"Ready Rupert"

Here is another exhibition piece that has gone to a new home. I am posting it here because I had a comment from the pair over at Woolfenbell about using china to make jewellery. This piece started life as a promotional mug for our daily newspaper "The Advertiser" ( can you believe we only have one daily?!). I found it all lost and alone in the thrift store and was immediately attracted to it because it was covered in text. When I discovered that text was in fact snippets from newspaper reports I was over the moon! I cut it up as carefully as a gem cutter might approach the Hope Diamond - to me it was just as precious and I really wanted to maximise the amount of text I could use. Then each piece was shaped and drilled. I decided to create a metal disc with the words "seek truth" stamped on it because I think it would be rather nifty if our newspapers did just that! I called the piece "Ready Rupert" - a reference to the owner of "The Advertiser" ( and a whole chunk of Australian media!), kind of as a plea to the man to allow his journalists to actively seek the truth without regard to who he favours, be they advertisers or political parties. Jewellery as a political statement? Hells yeah! Why not?!

The piece is designed to sit quite flat on the collar bone.

The text looks like little bits of torn newspaper.

Each piece is woven together with wire.

The double-sided disc - made from an old tray and stamped with "seek truth".

Brag Alert!

Just a note of warning - this is a "proud Mum" post so if you are feeling at all nauseous, it might be best to skip this one! My daughter is also taking part in the SALA Festival and yesterday the winery hosting her (and several mosaic artists) held an opening. It was really well attended and my girl even gave a little speech that she didn't know she had to give! It takes so much courage to expose yourself  in an exhibition so I am really proud of her for that and I am also proud of the work she has produced for the show - it is really great and I am seeing her develop not just her skills, but her style right before my eyes. She handled the opening very well, she was articulate and clever when she spoke to people about her art and really owned it if you know what I mean. The people who came were really excited to meet this young artist and treated her with respect and kindness. Also the other exhibitors were truly lovely and so very happy to embrace both Ellen and her work even though it is not the most widely recognised of artforms. I feel so happy for her that she has taken this leap and that it went so well - she has already sold some pieces and accepted a commission! Putting yourself out there can be kinda hard and she is just 19 years old so as you can imagine, I am just busting with pride. We are a family of grinners this week-end!

These are pictures from both ends so you can get a sense of the space. The window gives a lovely light but makes taking pics a bit tricky.

This is a lovely lamp - it is so pretty with the light on - again not the best pic but it gives some indication of the detail in the work.

The whole series is about love, romance and whimsy - how cute is this piece?

This is a new area that my daughter is beginning to explore and I think she is now pretty hooked on the 3-D idea. It presents quite a few more technical challenges but I can see her playing around with this more in the future. Anyway, that is enough boasting for now - hey, I am the Mum - if anyone is gonna get bragging rights it is certainly gonna be me!