FINDINGS
- The Association for Contemporary Jewellery's quarterly
newsletter.
December 2006
Kath
Libbert Jewellery Gallery - Ten Years On
It
seems astonishing that Kath Libbert has been showing and selling
jewellery in Salts Mill, Saltaire, for ten years. The list of exhibitions
is impressive, and we have been able to review many of the more
important shows over the years. Notable among these have been 'Distinto/Distinct'
(2002), a collaboration with Galeri Hipotesi in Barcelona, and 'Czech
it Out' in 2004, which gave Kath a chance to show exciting work
from the Czech Republic, home of her mother's family. Also in 2004,
'Material Girl' showed artists exploring textiles in jewellery.
'Follow Me' traced the progress of seven makers whose work Kath
had first shown when they graduated, an opportunity eagerly taken
up. There have been plenty more shows in recent years, alongside
an ever-renewed stock of work by gallery artists and newcomers.
Kath is particularly keen to encourage recent graduates and is always
to be seen at New Designers, where she has picked out fresh talents
each year. Early on Kath combined managing the gallery with her
day job as a psychologist with the Community Mental Health Service
Trust in Leeds, but the growing success of the gallery - and the
hard work involved - gradually meant that Salts Mill absorbed all
her energies. Ten Years On - the Mill in Miniature is a celebration
of the past decade, and takes the form of a juried competition in
which gallery artists have been invited to make a piece evocative
of the Mill itself and its history between opening in 1853 and its
closure as a working mill in 1985. Salts Mill is a magnificent Victorian
textile mill built by Sir Titus Salt in the centre of Saltaire,
the model village he built to house his workforce. It was awarded
World Heritage status in 2001, after its rescue and restoration
by the late Jonathan Silver. Now a popular 'destination', it houses
a large collection of work by local lad David Hockney, a restaurant
and a wide range of clothing and household retail outlets. The jewellery
gallery fits well into this mixture, and the Mill draws crowds particularly
at weekends. It will be fascinating to see how the makers respond
to this rich history, and there has been an encouraging response
so far. We shall be reviewing the exhibition in our March issue.
