I just discovered the blog of Theo Smeets! He is the head of the jewellery department at the University of Applied Science in Idar-Oberstein. The blog showcases what's happening in jewellery in I-O. And in this post there's more information about the Artist in Residence program. Theo's website is pretty cool too.
Theo Smeets: Frog
cork, wismut(?), paint
.
Rose quartz anyone...?
anyone...?
anyone...?
These shots were taken at the stone uber-shop Gunter-Bohrer (there's supposed to be squiggles above a few of those letters but I couldn't be bothered looking for them) and yes, that top photo is of a single rose quartz crystal!
We were taken there as a sort of excursion as the minimum purchase is one kilo, and I know I'm an excess luggage hound but I couldn't justify bringing any of these home...
Here are some more shots of the shop...
the entrance. And from that point of view it's about a third of the total yard size. Every one of those barrels is full of stones of various sizes.
Amethyst, each crystal is about 200mm
L-R quartz and rock crystal
slices of agate
shelves of quartz
.
the haul...
in a vaguely clockwise manner going from top left; lava leading to rose quartz, green dyed something-or-other which I forgot to get the name of, coral, mangano calcite, black tourmaline (yummy yummy), pink rodocrosite, a big pile of coloured quartz, onyx surrounding coloured howlite, peridot underneath, coloured agate, pearls, more peridot, citrine, more black lava, more pearls, brandy coloured quartz, lapis lazuli and smoky quartz. I love the smokey quartz, it reminds me of 70's cigarette advertisements of suited men drinking whiskey and smoking Dunhill or Davidoff.
some raw diamonds for one of my students (they're about 4mm each - 21 euro the lot)
a block of reconstructed coral on the left and reconstructed onyx on the right. I think it's made by recombining the dust of the material. the block of coral is about 150 x 100 mm. This was a courier job for someone else but I wish I'd got some myself, apparently you can cut it with a piercing saw!
.
Welcome to Villa Bengel (see previous post).
This is actually the staircase to a room which was used for an exhibition during the symposium. The exhibition was called Twilight (check out the image at that link! It's work by Andrea Winkler who I met in Idar-Oberstein. what a coincidence) and was the result of a masterclass between students of EKA in Tallinn and Alchimia in Florence in 2005. Sorry, no photos.
Also no photos of the artist-in-residence studio or apartment but lots of photos of the old factory...
the chain making room.
chain making machine
chain making room
press (?)
lathe
hand tools
lathe
hand tools and well-used bench peg!
enormous old press
stain on the wall
porsche
where have you been all my life?
Kadri Malk (head of jewellery, EKA) opening the exhibition with the Mayor of Idar-Oberstein (Bruno Zimmer) on the right and Wilhelm Lindemann (curator, City of Idar-Oberstein) on the left in the background
.
I'll try and get another post or two about Idar-Oberstein in before my trip to Helsinki tomorrow morning. I want to post more about the conference but it will come later.
There were quite a few exhibitions on during the conference including this wonderful installation in the entrance hall of the school...
if you look closely you can see that some of the drawers and shelves contain the works. (there are bigger versions of all my photos on flickr, just click on the photo to go there). These photos were taken during set up so it's not finished but you get the idea.
Now, I don't normally like installations that take attention away from the works themselves but I really liked this.
This is another issue that has been the focus of discussions between myself and my Estonian jewellery brethren as it is the practice here to create an 'atmosphere' using techniques of lighting, sound and surface when exhibiting. Even in an assessment situation, the students frequently employ very low lighting, recorded sounds or music and display works on felt and fabric. I find this distracting but their argument is that it all adds to the 'reading' of the work. When I exhibit, I think very carefully about how the work will be displayed and, where possible, avoid glass covered plinths! The composition and placement of objects in exhibitions is very important to me and, while I have a preference for white surfaces, I have recently displayed work on pale blue silk. But generally, I try and avoid distracting installation techniques.
