Gray Street Workshop

PRESS RELEASE

Up North
by Claire McArdle
Gray Street Workshop Gallery 1 June - 25 June 2017

Have you ever wondered what you could make out of Icelandic Wolfish skin or thought about dying something with rhubarb roots…well Claire McArdle has.

Up North is a collection of new work made in response to time Claire spent as an artist in residence in Blönduós, Iceland.

Wolfish skin, petrified wood, tiger-eye and marble along with the more traditional materials brass, sterling silver and epoxy form the eclectic palette Claire has chosen to create a diary of objects that reflect her time in Iceland.

Claire is interested in how the landscape has influenced the people and how the people have influenced the landscape in the climatically harsh environment of Iceland.

Exploring the place as an outsider Claire observed the daily routines and objects and experimented with local materials and techniques. The resulting exhibition is an intriguing and personal expression of time spent in an alien landscape.

Claire is a Melbourne based artist, her practice is an exploration of the world around her and her curiosity has taken her to Germany, Japan, Estonia and Mexico.

Claire will be giving an artist talk directly before the opening at 5.30pm, Thursday 1 June. This is your chance to hear about Iceland and it’s influence on Claire’s work and perhaps about a few of the other places she has visited.

Up North not only introduces a talented artist to Adelaide audiences it also marks the last exhibition to be held at Gray Street Workshop Gallery, Adelaide. The workshop partners are packing up and moving west. At the new premises in Thebarton the focus will be on making, researching, experimenting and more making with workshop’s hallmarks of ingenuity and inventiveness.

Details of the move will follow.

So don’t miss your last opportunity to visit the gallery, your first opportunity to see the enigmatic work of Claire McArdle and a good opportunity to support the local arts community.

PRESS RELEASE

Solastalgia

by artists Claire Brooks, Lesa Farrant, Leonie Westbrook and Jo Wilmot.

Gray Street Workshop Gallery 30 March – 7 May 2017

Last Thursday night our gallery was packed for the opening of Solastalgia, an exhibition of new work by local artists Claire Brooks, Lesa Farrant, Leonie Westbrook and Jo Wilmot.

Solastalgia is a word coined by Australian philosopher Glen Albrecht and is used as a term to describe the psychic or existential distress caused by environmental change, such as mining or climate change.

The word Solastalgia was formed by combining the Latin word solacium, meaning comfort with the Greek root algia meaning pain.

Artists Claire Brooks, Lesa Farrant, Leonie Westbrook and Jo Wilmot have considered man’s impact on the fragile coastal environment and the result is a thoughtful and poetic collection of works in porcelain, steel, brass and beach detritus.

The exhibition includes objects, jewellery and film.

Lesa Farrant has collected coastal rubbish, man-made and natural and from these has cast and constructed hybrid plant forms in porcelain and you can see the texture of a tennis ball or a hint of a golf tee sprouting from a driftwood stem. Lesa collects from her local beach at Port Willunga and in Solastalgia is exhibiting a suite of soft white porcelain fictional plant specimens.

Kelp forests are one of many casualties of global warming and their loss is and will have devastating consequences on the food chain. In homage to and recognition of the wonders of kelp Jo Wilmot has cast impressions of sea kelp and algae in black porcelain and set these porcelain dies in polished brass. Along with jewellery and wall pieces Jo has made a video installation titled Last chance to see it is a mesmerizing recording of the gentle dance of the giant kelp.

Claire Brooks has been gathering up ‘plastic soup’, those small fragments of plastic tumbled by the ocean currents into deadly confetti which in turn is unwittingly ingested by marine creatures. Claire uses the plastic fragments as jeweled highlights dangerously caught in her tangled steel sculptures.

Leonie Westbrook was horrified to find out that you could buy ‘beach treasure’ on eBay, artificially made to resemble washed and burnished beach flotsam and jetsam. Thinking about the rubbish that ends up in the ocean and the market for faux beach treasure Leonie embarked on a journey to take ordinary trash and make it desirable through imitating the processes of the ocean. Her starting point was the ‘disposable’ plastic hotel shampoo and conditioner bottles, which Leonie has cut, twisted and tumbled into soft tangled jewellery forms. Accompanying the jewellery items is an installation of ceramic shards, a jigsaw of soft forms that hint at a former function.

