Friday, February 17, 2012

Q&A with Jeweller Rosanne Bartley

Roseanne Bartley will be exhibiting alongside 100Australian Jewellers who have created 100 brooches to represent 100 extraordinary Australian Women at Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor, which will show at the JamFactory GalleryOne from 24 February - 4 April.

Roseanne will also speak at the Group Artist Talk: Reconsidered, Saturday 25 February, 2:00 pm, GalleryOne, JamFactory.
We asked Roseanne a few questions about herself and her work:


Tell us about yourself, how did you become a jeweller?
I began with a short course taught by Danial Clasby in the 1980’s and began renting a space in his access studio, which was located in Auckland, New Zealand. This was during a period in New Zealand jewellery recently defined as the Bone Stone and Shell movement.
Which jeweller, craftspeople, writers, artists, musicians, anyone do you find particularly inspiring and how have they influenced your approach to making?
Hmmm too many to mention, I love looking at art and hearing people talk about what they do – so anyone who is passionate with an interesting outlook on life. I read broadly, philosophy and theory, of craft, art, anthropology, etc especially while I am camping – reading outdoors around a campfire is both favoured and savoured.
Are there any specific quotes, ideas, places that influence this current body of work?
The material I work with is mostly collected from around my neighbourhood, and I am interested in exploring the idea of what locates us in place and time. Although I made the work for this exhibition in my studio, I also create work outdoors and involve other people in my process.
Are there any specific collections, museums that you have found inspiring and why?
Even though I have been fortunate in travel and visited a few museums I wouldn’t say any have directly inspired me. Although I have a current fascination with the earliest form of jewellery discovered, a series of perforated cowrie shells, which would have been threaded on a string.

Welcome us to your studio - where is it?
My studio is a bessa brick shed in my back-yard, I tend to keep it a private space as it’s often an organized mess, so I probably wouldn’t invite you in, sorry. I am also working on projects outdoors, so am more likely to arrange to meet you on the street and invite you to participate in one of my projects. If you are interested in finding out more you might like to look up http://seedingthecloud.blogspot.com.au/
The work for the exhibition: Can you describe the specific themes reflected in this body of work?
I wanted to convey a sense of time and place, a representation of Australia ‘now’.
This work was created in response to the criteria Miles Franklin established for the literary award in her name “the highest literary merit and which must present Australian life in any of its phases”. I am not sure what Ms Miles would have made of Australian cultural life in its current phase, I view it as the best of times  and… …..
M is For, 2011. Found Plastic,925 silver and stainless steel. Part of  Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Exhibition.


Describe your method of production in this current work?
I have been exploring different methods to represent mass or amassing and for this work I bound together a number of takeaway plastic remnants and fused them together using my iron. Once bonded together they were set with a plastic lid that had been cut and heat formed.

Be sure and see:
Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor at the JamFactory, 24 February - 4 April
Group Artist Talk: Reconsidered with Artist Penny Byrne(The Art of the Possible), Anna Davern, and Roseanne Bartley (Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor).
Symposium: Leading Women, Saturday 31 March, 2:00 - 5:00pm at Nexus Multicultural Arts Centre, Cabaret. Join a diverse group of South Australian women who are leaders in their field. Speakers include artist Sue Lorraine, Leaders Institute of SA Niki Vincent, Kojo CEO Loewn Steel, Professor Emirata of Gender Studies Margaret Allen and fashion designer Liza Emanuele