So, why did I like the exhibition above? Because of the reference to the work. It was a group show of works by all the artists who had taken part in the school's artist-in-residence program. All of the pieces of furniture had been removed from the Villa Bengel which is where the participating artists live and work. The Villa Bengel is the subject of another post to come but briefly, it is a heritage protected 'Bijouteriewaren and clock chain factory' (I think that means jewellery factory, anyone?) with worker accommodation which has been bequeathed to the school for the use of the residency program. Now Villa Bengel is old. And Villa Bengel is somewhere that you want to explore. And this installation made me want to explore and find the pieces of jewellery within the labyrinth of disused furniture and factory shelving. It was designed by Tabea Reulecke who is the assistant at the school and is also a maker of beautiful things....
'close fight' (object)
Sorry, so much writing!! Here are some images of works from the exhibition...
Karin Seufert whose work I love and have already blogged about here
Karin Seufert
Bety K. Majernikova
There was much more but, because of the installation, it was difficult to photograph. So here are some images of work by the students of the school which were also on display.
display cases in the hall
Kirsten Bak - they're plastic coated hollowed branches and they're rings (and I bought one)
Martina Palstring
Martina Palstring
more again soon
.
.
Idar-Oberstein is a small town in Germany, in between Frankfurt and the French border. It is most famous for its gemstone cutting and dealing industry but also for the jewellery department of the University of Applied Sciences.
students' workbenches.
The school takes students who have completed the equivalent of a jewellery 'apprenticeship' and they then spend another 4 years studying contemporary jewellery with a focus on stone work.
stone cutting workshop.
an ultra-sonic stone cutting machine!
Each year they hold a symposium called "Schmuck-Denken" (jewellery ideas) and fortunately this year, it coincided with the Davernator does Europe world tour. The theme of this years symposium was Beauty and there was a mixture of talks by artists and by theorists. Unfortunately it was also in a mixture of German and English and being mono-lingual, as I am, meant missing about 50% of the lectures. The talks I did hear, however, were interesting and inspiring. You can see the program over at the symposium link above.
The topic of beauty and jewellery is an interesting one and seems to have been overlooked in recent dialogue and debate about "what is jewellery" (please correct me if you think I'm wrong and point me in the direction of where I can find something about it). The Portugese artist Manuel Vilhena gave a very entertaining and insightful talk about the determination of beauty and how the judgement of aesthetic beauty can become corrupted by the beauty of emotion and intellect. He also developed some hilarious but ultimately quite truthful 'equations' for determining the beauty quotient of an object. I have requested copies and I will post them here when they arrive.
He also spoke about the ownership of opinion and was encouraging us to bravely declare whether we found things beautiful or not and to resist using phrases like "I think it's interesting". So I will end this post by declaring that I find this work beautiful...
But I don't think that this is beautiful...
both images from Velvet da Vinci
Notice my cowardice in not using the word 'ugly', and I also chickened out by choosing two works by Manuel himself. I have effectively given him two compliments and one criticism, so I'm safe!
And I leave it for you to decide whether you think this is beautiful or not.
the ubiquitous Idar-Oberstein gem stone tableau.
I'm in Idar-Oberstein. Idar-Oberstein is the stone capital of the world. I've already spent way too much money. y and z have changed places on German keyboards. Internet access is 8€ per hour. I will post details on my return to the land of free wi-fi.
Yesterday was assessment for my students...
the set up.
the assessment team, including the formidable Rein Metts (far right)
Here is the work they completed for the project they did with me. The project topic was 'foreignness'
Xana:
She was interested in "psycho-geography" and the idea of psychological borders. The neckpieces are made of mild steel and are joined using very fine chenier so they are articulated.
Katrin:
Katrin was inspired by the plethora of black plastic bags she saw rubbishing the landscape on a recent trip to Morocco and was working with the idea of the foreign plastic parasite invading the natural world (appalling photos, I'm sorry Katrin, they don't do the work any justice)
Antje:
Antje's original training was in Idar-Oberstein which is the "stone" capital of the world. Working with stones for her is 'familiar' but she had never worked with amber before. Not only does amber represent the foreigness of Estonia, there is also the element of the foreign object inclusions of trapped insects and air bubbles. Her pieces are most successful when you can experience their tactile quality. See if you can tell in the neckpiece which 2 of the 5 pieces of amber are real.
and Kertu:
Kertus interest was the fear of foreignness. The fear of the foreigner and the fear of being foreign
.
