Snem Yildirim: Artist Statement & Bio

For me, contemporary jewellery is the way to express myself. I create by taking inspiration from the cultural texture of Turkey and its' georgraphy. The diversities and the contrasts of this Turkey are the colors of my universe and works. I experience the materials and production techniques by blending the contrasts; such as the east and the west, the local and the global, the traditional and the modern, the geometric and the organic.

Snem Yildirim was born in Ankara, Turkey. She graduated from Gazi University, Department of Architecture, and in 2011 she started to study Architectural Design Master Program at Istanbul Bilgi University. By Inout Project she produced several projects within the scope of city and public space. She continued Leather Footwear and Accessories Design Program at Istanbul Moda Academy in partnership with the University of Arts London, in 2013. Currently, she creates art jewelry and is a member of Yaygara Contemporary Art Initiative.

Snem Yildirim: CV January, 2020 Download

Nicole Taubinger: Artist Statement & Bio

To create my jewellery, I use objects of every day use, those which surround us everywhere, and are so close to us that we no longer see them. I find these and set them into a new context, so they become visible again. Objects consisting of polymers exist in beautiful colors and forms. If one observes them on a pile, tops of plastic bottles as well as many other items appear like gems, and are full of emotional tension. I try to design my jewellery in such a way that the material connects within itself, using classical jewellery working methods which I apply to the material. This material is still in an almost new state, yet has either been thrown out, or found in scrap yards, containers or recycling plants. Why not use items that already exist in a large amount, and follow their logic, instead of putting new ones into the world? Through my work, I want to primarily make something visible, and secondly, refer to how multi-facetted our society and its paradoxes are, which has become our second nature. Indigenous people historically used seeds and pits to create their jewellery; similarly, my jewels made out of polymers are the seeds and pits of our second nature.

Nicole Taubinger was born in Munich, Germany, to a Czech mother, and a Slovak father. She graduated from the Metalsmithing and Jewelry Department from the University of Oregon at Eugene, USA,  after which she first worked as a goldsmith in Munich for several years before starting her independent career as a freelance artist. Nicole lives in Prague, Czech Republic. 

Nicole Taubinger: CV January, 2020 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

Elizabeth Kelly: Artist Statement & Bio

My work in glass over the last 20 years has focussed on industrial handling processes of pressing and centrifuging to design works repeated in production incorporating a specific (largely transparent) colour range. During the last decade I have focussed on the composition of elements to construct larger objects, moving from utilitarian objects to a sculptural emphasis that still incorporates industrial methods of production but strongly draws from theoretical research for inspiration. This approach is informed by my work across other platforms prior to bringing this intent into my materially specific work.

I have always enjoyed changing scale; micro to macro cosmic observation has a way of changing perspective, and tailors to the aptness of purpose, and sets challenges in resolution of any work.

In these intricate iterations of cast, assembled and cold finished works my point of departure is the examination the origins of abiogenetic life and elemental organic geometry as inspiration. The theory of abiogenesis examines how the natural process of life has arisen from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds. Furthermore I am examining chirality or the asymmetry of chemical structures in the triggering of growth sequences, elemental in the understanding of what trips this potential ‘life’ switch. Mindful of these chemical processes, my work has a strong serendipitous affinity with marine invertebrates, realised through compositions of rhythmic sequences

Elizabeth Kelly is an artist who has a committed to exploring colour and form through glass. Her current focus, explores the built environment and patterns in engineering. Underlying this subject is a fascination with the social and historic values imbued in architectural structures and the link to scale and perception. 

Throughout her career, Kelly has worked collaboratively with architects, designers and sculptors on specific projects, and has continued a vigorous exhibition engagement.

Elizabeth initially trained as a glass blower before broadening into sculpture and applied design. She gained a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Australian National University, Canberra, and a Master of Visual Arts degree from Sydney College of the Arts, the University of Sydney.

Elizabeth Kelly established Studio Tangerine in 2003 from a need for a dedicated studio to research and develop small scale industrial processes of coloured glass applied to architecture, art and design.

Previous to Studio Tangerine, Kelly lectured at Sydney College of the Arts taking up the prestigious position of Head of Studio, and also lectured at JamFactory Contemporary Craft and Design Centre in Adelaide, South Australia. She has travelled extensively working in studio glass and has completed a Fellowship at the Creative Glass Centre of America, an Artist in Residency at the Seto International Ceramic and Glass centre in Japan. She was awarded the Capital Arts Patrons Organisation Fellowship in Canberra and most recently a Churchill Fellowship.

