CRAFTS
NOVEMBER 2004
CZECH POINT
In
the years since the Czech Republic became an independent state following
the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and the overthrow of Soviet style
Communism, there has been a new flowering of the applied arts. New
Czech jewellery design tends to be playfully organic, drawing on
a shared cultural past, but also subverting it. Czech It Out, a
new exhibition at Saltaire's Kath Libbert Jewellery Gallery, showcases
work that has never been seen in the UK before. Thirteen artists
from the Czech Republic display work ranging from jewellery to larger
sculptural pieces created from materials as diverse as bone, string,
glass, plastic, fishing bait and credit cards - along with the precious
metals and garnets of traditional jewellery - and many are characterised
by a surprising inventiveness and humour. Standout pieces include
knitted wire sculptures, masks and puppets by Blanka Sperkova; an
insect brooch made from a plastic fly swat, accessorised with plexiglass
and Bohemian garnets by Petr Vogel; and Katerina Jancarova's mobile
jewellery pieces - cubes, cones and cylinders billed as 'independent
objects' that can be worn attached by a simple pin. LH
Czech It Out is at the Kath Libbert Jewellery Gallery,
Salts Mill, Victoria Road, Saltalre B018 3LB (01274) 599790 until
31 January 2005.
