Look what just arrived from Estonia

Yes, I've got myself my very own Estonian! I organised for the delivery before I left but there was a delay in sorting out the paperwork. This is Raili Arbus (you say it like Riley) and she's here for a year to do a mentorship with me. We met at the Estonian Academy of Art and she expressed an interest in coming to Australia and working with me, so I said "Make it So"

She's Ace!

And this is where she'll be working.




The lemel looks very pretty but it's practical too as it's plastic backed upholstery fabric.

any current or prospective PhD students out there?

Wanna go and spend some research time in Estonia? There is something called the Archimedes foundation which funds foreign PhD students to undertake 10 months of research at an Estonian university.

From the info they've sent me it appears they pay your round trip airfare, the cost of the stamp duty for an Estonian visa and your medical insurance as well as a stipend of 6000 Estonian kroon per month (about $640 Aussie).

The deadline for applications is the 15th January 2008, so get moving and email me for contact details and more information (annadee at ozemail dot com dot au)





Streets of Tallinn

Last Days of Tallinn #2

From the graduation exhibition of the Estonian Academy of the Arts. Of course my students' work was the best but I've already posted images here so I'll show something else which caught my eye...






It's work by Ksenia Jedomskihh called 'Vice Versa Nikolai'. She graduated from fashion design.

I don't know if it's the reference to Eastern European bling...



or the ordnance...



or the 80's references...



but whatever it is, I love it. And the backsides are pretty good too...






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Last days of Tallinn #1

It was raining in Tallinn...




but the art performance went ahead...




I'm not sure what it was about but the performer was carrying a (stuffed and dirty) swan and had plastic lobsters hanging off his dacks. He was leading us to an exhibition opening and on the way asked passers by if they could wipe the rain from his glasses.




The exhibition was a group show of artists who had taken part in a 'conceptual drawing' workshop. Needless to say, there was little drawing. It was very interesting and it was exhibited in a squat near to my apartment. This particular building had apparently been used by the KGB during soviet times as a place to 'interview' certain persons and afterwards became a squat inhabited by artists. It's now to be demolished or renovated by a developer and the artists (some of whom lived in the building) all responded to aspects of the building's history.




Unfortunately I couldn't find the names of the artists (or the performer) and the invite is in Estonian so if any of my Estonian readers want to contact me with details I'll add them here.

The image above was of a work exhibited in the roof of the building. I was nervous entering the roof as it was dark and it stank and the beams were all charred! but it was worth it. The images below are also part of the work but I had to use flash which destroys the atmosphere created by the darkness of the space.






This was in one of the rooms downstairs...



It would occassionally emit low thunderous sounds which were appropriate for the rainy day and it created quite an ominous atmosphere which seemed appropriate for the future of the building.

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Assessment

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

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squealing with delight

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(l-r) Antje, Raili, Mindaugus, Katrin going gaga over Antje's new neckpiece...




yes, that's pink silicon, with fake diamonds and a chain of beautiful green hemimorphite beads. From my bro's experience, I know that in Stratocaster world that colour is known as "foam green"

ooh la la, I love it.

more of the same...

but just a little bit different.





I posted images of these in progress so here are the finished pieces








I'm a bit proud of the catch so I thought I'd share the detail with you...











and a couple of other things that have been appearing on my bench...








bye for now

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Nothing to declare

Here are a few more matryoshka rings...



I figure it's better to pass through Aussie customs with 200 matryoshka onion rings than 20 whole matryoshkas!


and here's another neck piece



this one is made from a 'red indian' doll. (I'm aware that that's the incorrect term).

And this is something I will miss when I leave...



electric rolling mills. sigh.

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8 posts in one day!!

Yes, I've been catching up. And don't be fooled by the date change, it's set to Australian time! 6 posts here and 2 over at Garage Sailor

All you jewellers out there might be interested in this.



This is the stamp of the Eesti Kunstiakadeemia or the Estonian Academy of Art. All the student work is stamped with this stamp. This was not my experience at art school in Australia.

Also... Hallmarking can only be done by a licensed hallmarker! So unless you sit the rigorous test to become a hallmarker, in Estonia you are not allowed to stamp your work with a 925 or carat stamp! You get in trouble if you do. You can go to prison. You can send your work to get tested by the hallmarker and then stamped but if you're like me and you fly by the seat of your pants at the last minute, I'd never, ever be organised enough to get this done. This practice seems a bit archaic to me but maybe it's common. I'd love to hear from jewellers from other countries (I know you're out there reading this, I see it in my stat-counter) as to what the practice is elsewhere.

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printing photos on metal

The jewellery department organised a workshop in printing photos on metal. It's the same process as when you print photos on watercolour paper by painting emulsion on the paper



That is the first time I've developed a photo! It's fun, but complicated, although I'm sure it gets easier. The stripey effect is because we used the dooverwacky to determine the appropriate exposure time.

We had some trouble with putting the emulsion on the metal as a paintbrush leaves a nice effect on paper but it doesn't look any good on metal. So we tried dobbing it on but that left bubbles...



That was my one and only attempt (on silver) but you can see that the process has possibilities. When I get back I'm gonna hassle my photographer friends to help me get it right. Some of the students experimented further and on different materials and got patchy results but I think that was because all the chemicals were starting to turn bad (what do they say about people who blame their tools?) You can see some successful examples here, they're the two images that look like bottles in the middle row.

Anyway, the resulting surface appears pretty strong but I reckon it would work best on fine silver as I'm not sure whether the emulsion would protect the metal from tarnishing. The detail is pretty amazing too.



you can read the text printed on the window and see the individual branches on the tree! That image is 55 x 37 mm

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What happens when you let a woman loose with a piercing saw

sorry.




Yes, them's arms and legs




I just felt I had to even the score with the whole Matryoshka thing. Those little dimples are the front of the knee.

Anyone else remember hattifatteners?






sorry. again.

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