Association for Contemporary Jewellery
e-bulletin No 12, September 2009
Exhibition Review

Kath Libbert’s ‘Choice’ at Saltaire
Kath Libbert’s popular gallery in Salts Mill hosted a special evening event on 8th September, celebrating its current exhibition of new international jewellery. Kath had chosen 8 designers from the 2009 Schmuck exhibition in Munich earlier this year, including the winner of the Herbert Hoffman prize, Sam Tho Duong. This provided an opportunity for us to look at work by artists mostly not before shown in UK. On display was work by Dorothea Brill, Noemi Doge, Stephanie Jendis, Sabine Lang, Marta Mattsson, Erik Urbschat, Sam Tho Duong and Caro Weiss.
The ‘choice’ concept was carried through with The People’s Choice, a chance for visitors to the exhibition to choose their favourite piece from the show and enter a prize draw. Special A5 sheets were prepared with space for a photo-portrait of the visitor and their reasons for the choice. By the date of the evening event (the show began on 16th July) an entire wall was covered with delighted faces of people wearing their chosen pieces, and often pithy comments below.
There’s certainly a loyal fan-base up there, and upwards of 50 people attended on the night, most of them wearing their prized pieces of jewellery, in many cases probably bought from the gallery. One middle-aged gentleman sported one of those 6-inch diameter brooches by Adam Paxon, all brightly patterned seaweedy knobs and sprouts. His wife was wearing a superb necklace by Jenny Dean.
Kath had invited two speakers, to talk about their choices: a jeweller and a collector. Marta Mattsson, one of the exhibitors, is starting her second year at RCA, and Lady Marie Alexander, is, of course, ACJ’s Patron. Marta spoke about choosing to study in a range of schools in different countries, her native Sweden, Japan and the US, and what she had gained from each experience, including some of the projects she had worked on, experimenting with different materials. Next it was Marie Alexander’s turn, speaking about how she chose the pieces in her collection. Her reasons were often emotionally based, in parallel with her circumstances, and combined with a very positive response to the sensual appeal of the pieces, their colours and textures. She spoke eloquently (she is a barrister) and with passion about the place that jewellery holds in her life.
Altogether a successful and enjoyable evening, with eager questions after the talks, and discussion about the work on show.
Image: Marta Mattsson brooch