Solastalgia comments on our impact on the environment, our responsibilities and our legacy it is a thoughtful and thought provoking exhibition not to be missed.

PRESS RELEASE

Precisely

by Sue Lorraine

Gray Street Workshop Gallery 16 February – 19 March 2017

Precisely is an installation of new work by Sue Lorraine. A room full of models, diagrams, objects and jewellery.

The exhibition is a tribute to her late father; architect and artist Hans Lorraine and the works on show are personal and reflective.

A chalkboard wall covered with the machinations of the design process is the backdrop for two intriguing pieces - Watching music and Catching time. These works are models, three-dimensional linear drawings in fine steel rod that reflect on the melodic nature of music and the structured but elusive nature of time.

Reference to Han’s love of painting and aesthetics is made in the work titled Perspective - a two dimensional steel model that sits in front of a water colour painting on the wall.

Also on show are Staedtler Mars clutch pencils that have been skillfully refashioned to create a series of Dragon fly brooches and bold blackened steel neckpieces that are highlighted with soft water colour washes in the Lost in space series.

Precisely is full of surprises, the works are insightful, resourceful and inventive and very lovingly and precisely crafted as a celebration of a gentle and creative life.

Precisely is part of the 2017 Adelaide Fringe Visual Art program.

Sue Lorraine’s artistic practice spans over three decades her works are technically adept and refined and conceptually thoughtful.

She is a founding partner of Gray Street Workshop

PRESS RELEASE
 
Lost in Thought
by Alison Jackson
Gray Street Workshop Gallery
 24 November – 24 December 2016
 
Come and see Soot Foot and Thimble Tube, admire the skill in Long Drop or just enjoy the company of Big Trousers and his friend Little Trousers.

Lost in Thought is an exhibition of animated objects and domestic utensils by Canberra based silversmith Alison Jackson.

Vessels with personality, cutlery with character, vivacious, quirky, shy, and showy objects to talk to, to talk about and to cherish.

The culmination of months of pondering, dreaming, drawing and then hammering, raising and soldering sheet metal Lost in Thought is and exhibition full of surprises, skill and theatrical flare.

Alison Jackson is an accomplished silversmith her works are technically adept, refined and visually playful.

She is a recent recipient of an Australia Council project grant, winner of the Homewares category Australian Craft Awards and a finalist in Launch Pad 2014. Alison is represented in the public collection of the Canberra Museum and Gallery in the ACT.

This is an exhibition not to be missed by a young artist gaining national and international recognition and accolades.

This years put something unique, handmade and absolutely exquisite in the Christmas stocking, buy something special for that special friend, take home some Little Trousers.

PRESS RELEASE
Transitory
by Ruby Aitchison, Thomas O'Hara & Cara Johnson
Gray Street Workshop Gallery
13 October - 13 November 2016

What do eggplant skins, charred wood and slivers of paper have in common?

The answer is...all these unusual materials are used by artists Ruby Aitchison, Thomas O'Hara and Cara Johnson in their collection of jewellery and objects on exhibition in Transitory at Gray Street Workshop Gallery from 13 October 2016.

Contemporary jewellers are known for challenging conventions and this trio is no exception.
They have a shared interest in the transitional qualities of natural materials and processes that are used to transform them. Their materials of choice are simple and common, however the skills and techniques they employ result in fantastically intricate and textural pieces.

Cara is inspired by the natural passage of time and uses the fragility and impermanence of paper and fabric to reference this. Thomas introduces an element of risk to his work by burning the surface of his wooden components. Ruby creates leather like forms by stretching eggplant skins over small steel structures. 

It's jewellery with a difference, it's intriguing, it's unusual, it's inventive and it's a must see.

Transitory is a fashion statement of another kind, a statement about time, the transitory nature of materials and the ingenuity of the creative spirit.

PRESS RELEASE
Everything is Anything and Nothing
By Rudee Tancharoen
1 September – 2 October 2016
Gray Street Workshop Gallery
 
Dust is an unlikely material to find fashioned into a brooch or a neckpiece, but dust is exactly what leading contemporary Thai jeweller Rudee Trancharoen has used for her work in the exhibition Everything is Anything and Nothing on show at Gray Street Workshop Gallery.

