the right way, from one angle it will look really smooth and from another the light will pick up the flecks and grain.

Why do you carve pieces based on body parts? I've always been interested in how the body records your experiences with bruises and scars, and seeing these features on other people. I'm fascinated by how jewellery is worn on the body and it collects your life's experiences but, in a lot of ways, it denies them. My work responds to that in a very personal way.

What reactions has your work inspired? I had a weird thing happen recently where a gallery put my work on its website and someone linked to the images on a pornographic blog. They were incredibly popular and the gallery website had to shut down as it had 9,000 hits in three days.

Does it take a bold person to wear your jewellery? I think it's either somebody who is outgoing, or someone who is quiet and wants the jewellery to speak for them. I nearly sold my bracelet Origin [which features a vagina] to a drag queen, but unfortunately it was too small for her.

What are you working on at present? I'm working on a series called The Rosebuds, which are babies' mouths. A lot of my friends are having babies at the moment and they're these little alien creatures with strange mouths.
Abi Bliss.

The Times, July 2007 featuring Beppe Kessler's *Rope of Pearls*

THE TIMES
July 24, 2007

Oh you pretty things
DERWENT MAY

AROUND £100
Winter Walk, by Dan Parry-Jones This screenprint costs £100 in an exhibition called 33% Pork, Aug 3-12, at DegreeArt.com, specialising in student and graduate art.
The Empire, 30 Vyner Street, London E2. 020-8980 0395; DegreeArt.com

AROUND £1,000
Rope of Pearls, by Beppe Kessler.
This necklace by an artist based in Amsterdam is made of burnt balsa wood, pearls and cotton. It costs £945 in an exhibition of wooden jewellery called Wood You?, until Sept 30 at Kath Libbert Jewellery Gallery, Salts Mill, Saltaire, Bradford. 01274 599790; www.kathlibbertjewellery.co.uk

AROUND £10,000
Fluorescent Fright Wigs, by
Gavin Turk
Turk's silkscreen print is one of a set of five in different colours on Somerset wove paper. The set of five costs £10,000 in his new show Me as Him, which reworks Warhol self-portraits, until Sept 5 at Riflemaker, 79 Beak Street, London Wl. 020-7439 0000; www.riflemaker.org

YORKSHIRE LIFE
September, 2007

Art & Exhibitions By Justine Brooks
At some stage in its history Yorkshire would have been covered by forest that over the centuries has been cleared to make way for people and agricultlure. Certainly many of its trees have been the source of legend, such as the mulberry tree that grows in Wakefield Prison and is immortalised in the nursery rhyme Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush - a chant and game made up by the children of washer women who worked there.

This year Yorkshire Life readers have dedicated more than 1,000 trees to help create a new wood in the Yorkshire Dales and it seems that an appreciation of trees and wood is a major theme in art exhibitions around the county at the moment.

Andy Goldsworthy's show at Yorkshire Sculpture Park is an overt celebration of tree life. Back in July I mentioned an exhibition called Knock On Wood at the Craft Centre and Design Gallery in the Headrow, Leeds. The exhibition includes some stunning work in wood by artists such as Jeff Soan and Emma Lister, as well as exquisitely crafted wooden automata by sculptor and puppet maker Jan Zalud.

Kath Libbert Jewellery at Salts Mill, Saltaire, has launched an exhibition all about jewellery made of wood. Called Wood You? far from being just a collection of wooden beads, the exhibition includes work in all kinds of wood, from polished maple to curly hazel, featherweight balsa wood and cork to heavy weight oak and gnarled driftwood. Using innovative methods, makers have combined wood with materials such as crystal and pearls, incorporating embroidery and fabric as well as metals and even vintage Formica and reclamation yard finds. The work includes elegant sculptural bangles and necklaces by Mette Jensen, figurative brooches by Julia Harrison which the artist says are inspired by '...a child's pout, a furrowed brow, a flash of cleavage, a clenched fist. . . '

The arboreal theme is taken even further with an exhibition entitled Wild Wood due to open in Leeds at the end of September. This exhibition, which will contain photographic work and projections by nationally and internationally renowned artists, is curated by artist-curator Diane Howse at Leeds' newest gallery project space, PSL.

