NOW
& THEN
A
remarkable exhibition of contemporary and antique jewellery exploring
the timeless themes of power and politics, life and death, laughter
and love.
The
Lighter Side
Jewellery designed to make you smile! Felieke van der Leest combines
her training as a gold and silversmith, her childhood love of crochet
and needlework and her passion for animals (she grew up next to
a zoo) to create her colourful, surreal jewellery. Little plastic
animals are adorned with tiny crocheted clothes and their own jewels
or embellishments – from Emperor Penguin Freddie adorned with
a Polar Bear Claw pendant, to a lion cub with a gold saucepan hat
and an extravagant gold ruff for a mane, or the mother polar bear
having a baby! Felieke also makes quirky crocheted charm bracelets,
which are shown alongside their antique equivalent, traditionally
hung with charms to remind the owner of happy times or holidays.Lindsey
Mann’s childhood was spent surrounded by her dad’s deconstructed
collection of gadgets and mechanical or motorized ‘things’
– bits of which crept into the house and mingled with everyday
belongings. This influence can be seen in her charming brooches
and necklaces, which combine patterned aluminium, precious metals
and found materials; some are ‘nonsensical mechanical inventions’,
all of them, she hopes, trigger vague or familiar memories. For
David Bielander, ‘wearers of jewellery move in the open, they
are the exhibitions, they replace the wall, they are part of the
work’. His ‘jewellery’ takes the shape of lips,
a pearl pig, scampi polonaise or shiny black slugs – to be
worn as and where the wearer chooses. Light, humorous, spontaneous
– his aim through his work is to ‘provoke astonished
reactions, make signals, create wonder, or simply make someone smile’.
Examples of antique jewellery based on animal forms show the lighter-hearted
side of life in the past – with fun pieces such as a cockerel
tie pin set with diamonds and enamel, circa 1890.
Now
& Then runs from 17th July to 28th September 2008.
Salts Mill is open weekdays from 10am – 5.30pm and weekends
10am – 6pm. For further information call 01274 599790.