Everything is Anything and Nothing is an intriguing and thoughtful show in which Rudee investigates the cycles of nature, the impermanence of matter and the poetry of life.

In her search for forms and materials that simultaneously represent existence and non-existence Rudee has settled on dust, in particular paper dust, a by-product of the recycling process.
The hand of the maker and the whims of nature have both played a part in the creation of the works. Dust is left out in the monsoon rains, dried by the sun and shaped by the jeweller and the results are an ambiguous mix of control and chaos…a bit like life.
 
In her artist statement Rudee says “nature is beautiful and interesting…it guides me closer to understanding myself”

Rudee will be giving an artist talk at 5:30pm on Thursday 1 September, after which Mandy-Jane Giannopolous, Honorary Consul for Thailand will open the exhibition.

PRESS RELEASE
Fallen Collections
By ERIN KEYS
2 July – 2 August 2015
Gray Street Workshop Gallery
 
Gray Street Workshop Gallery is delighted to present an exhibition of new work by Sydney based contemporary jeweller Erin Keys.

In 2013 with the help of a Helpmann Academy grant, Erin embarked on a 6-week residency at the Sanskriti Foundation in India. The exhibition Fallen Collections is the outcome of that experience.

Some of the works were made in India, others in response to and on reflection of the dichotomy of the culture. Erin quotes the founder of the Sanskriti Foundation O.P Jain as having said “not being part of the industrial revolution, India was far better off. If there had been an industrial revolution there would never be 40,000 artisans hand making work” The tension between the hand made and the manufactured is one of the aspects that Erin weaves through her work. Hand cut paper, machine cut steel, Sujani embroidery and laser cut silk, a collection, a dowry, a diary of objects that capture the beauty and the brutality of life in this complex country.

Erin started making work for the show 10 months ago and she describes the work as “very much from the heart, very much an emotional suite of work to tell a story” The story of the people she met, the story of traditional crafts, the story of life as an Indian woman and the story of her experiences as an artist and observer.
 
Erin will be giving an artist talk at 5.30pm on Thursday 2 July, after which Jane MacFarlane, CEO Helpmann Academy will open the exhibition.

PRESS RELEASE

IT’S ALWAYS DARKEST JUST BEFORE DAWN
By SIM LUTTIN
7 May – 31 May 2015
Gray Street Workshop Gallery

Gray Street Workshop Gallery is delighted to present an exhibition of new work by Melbourne based contemporary jeweller Sim Luttin.

IT’S ALWAYS DARKEST JUST BEFORE DAWN is an intriguing and thoughtful show in which Sim interrogates notions of the authentic versus the inauthentic.

In her artist statement Sim says “in the West we live in a highly mediated society where the online world can be argued as replacing a more authentic, tactile one. We constantly upload photos and amass ubiquitous objects to validate our existence and create memories of ideal experiences. We live in the past and create unrealistic expectations for our future, leaving us in a general state of ambivalence and melancholy.”

Through the work in the exhibition Sim “explores the significance of handmade objects at a time when people are engrossed in digital culture and mass-produced products.”

Sim will be giving an artist talk at 5.30pm on Thursday 7 May, after which Melbourne based curator and writer, Ramona Barry, will open the exhibition.

PRESS RELEASE
Exhibition extended until Sunday 30 March…don’t miss it.
 
Gleam
By Tiffany Parbs
20 February – 23 March 2014 - Now 30 March 2014
Gray Street Workshop Gallery
 
This year as part of the 2014 Fringe Festival Gray Street Workshop Gallery has on show the work of Melbourne based conceptual jeweller Tiffany Parbs.
Gleam is an intriguing and thoughtful show that Tiffany hopes “will make people think a little bit more about the transient nature of wealth and what's really valuable”
The works, consisting of a series of objects and images were made while Tiffany was in London in 2013, on an Australia Council residency. At that time“…the government was reassessing whether to adopt the Euro because of the falling value of the British Pound, there were riots in Greece because of recession, France and Italy were also experiencing recession - it seemed like the commercial fabric of society was unraveling.  This was contrasting directly with the opulence and wealth I was viewing when visiting museums and historical collections in London.”
 