Andy Goldsworthy, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Bretton Park, Wakefield, until January 2008. Tel: 01924832631. www.ysp.co.uk

Knock on Wood. The Craft Centre & Design Gallery, Leeds, until September 30th. Tel: 0113 247 8241

Wood You? Kath Libbert Jewellery, Salts Mill, Saltaire, until September 30th Tel: 01274 599790. www.kathlibbertjewellery.co.uk

Wild Wood, PSL (Project Space Leeds), Whitehall Waterfront, 2 Riverside Way, Leeds, Wednesday to Saturday, 12 noon- 5pm

Findings, June 2007 preview of *Wood You?*

FINDINGS - The Association for Contemporary Jewellery's quarterly newsletter.
June, 2007

Wood You? - an Exhibition of Thirteen International Jewellery Artists previews on 19 July at Kath Libbert Jewellery Gallery in Salts Mill, Saltaire and runs until 30 September. The redoubtable Kath Libbert sends us a trailer for her next blockbuster summer exhibition. We asked for it since the timing means we can't review the show until our December issue, but thought you should know about it. Volunteer reviewer welcomed!

Kath explains: "As the title suggests, the exhibition poses a challenge to its viewers to consider 'branching out' in their taste in contemporary jewellery! I asked the participating artists to say something about why they chose to work in wood which produced some interesting replies which will be included in the exhibition."

Mette Jensen, Denmark, spoke of the myriad of "possibilities the material holds... some are good for carving, others for burning, others for bending... the list just goes on and on." She currently focuses on the bending of mainly beech into elegant sculptural bangles and neckpieces. Beppe Kessler, Holland, takes up the burning and the carving potential, with her unique jewels fashioned from feather light balsa wood often intricately stitched. Julia Harrison, USA, and Ulrich Reithofer, Austria, work the wood through carving and colouring to wonderful effect. Harrison finds wood, "to be convincingly fleshy... smooth and slightly warm, and like our bodies, can be bruised or marred by experience." Her 'lips' brooches carved from maple and cherry are unnerving testament to this.

Ramon Puig Cuyas, Barcelona, contributes two collections with new pieces in carved cork specially created for Wood You? and his more recognisable colourful collage brooches in wood and other found materials. Terhi Tolvanen, Finland, creates jewellery that comments on the interaction between man and nature, and fungi and flora, what she calls the "jewellery of the forest," become incorporated into her wondrous brooches.

All the artists taking part in Wood You? are internationally renowned and many have work in museum collections as well as in private collections. The exhibition will be accompanied by a special event for collectors and curators as well as a talk for the interested public. For further details please contact the gallery 01274 599790 or info@kathlibbertjewellery.co.uk

The artists taking part are:
Grace Girvan, UK, Katy Hackney, UK, Ulrich Reithofer, Austria, Marie Uhlirova, Czech Republic, Mette Jensen, Denmark, Terhi Tolvanen, Finland, Stephanie Jendis, Germany, Marianne Schliwinski, Germany, Beppe Kessler, Holland, Ramon Puig Cuyas, Spain,
Yu-Chun Chen, Taiwan, Marielle Ledoux, Uruguay, Julia Harrison, USA.

Leeds Guide, 8 Aug 2007 review of *Wood You*

LEEDS GUIDE
8-23 August 2007

Out On A Limb
Branching out: distinctive jewellery taking root in the art world

Wood You? at the Kath Libbert Jewellery Gallery in Salts Mill, Saltaire seeks to change our perception of wood. The exhibition brings together 13 of the most impressive contemporary jewellery designers from around the world, for a unique show of some very special pieces. The emphasis is on the diverse qualities of wood: how different one piece is from another even before it is crafted into a work of art.

Whether it is dark or pale, oak or maple, burnt or sea worn, this exhibition aims to demonstrate that wood is a deeply sensitive medium that is just as interesting and impressive as its metal counterparts. Crafting wood jewellery is a delicate and highly skilled process. The objects on show are striking and visitors are encouraged to buy a unique and wearable piece. The exhibiting artists will also take commissions.

Boundaries separating decorative jewellery and art jewellery are all but removed at this event and Libbert wants visitors to begin to change the way they consider jewellery in general. She wants to demonstate the collectable nature of the pieces on show. Libbert operates the 'Own Art' scheme, which gives people an affordable way to buy contemporary jewellery over a 10 month period. Taking into account the gradual exhaustion of the antique jewellery market, she wants people to see these modern pieces as an equally sound investment, as something they might buy at an antiques auction.

Joanna Hardy, organiser of the London Rocks event at Sotheby's, will be talking on the subject at the collectors' event at KLJ on Tuesday 11th September.
Until 30th September 2007. Prices range from £90 to £1,600. For more information call 01274 599790 or go to www.kathlibbertjewellery.co.uk
Annalise Cunild.

