Julie Blyfield: Artist Statement & Bio

Julie Blyfield has worked for over 30 years at her practice, currently from her own independent studio overlooking her garden environment in Maylands, South Australia. Julie’s jewellery and object work is inspired by research into botanical specimens, historical silver collections and the rich diversity of the Australian landscape, which she interprets using the technique of metal chasing, hammering and surface chiselling, predominately in sterling silver and more recently, copper.

Julie Blyfield has worked for over 30 years at her practice, currently from her own independent studio overlooking her garden environment in Maylands, South Australia. Blyfield’s jewellery and object work is inspired by research into botanical specimens, historical silver collections and the rich diversity of the Australian landscape, which she interprets using the technique of metal chasing, hammering and surface chiselling, predominately in sterling silver and more recently, copper.    

In 2007, Blyfield was a recipient of the prestigious South Australian Living Artists Award which celebrated her achievements with a major monograph about her life and work, published by Wakefield Press. An Australia Council - Creative Australia Award (2015-16) offered Blyfield the opportunity to create and exhibit Panorama a significant body of new jewellery and objects for an international touring solo exhibition at  Ruthin Crafts Centre, North Wales; The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh and Bilk Gallery in Canberra in 2017. Blyfield collaborated with Kirsten Coelho, a potter to present Ormolu at Gallery Funaki opening in October, 2017 touring to The Jam Factory in Adelaide and The National in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 2018 she presented a solo exhibition Flora at Irene Belfi Gallery in Milan, Italy. 

Blyfield’s jewellery and metalwork is held in Australian and International museum collections including the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra; the Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, France; the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, United Kingdom. Her work has been shown in International Art and Design Fairs such as Collect, London, UK and Chicago SOFA in America. Blyfield’s work has also been selected for the prestigious international jewellery exhibition - Schmuck and her silver objects have been shown at the Schoonhoven Silver Award several times in her career. 

Blyfield has travelled, lectured and presented workshops in Australia, United States of America, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. As part of her practice she regularly mentors emerging jewellers, sharing her knowledge, skills and professional experience. She is currently mentoring the Jam Factory Metal Associates in 2019. Blyfield has won numerous prizes for her work including the Overall Winner of the South Australian Museum Natural History Art Prize where her work was acquired by the South Australian Museum collection. 

Julie Blyfield: CV March, 2023 Download

Barbara Ryman: Artist Statement & Bio

Since childhood, Barbara Ryman has been a fascinated observer of nature, nourished by the stories of naturalists Gerald Durrell and Jean-Henri Fabre. They taught her the value of taking time and observing with all her senses. Fabre's minute and dedicated studies of insects, taught Ryman that the details of these tiny lives are remarkable and important; they provide an intimate and quiet world of inspiration for her work.

Her primary medium of Vitreous Enamelling is combined with many metalwork and etching techniques. Forty years of study and practice give her a remarkable depth of knowledge, enabling her to combine both traditional, Japanese and contemporary enamelling methods. This interplay of metal, glass and etching have become her intricate, creative language she uses when making her jewellery and vessels

Barbara Ryman has been a leading influence in Australian Contemporary jewellery for more than 30 years, primarily for her exquisite and extraordinary work with vitreous enamel.
In recent years she has spent much time in Japan studying Japanese enameling techniques with master craftsman and mentor, Tsuyura Sakurai. These influences have provided many new directions of exploration that can be seen in Ryman’s work. “As a mature artist, I have sometimes found this challenging, but it has also been inspirational and transformative. I hope I will always take such leaps of faith”. 

Barbara has exhibited frequently both internationally and nationally and her work is held in both public and private collections, including; the Australian National Gallery in Canberra, the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney and the Museum of Contemporary Enamelling in Salou, Spain. 

Barbara Ryman: CV March, 2023 Download

Daehoon Kang: Artist Statement & Bio

As a silversmith the use of traditional silversmithing techniques, especially hand raising, allows me to create the fluidity of organic sculptural objects, which have a close relationship to natural forms.

Often my work is imbued with Korean wit and humour, and overlaid with  elements of my own experiences that I’ve had since moving to Australia. Some of my work aims to challenge, engage or surprise the viewer, for example one of my work “Flying Teapot” (the collection of the Arts Centre of Melbourne) reveals unexpected outcomes as you examine it closely. Firstly it is perceived to be a teapot, but then you realize it can’t possibly function as such as its actual function as a lamp becomes apparent.

