Three Fascinating Jewellery Design & Sculpture Exhibitions Visit
Manly Art Gallery & Museum
Exhibition Dates: 30 July - 29 August 2010
Jewellery design and sculpture enthusiasts will delight in three major exhibitions showing simultaneously at Manly Art Gallery & Museum (on Sydney’s Northern Beaches) showcasing contemporary jewellery making, jewellery design by leading artists from Australia and New Zealand, and a rare touring exhibition by Australia’s only national prize for sculptures of smaller dimensions, The Woollahra Small Sculpture prize.
The three exhibitions, Excessory: Contemporary Australian Jewellery; the biennial Contemporary Wearables/ Commemorative Wearables; and the tenth anniversary exhibition of The Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize are ideally suited to the intimate, light and graceful spaces of Manly Art Gallery & Museum, currently celebrating its 80th anniversary.
All three exhibitions are being launched on Friday 30 July at 6pm at Manly Art Gallery & Museum (on West Esplanade Reserve, close to Manly Wharf) by internationally renowned jewellery artists Helge Larsen and Darani Lewers who have lived in the Manly region for close to 40 years.
The Excessory and Contemporary Wearables/ Commemorative Wearables exhibitions showcase emerging and established Australian and New Zealand jewellery artists presenting innovative and environmental design using sustainable materials and processes.
‘Excessory’ brings together the work of six contemporary Australian jewellery artists who challenge traditional notions of ‘preciousness’ through the transformation of commonplace, low-value and found materials into jewellery objects.
“These artists defy the conventional attribution of value in jewellery to the inherent worth of the materials,” said Manly Art Gallery & Museum Director, Therese Kenyon.
“The material choices of each artist - including paper, discarded plastics, glass, aluminium and even road-kill – convey messages about social history, cultural heritage, adornment, the environment and aesthetic value.” “They also demonstrate that value is created by an artist’s labour and the conceptual potential of jewellery as an art form.”
Featured artists in Excessory include Vernon Bowden, Jeanette James, Mark Vaarwerk, Emily Valentine, Zoe Jay Veness and Rebecca Ward.
Manly Art Gallery & Museum is also hosting the 20th anniversary of the biennial Contemporary Wearables jewellery award and exhibition, which presents 65 works by more than 60 artists from across Australia and New Zealand.
“Art followers with an eye for cutting edge jewellery designs will delight in the Contemporary Wearables exhibitions,” said Therese. “Manly Art Gallery & Museum will show award-winning pieces from previous Contemporary Wearables Awards as well as new designs by past award winners Phill Mason, Mitsuyo Matsumoto, Rowena Gough, Dore Stockhausen, Brenda Ridgewell, Viliama Grakalic, Sean O’Connell, Linda Hughes and Brendan Adair Smith.”
“The Contemporary Wearables exhibition - and its companion exhibition of award-winning pieces from previous Contemporary Wearables Awards, Commemorative Wearables - reveal a fascinating array of distinctive, attractive, provocative and highly individual designs.”
To round off an extraordinary trifecta of art shows, Manly Art Gallery & Museum is also hosting the touring Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize exhibition, established in 2001 to support, promote and celebrate artistic excellence in small sculpture.
The Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize has attracted strong support from artists, collectors, benefactors, critics and the community, having received more than 3,400 entries from artists in its nine year history, this year including a schools component focusing on environmental issues.Recent Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize winners have included artists Sebastian di Mauro, Bruce Slatter, Yvonne Kendall, Jan King, Jessie Cacchillo & Craig Waddell, Adam Cullen, Mikala Dwyer and Louis Pratt Alexander Seton.
For details, contact Manly Art Gallery & Museum on (02) 9976 1420
PUBLIC PROGRAMS
Sundays @ the Gallery
EXHIBITION PROGRAMS
Curator and Artists Talk- Excessory: Contemporary Australian Jewellery
Sunday 1 August 2010, 3pm
Join curator Sarah Samild and artists from Excessory: Contemporary Australian Jewellery for a floor talk of the exhibition.
Sunday 8 August, 3pm
New Voices- New Futures- Beyond Resurgence
Join Manly based artist and curator Carole Douglas for an illustrated talk on sustainability within the Kachchh textile community of North West India. Carole continues to work with artisans on issues of sustainability that are also reflected in her own business practices.
Guided tours
3PM, Sundays 15 & 22 August 2010
Special presentation: Sustainability in design and the environment
3pm, Sunday 29 August 2010
Join designer Liane Rossler, co-founder of Dinosaur Designs and a member of Al Gore’s Climate Project. Liane will discuss her approach to sustainability both at Dinosaur Designs and in everyday life and projects addressing sustainability in creative ways.
Kids’ Art Adventures
1030-12 noon, Sunday 8 & 22 August 2010
’Wearable Sculpture’
Children aged 5-10 years create artworks in response to the current exhibition.
Bookings and prepayment essential 9976 1421. Cost $15
Guided Tours
3pm, Sundays 15 & 22 August 2010
Exhibition Dates
30 July – 29 August 2010
