Shows Potential
Three Wellington jewellers plunder the treasures of Trash Palace, their local tip shop
A visit to the tip shop or the metal recyclers is a trip to a wonderland of potential for a certain type of contemporary jeweller. Surrounded by unlimited colours, patterns, shapes and materials our minds are fired by the many possibilities presented to us by others’ discarded possessions. Half-formed ideas become three-dimensional and unexpected connections are made as we trawl through the detritus of other people’s lives. The sense of promise is tangible and the perfect ‘thing’ is always just around the corner.
Sometimes an object is perfect in itself, merely requiring the means to attach it to the body. Other times, it is the way two materials are connected or the juxtaposition of different shapes and colours that may provide clues or solutions to works already in progress back in the artist’s studio. Nostalgia and memory also play huge roles in the ‘tiplarking’process, as long forgotten toys and obsolescent household objects trigger buried associations and help to project the past into the present day.
Caroline Thomas 2018
For most people the image invoked at the mention of the word ‘Jewellery’ is an individual response – a ring, necklace, pendant, earrings or sometimes a brooch or bracelet. Most often the item is polished gold or silver and in many dreams also sparkles with precious gems – its desirability lies in a particular kind of beauty, luxury, glamour, but it may contain the darker elements of lust and envy and the troubling questions of origin. The jewellery I am interested in and that I make has values that may not include beauty or glamour, but have a quieter capacity to arouse memory, sometimes bitter-sweet, a smile or even a question.
Vivien Atkinson 2018
When I source a material to work with I am looking at bringing it to life. Amidst a pile of stuff that people discard I ferret away waiting for the object or thing to speak to me in its own inherent way. Anything is fair game. Sometimes I have found myself visualising in my head what I would like to complete a project. In an uncanny way, that very thing often presents itself like I've tapped into the universe and placed an order - two boiler trays with a side of clock parts please...
Back at my studio, it's not until I am surrounded by all my treasures and my hands start sifting and sorting, deconstructing and reconstructing that the magic of connecting this with that starts to happen.
I like the idea of a discarded thing having a second life. In the wake of consumerism more and more artists utilise thrown away treasure. The original nature of the thing adds meaning to what it could be in the hands of a creative.
Nadine Smith 2018
"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."