I also think various cultural experiences have influenced the production of my work.  An essential element is the fusion of Korean and Western cultures that result in a universal visual language. In Australia I have a small studio where the limitations of space have encouraged me to explore the translation of silversmithing techniques to a scale applicable for wearable jewellery and containers. It also reflects a change of process, whereby individual components are constructed and then collated into a composition, allowing greater freshness and versatility than that provided by a fixed design concept.

Daehoon Kang who studied in Korea and Australia and has pursued his successful practice in Australia since moving here permanently in 2003.

He has built an exhibition profile that includes Australia, SE Asia and Europe; he is a multiple award winning and highly collectable artist, producing exquisitely crafted silversmithing and jewellery that transcends specific cultural characteristics. He has work in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Centre of Melbourne, and numerous private collections.

Joungmee Do: Artist Statement & Bio

Since working as a contemporary jeweller and metalsmith in Australia I have experienced numerous new processes and concepts however I find myself continuing to seek out my cultural uniqueness, and as the work has evolved I have tried to employ these qualities in a more subtle and symbolic manner. This cultural component is now a significant element of my practice.

As an artist I strive to communicate globally through symbolic expression and a visual language that is accessible to viewers from a diverse range of different environments, and at the same time I value and incorporate the concepts that keep me anchored to the essence of my own culture.

Technically I have employed the traditional Korean metal inlay technique (Iybsa) to create the visual textural aspects associated with fabrics, which give a deeper surface enrichment to metal surfaces.

Joungmee Do who was educated in Korea, came to Australia in 1997 to further her studies in Gold and Silversmithing and has made her home here since 2003.

Joungmee is a jewellery and metalwork artist utilizing the traditional Korean metal inlay techniques in a contemporary fashion. She has exhibited her work in numerous national and international events and is the recipient of several major awards. She has work in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum (Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences), Art Gallery of South Australia, Arts Centre of Melbourne, National Gallery of Australia, Castlemaine Art Museum, Hamilton Art Gallery, Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Musee des Arts Decoratifs, and private collections.

Yu Fang Chi: Artist Statement & Bio

Yu Fang Chi's practice involves repetitive fibre-related techniques which can be connected to traditional domestic art processes. She engaged intensive material-based practices, artistic research and curatorial projects to deftly investigate the role of femininity and its cultural connotations.

Yu Fang Chi is a Taiwan-born Australian artist working within textile, silversmithing, sculpture, and spacial installation in Asia, Australia, and Europe. In her practice, Chi explores the processes of weaving and the position of human body.

Through various methods of exploring line and form – via traditional craft techniques, wire, and textile installation, as well the use of lighting and shadow – Chi challenges the way weaving to operate and be presented. In 2019, she received Career Development Grants form Australia Council and International Cultural Exchange Grants from Taiwan National Culture and Arts Foundation. Chi has undertaken artist in residencies in Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Taipei. 

Chi gained a doctorate from RMIT University and received Diana Morgan Gold & Silversmithing Prize in 2018. She has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally. Since 2008 her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at the International Handwerksmesse Munich, The Museum of Arts and Crafts ITAMI Japan, The Gallery of Art Legnica in Poland, Beijing International Jewelry Art Biennial, World Art Museum and so on. Yu Fang Chi’s work is held in the collections of Gold Museum in Taiwan, Korea International Craft Biennale, and Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, France.

Yu Fang Chi: CV April, 2023 Download

Gretal Ferguson: Artist Statement & Bio

Gretal Ferguson creates conceptual exhibition work using traditional craft skills in a sculptural setting, challenging the utilitarian traditions of her craft while honouring what came before. With the material process an integral part of her conceptual motivation, Ferguson embraces the arduous nature of silversmithing, using the hours of hammering to explore the work both aesthetically and conceptually, allowing it to unfold in a way it wouldn’t if the process was quick and less laborious.