The exhibition has been extended until 30 March

PRESS RELEASE
Specimen:
upon closer inspection
by leah hardy

12 June – 13 July 2014
Gray Street Workshop Gallery

A mysterious creature sits quietly on a silk pillow, while in another corner something, someone, is watching you…wonderful things are on display at Gray Street Workshop that certainly call for a closer inspection.

We are pleased to present the work of Leah Hardy, Professor of Art, University of Wyoming. Leah is exhibiting a collection of insect inspired miniatures, fragmented, altered and mechanically enhanced, creations the artist describes as metaphors for the human condition.

Much of the conceptual and aesthetic impetus for Leah’s artwork has been derived from her interest in ritual objects, shrines and talismans, the intersection of the sacred and the secular.

Leah has undertaken research in North India on traditional metalsmithing techniques and in combination with metal uses textiles, ceramics and mixed media in the creation of her intricately made sculptural works.

In 2012 Leah under took a residency at Gray Street Workshop and has returned to exhibit this collection of new work.

Leah will be talking about her work on Thursday 12 June at 5.30pm, just prior to the opening of her first Australian solo exhibition. specimen: upon closer inspection at Gray Street Workshop Gallery.

specimen: upon closer inspection runs from 12 June to 13 July 2014.

MEDIA RELEASE


pieces of familiar
by Kelly Jonasson
 
4 October – 3 November 2013
Gray Street Workshop Gallery
 
Mysterious soft objects cling to the walls at Gray Street Workshop Gallery in the current exhibition titled pieces of familiar, a collection of new work by Kelly Jonasson.

For the past six months Kelly has been creating wonderful organic forms that are both strangely familiar and completely alien at the same time.

Using the simple textile techniques of crochet in combination with porcelain beads, dolls hair and metal, Kelly has created a delightful collection of neckpieces and brooches… friendly, squashy works meticulously fashioned in cotton thread, strands of handmade soft pastel porcelain beads and puzzling hairy brooches … the pieces remind you of something, your mother’s pearls? a childhood toy? a cactus? a chain of crocheted atoms? a donut pumpkin?...their taxonomy only limited by your imagination.

Adjunct Professor Kay Lawrence AM, South Australian School of Art, Architecture and Design, officially opened the exhibition last night.  In her opening address Prof. Lawrence commented that “Kelly’s materials, cotton, clay and hair each have their own internal forces that she has allowed to lead the making process; the pliability of cotton, the malleability of clay and its surprising hardness when fired, the springiness of hair and its tendency to tangle and matt, resulting in neckpieces and brooches which seem both familiar and strange” and goes on to say “ Kelly’s work…has an uneasy and sometimes comical edge as human, animal and plant forms merge together”

Kelly graduated from the University of South Australia in 2011 and for the past two years has been a tenant at Gray Street Workshop. Kelly’s passion, enthusiasm and potential was recognised by Arts SA with a Project grant for the development this exhibition.

This is her first solo show… an important professional step for an emerging and talented contemporary jewellery.

pieces of familiar runs from 4 October to 3 November. Kelly will be talking about her work and practice on Friday 11 October, at 11am at Gray Street Workshop.

Cracker is a wildly eclectic exhibition of necklaces and other jewels. From the eccentric and the excessive to the minimalist and essential, Cracker is a collective exhibition of the creative musings of the partners and tenants of Gray Street Workshop; Catherine Truman, Sue Lorraine, Jess Dare, Lisa Furno, Kelly Jonasson and Jordan Taylor. Each jeweller demonstrating their own unique expertise and creative craft; using materials as varied as the artists themselves, from steel to melted plastic, shell to paper and glass.

TWO WAYS
2 May – 2 June 2013
 

This year JamFactory Contemporary Craft and Design celebrates its 40th birthday so it seemed fitting to join in the celebrations and reflect on the connection that has developed over time between JamFactory and Gray Street Workshop.

TWO WAYS is an exhibition of new work by selected artists that are alumni of both Gray Street Workshop and the Metal Design Studio, JamFactory Contemporary Craft and Design.

Gray Street Workshop and JamFactory each offer unique, different and complimentary career development and professional opportunities for aspiring, emerging and established artists in the discipline of contemporary jewellery and object design.