Country Life, July 2007 listing of *Wood You?* in 'The Week Ahead'

COUNTRY LIFE
July 19, 2007

THE WEEK AHEAD
EXHIBITIONS
July 20-September 30 'Wood You?' an exhibition of 13 international jewellers from Denmark, USA and Spain, using wood. Kath Libbert Jewellery Gallery, Salts Mill, Saltaire, near Bradford (01274 599790; www.kathlibbertjewellery.co.uk)

NORTHERN EXPOSURE
August, 2007

LISTINGS
Kath Libbert Jewellery
Salts Mill, Victoria Road, Saltaire, 01274 599 790
Wood You? Fri 20 Jul-Sun 30 Sep. Call for times. Call for prices. An exhibition of 13 contemporary artists from around the world showcasing jewellery crafted from wood; from polished maple and rosemary, to simple pieces of driftwood.

Findings , September 2007 review of *Wood You?*

FINDINGS- The Association for Contemporary Jewellery's quarterly newsletter.
September, 2007

news & events
Beppe Kessler, rope of pearls. Wood. Wood You? At Kath Libbert Jewellery.
In our last issue we trailed Kath Libbert's new show, Wood You at Salts Mill in Saltaire. It opened on 20 July and displays13 international jewellers all working in wood, and shows a wide range of materials and techniques. Grace Girvan and Katy Hackney are the only home-grown makers, and several exhibitors are debutants in UK. It continues until 30 September, so you can still catch it, and on 11 September Kath is holding a special Collectors' Event, with speakers including one of the artists, Beppe Kessler, and Joanna Hardy, Head of Jewellery at Sotheby's. To reserve your place (and booking is essential) please contact the Gallery by 31 August (but Kath will give Findings readers a few days' leeway), on 01274 599790 or email info@kathlibbertjewellery.co.uk.
We plan to carry a review of the exhibition in December.

FINDINGS - The Association for Contemporary Jewellery's quarterly newsletter.
December 2007

Wood You?
Kath Libbert Jewellery,
Salts Mill, Saltaire,

20 July - 30 September
Reviewed by Elizabeth Moignard

Wood is a material that often seems to occupy rather a modest place in the hierarchy of craft materials, and certainly in the jewellery food-chain, despite its inherent beauty, and the obvious talents of many artists and craftsmen who use it. All the better, then, to see a jewellery exhibition focusing on the use of wood, whose international contributors are taking their material seriously. And the results, supported by the artists' own statements and working notes, are a vigorous, varied, and outspoken manifesto for an interesting collection of messages.

Some of these deal explicitly with our relationships with the natural environment, others tell stories of emotional or historic adventures, yet others play with disconcerting the viewer via form and material. Julia Harrison's Lips brooches, very much in this last category, exploit the fleshy, tactile quality of her material, and display a sharp observation of the mouth as a medium of visual rather than verbal communication. Terhi Tolvanen is well known for her use of twigs to produce wearable think-pieces which reflect on man interacting with nature, often not for mutual benefit. Marielle Ledoux's brooches, constructed from a termite-eaten rafter, do the same for other fauna, but perhaps with a leaning towards natural process. Grace Girvan's driftwood, allied with silver and subtly dotted enamel, shows us a characteristic glimpse of a familiar landscape.

Ramon Puig Cuyas was showing us two different kinds of work, both using cork, rapidly becoming rarer and more endangered: the Archipelago series of brooches, using the cork as the framework for punctuated and glazed maps, think about the history and emotions of exploration, celestial and terrestrial. The Corpus Architectae group, sizeable carved and white-painted chunks of cork, speaks to me of our gradual loss of beautiful but outmoded materials. Katy Hackney's use of vintage formica is an interesting hint in that direction, but it is only one material in some brooches of striking modernist form and colour mixes which exploit the bamboo, silver, acetate and plywood which appear here too.

Beppe Kessler is well known as a maker who works across the boundaries of textiles, jewellery and painting; in this exhibition she uses burnt balsa wood and thread to create a colourful and delicately textured series of pieces, studded with pearls and crystal beads. Marie Uhlirova, Mette Jensen, and Yu-Chun Chen are all in some sense using wood where precious metal would be the norm, to produce elegant and organic forms which exploit the natural behaviour of their chosen wood and subvert the expected. Stephanie Jendis' Kreuzberg ring subverts the use of precious stones too. Ulrich Reithofer's figurative sculptures seem only incidentally jewellery, with titles to focus attention on their historical and personal themes; Marianne Schliwinski's Voltino and Grandma's Bed series unite and contrast metal and wooden forms, one abstract, one apparently using pieces of an item of rococo furniture with a long memory.

Kath Libbert deserves our thanks for this timely exhibition; it speaks eloquently of a series of loving and informed relationships with a very special material, a concern for its survival, and respect for its history and ours.

Wood You?

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