After completing a music degree and travelling the world, Gretal gave into her ever-present passion for making and enrolled in Jewellery and Object Design at Design Centre, Enmore in Sydney. Not wanting to commit to a 2 year course she only payed for the first 6 months. 4 years later she emerged with an Advanced Diploma, 1 year residency and multiple graduate awards. Not yet sick of study Gretal decided to further her education by completing her Masters of Jewellery, Silversmithing, and Related Products at Birmingham City University’s School of Jewellery in the UK. Upon her return to Australia Gretal was accepted into the Associate Program at JamFactory in Adelaide, working out of the Jewellery and Metal Studio where she had the time and space to develop work for several local and international exhibitions.  She has now established her own studio in Adelaide.

Her recent achievements are – Finalist of the MAKE Award, Australia; winner of the Robert Foster F!nk National Metal Prize, Australia; winner of the Helge Larsen Award, JMGA Profile ‘22 Jewellery, Object, and Metalsmithing Award; finalist in the 2022 International Silver Triennial Germany; honorable mention in the 2020 New Taipei City International Metal Craft Competition, Taiwan; finalist in the KOGEI Award, Japan. She has received a 2 month artist residency in 2022 at DIVA Museum's atelier in Antwerp Belgium, 

Gretal Ferguson: CV August, 2024 Download

Shaun Hayes: Artist Statement & Bio

The collection of plastic objects that inform Hayes’s sculptures are evocative of certain memories and feelings, capturing these ephemeral moments in time. Hayes contemplates the nature of today’s throwaway society and using seemingly unimportant, everyday objects, humorously highlights the importance of being more conscious of the enduring impact waste has on the environment. Drawing on the aesthetics of traditional ceramic vessels combined with contemporary objects, his adorned vessels echo a blending of past and present, old and new as well as illustrating the material similarities between plastic and ceramics.

Interested in the feelings and memory these throwaway objects evoke, Hayes comically uses trash to build vessels of Western cultural heritage. Our garbage becoming a biographic assemblage of certain value systems. The unimportant plastic bottle, the takeaway container and toothpaste ironically put on a pedestal, vitrified, forever set in stone. Almost sarcastically, the works are critiques of how material value is manufactured. But in the environment, it does not matter, material hierarchy does not exist, and both refuse to break down and return to the earth.

Through methods of repetition, rearranging and joining of cast objects paired with a tonal colour palette, Hayes’s sculptures are reminiscent of fantastical and comical imagery whilst also highlighting the tensions of growing up in conversation with existing in a wasteful, thoughtless consumerist society.

Shaun Hayes is a ceramic artist who investigates the relationship between throwaway objects and their ability to instil a sense of reflection on memory, creating a deeply nostalgic and sometimes humorous representation of time and place.

Hayes received a Bachelor of Arts (Visual), with Honours majoring in Ceramics from the Australian National University School of Art in 2013. He is currently living and producing work in Ngario Country, (Captains Flat) NSW Australia.

Career highlights - Winner of the 2024 Muswellbrook Art prize (ceramics), 2023 - invited to exhibit in 'Temperature' an international ceramic art exchange exhibition in Jingdezhen China as part of the Taoxichuan Autumn Art Fair. 2022 finalist in the Waverley Small Sculpture Prize.  Represented Stanley Street Gallery at the Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Carriageworks Sydney in September 2018 and 2023 as well as the 2023 Melbourne Design Fair. His trips to Jingdezhen China in 2011, 2013 and 2023.

Shaun Hayes: CV August, 2024 Download

Christel van der Laan: Artist Statement & Bio

A collector of all manner of things, Christel searches for carefully considered relationships between sometimes disparate elements in her jewellery, with the intrinsic qualities of the materials as her starting point. There are two facets to her practice:  The precise carving of ceramic honeycomb components, a refractory material intended for the jeweller's soldering bench, and the use of found materials.  Placed together, the mundane, the discarded, the overlooked and occasionally the precious, create new poetic possibilites, inviting the viewer and wearer to see jewellery in a different way.

 

Christel’s work has been exhibited in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Norway, Japan, and Poland and is held in private and public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia, the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney and the Alice and Louis Koch Collection in Switzerland. She has staged two solo exhibitions, Price-Less (Katherine Kalaf Gallery Perth, 2006) and Parts of the Story (Stanley Street Gallery, Sydney, 2014) 

Born in the Netherlands, Christel has lived and worked in Perth, Western Australia since 1981.

Christel van der Laan: CV April, 2023 Download