Counting Down

In just over 6 weeks we will be flying out of Sydney.  I'm excited to be taking, for the first time, a group of students to visit the annual Handwerksmesse in Munich. This festival of jewellery is a week-long celebration of contemporary jewellery and we will get to experience a huge variety of work from makers from all over Europe. Highlights will include Schmuck and Talente though this festival has become renowned for fly-by-night presentations that pop out of people's car boots and back pockets!

Before we hit Munich we will have 4 days in Amsterdam. Here we will visit some of the most respected jewellery galleries in the world. We will also take a day trip to visit the exhibition New Traditional Jewellery: True Colours at the Museum voor Moderne Kunst (MMK) in Arnhem. Most exciting is that we will see in this exhibition the brooch of Silvia Potente, who completed her BVA in the Jewellery & Object studio at Sydney College of the Arts last year.

Throughout our journey we will be posting reviews of the exhibitions we see and reflections of our experiences. Out of this we will be developing work which will be presented under the collective title of 'souvenir'. This blog is the public record of our adventures!

What we are doing....

Introduction:

In March 2011, the Jewellery & Object Studio is travelling to Europe on a field trip. Called Matter & Meaning, this intensive class will participate in the annual ‘Handwerksmesse’ in Munich.
At this international fair the special shows "Exempla", "Schmuck", "Master of Modernity" and "Talente" are presented. Alongside these core events, the city of Munich is dominated by jewellery exhibitions from all over Europe.
The trip will also include travelling to Pforzheim to visit the only museum in the world dedicated to jewellery, and to The Netherlands, to visit key jewellery galleries in Amsterdam and Nijmegen.

Unit of Study description:

Matter and Meaning focuses on material and significance in the processes of the conception and making of jewellery and how these appear in both contemporary and historical work. Students will be introduced to the most contemporary work as well as historical pieces; will experience a range of means of presentation from formal museum to low-tech and ephemeral exhibitions; will see work by emerging artists and the most respected and established makers.
Each participant will maintain a record of their experiences, impressions and ideas in the form of a Travelogue which will become the key resource for developing a piece of work (or small series) on their return, culminating in an exhibition with the working title of Souvenir.
Throughout the duration of the 15-day journey participants will contribute to a daily blog, to include exhibitions reviews, gallery profiles and critical responses. These 3 activities will be the assessment tasks for this unit.