Elizabeth Kelly: CV January, 2020 Download

Margarita Sampson: Artist Statement & Bio

Human life to me has always been part of a rich and interconnected world, rising and falling, living and dying, interdependent: the mouth of a flower is also my mouth, the surface of a prickly pear is like testicles and soft anemone forms are like our own soft tissues. Healthy and unhealthy; reaching maturity and falling away. In my work, allusions to multiple forms are drawn but not cemented. For me, the power of the work comes from a rich soup of inferences which the viewer provides from their own experience. I say, “is this not unlike...” and you say “yes, but also...”.' The works bring up questions, invites narrative and suggests possible futures with any number of outcomes.

Margarita Sampson was raised on Norfolk Island, and the varied sea life made an indelible impression on her as a small child. As an adult, her sculpture and jewellery work draws upon this rich visual vocabulary. All works are meticulously hand-made by the artist, comprising of hand and machine sewn textiles. In Sampson's Infectious Desires series, the found furniture is sawn and altered, re-carved and gilded, before being overlaid with textile 'landscapes'.

Born in Nowra, NSW (1970), Margarita Sampson grew up on Norfolk Island, attending COFA in Sydney with a BA & M.Art in painting (1990, 92). She began textile sculptural work in response to the first Sculpture Sea (1997) & a photograph of her initial work ‘Urchins’ went become one of the defining images of the exhibition in its early days. Her following work “Fish Curtain’ received the People’s Choice in 1998. Her textile work is often inspired by her childhood summers spent moving between aquatic & terrestrial realms on Norfolk, and embraces hybrid soft forms that transition between human, animal, vegetative and mineral states. 

After some 15 years away from Australia, Sampson returned in 2011 and won the Object section of the Waterhouse Art Prize in 2012 with her work ‘Anenome Incursions: Zsa-Zsa', and subsequent works been finalists in the Wynne prize, the Blake Prize, twelve Sculpture by the Seas Exhibitions and most recently won the Hillview Indoor Sculpture Award 2018.  Her solo show ‘Infectious Desires’ at Stanley Street Gallery in 2015 received international press coverage and critical acclaim. 

Sampson’s work often takes a domestic object and imagines a paradigm of excessive growth, where the soft parts grow and overtake the host, a reflection on current environmental unbalances and possible ecosystem collapse. The work is also very personal, as the objects contain lush openings, curvaceous forms, are provocative and often feminist; meditating on the artist’s aging body within society and spiritually reflecting the artist’s Buddhist practice. She currently lives in a meditation retreat centre. 

Sampson works with commercially available textiles and found objects for her interior works, but also draws on her jewellery practice for work utilising enamel and copper, and wood and steel for large outdoor works.

Margarita Sampson: CV January, 2020 Download

Tor Larsen: Artist Statement & Bio

Tor’s artwork is inspired by film making processes in which a scene is defined by a camera frame enclosing environments, objects/props that viewers mentally and occasionally physically interact with. His disturbing and surreal creations are infused with a sense of lost history, changing social/philosophical values as well as well as darker subconscious themes.

The choice of materials has always been important for Tor. His preference for found and recycled materials and objects imbued with their own history, is crucial to his conceptual development, often informing the construction, ultimate shape and meaning in a given work.

Also crucial to his create process; is the juxtaposition of unlikely materials, objects and ideas as a means of stimulating thought and emotional responses in the viewer, sometimes affected through mechanical interaction with a work where the viewer becomes part of the process of its realisation.

Much of Tor's work attempts to recapture pasts; real, imagined or simply felt as well as to project a virtual and potentially threatening future into the mind of the viewer.

As an artist, Tor gained early exposure to tools and processes in his parent’s jewellery workshop. His first jobs were as a model and prop-maker which led to further employment in the film industry building miniature scenes and creating visual effects. In 1998, he completed a diploma in production design at the AFTRS, following which he worked for various companies and productions on the Gold Coast and in Melbourne as an art director and visual effects coordinator, eventually becoming a producer in Sydney. In 2015 Tor completed a degree in political economy at Sydney University. More recently he has been making jewellery, small sculptures and miniature installations that reflect his political, social and historical/cultural interests as experienced through the cinematic frame. His most recent exhibition was held with his parents and sister, Two Generations: Larsen & Lewers Pia Larsen, Tor Larsen at Spot81 gallery, Sydney in 2016.

Tor Larsen: CV January, 2020 Download

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