TWO WAYS provides insight into the various paths an artist can take armed with the experiences, support and encouragement offered by JamFactory and Gray Street Workshop.

Participating in the show are alumni Kath Inglis, Katrina Freene, Lauren Simeoni, Sun-Woong Bang, Meghann Jones and Leonie Westbrook.

On show will be works incorporating porcelain, PVC, found materials and Monel, works made using traditional jewellery techniques sit along side works made using the CAD design process, 3D laser printer and toaster oven. Jewellery, objects, images and text recount personal journeys and adventures at the bench and around the world… no two exhibitors have travelled the same career path…everyone has taken their own way.

JamFactory’s Chief Executive Officer, Brian Parkes, will open the exhibition at 6pm on Thursday 2 May. The exhibition runs until Sunday 2 June.

On Friday 10 May at 5.30 – 7pm the workshop will host the second scheduled Future Design Friday, an open studio and series of informal talks on the practice of contemporary jewellery in Adelaide.

MEDIA RELEASE

the squid has a mexican moustache…
By Lisa Furno
6 June - 7 July
Gray Street Workshop Gallery
 

Curious title…intriguing show…Gray Street Workshop Gallery is pleased to invite you to an exhibition of vibrant new work made from old things by Lisa Furno.

For the past six months Lisa Furno has been collecting discarded plastic toys, electrical parts, off cuts, box strapping and knick-knacks and then subjecting them to experiments with the heat gun, shrink wrap and jewellers saw to create this dazzling collection of new jewellery.

The materials Lisa has gathered for her work are all pre-loved and recycled, collected from friends, op-shops, hard rubbish and the street and laneways of Adelaide and then transformed into an explosive and eclectic array of wearable works or art…brooches, neckpieces and earrings.

This is jewellery for the adventurous and discerning wearer… its playful contemporary jewellery with plenty of zest and zing.

the squid has a mexican moustache…will be opened on Thursday 6 July by Sydney based jeweller Mark Vaarwark – Mark is well known for recycling plastic bags and polystyrene foam boxes into refined and stylish jewellery pieces.

Mark will be talking about his work and practice on Friday 7 July at Gray Street Workshop.

MEDIA RELEASE:

The Nature of Memory

7 March – 24 March 2013
As part of the 2013 Adelaide Fringe Festival, Gray Street Workshop, one of Australia’s longest operating artist run studios, is pleased to announce the opening of The Nature of Memory an exhibition of new work by talented local jeweller Jess Dare.

The Nature of Memory is an intriguing exhibition that draws together the notions of the fragility of nature, the fragility of memory and the fragility of materials. Jess has created a magical collection of seemingly impossible glass and metal plant specimens… miniatures and super sized specimens that branch, twist, grow, flourish and bloom in the gallery space.

The juxtaposition of fragile and robust materials and the play with scale builds a sense of tension and awe in the work.

This is Jess’s first solo show, and a culmination of several years honing her skills as a jeweller and glass lamp worker and deftly combining these techniques into a powerful and moving exhibition.

The impetus for the show was triggered by the sad passing of her grandfather in 2011, a passionate and dedicated gardener, who inspired the rest of the family to nurture and grow things…in Jess’s case the legacy of her grandfather is preserved in her glass garden.

The development of Jess’s work was further influenced by the fascinating scientific botanical glasswork of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, father and son who worked in the late 1800’s. The Blaschka’s are known for creating intricate and highly realistic plant models the most famous collection of their work is now housed at Harvard University.

The Nature of Memory is an exhibition full of passion, thoughtfulness, complexity, skill and intrigue.

Jess was awarded a prestigious Arts SA Project grant in 2011 towards the development of the work and the exhibition opening at Gray Street Workshop is proudly supported by Fox Creek Wines.

Following it’s inaugural showing at Gray Street Workshop, Adelaide The Nature of Memory will tour to Gallery 20/17 in Sydney and Gallery Bilk in Canberra.

Gray Street Workshop opened a gallery in its Sydney Road (Adelaide) premises in November 2010 and since then has run a varied program of exhibitions, showcasing the work of Gray Street artists working in a range of materials and styles. The gallery has been a focus for unique, well-crafted South Australian jewellery and objects…and now we are delighted to be hosting the work of Gray Street Workshop partner - Jess Dare.