Jerwood Makers Open

Unbound by any brief, five makers are instead ‘leading with their imaginations’ in the pursuit of applied art at the Jerwood Makers Open show.

Each maker has been given £7500 for the experiments into ceramics, glass, jewellery, and mixed materials.

Broadly the works deal with issues which will face the applied arts sector in coming years.

Director of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation, Shonagh Manson says, ‘Within this exhibition alone are new works which engage with a range of those challenges; with localism and production, with digital design and the concept of uniqueness, and with the potential of the hand-made, the abstract and sculptural in craft.’

Nao Matsunaga Palace of Coming and Going 2012

Source: Thomas Rydin

Nao Matsunaga Palace of Coming and Going 2012

Nao Matsunaga offers abstracted versions of familiar natural forms including, variously, clouds, rocks and animals.

For Jerwood, Matsunaga is making his largest scale works to date – two freestanding ceramic sculptures which celebrate his view that extremes of scale are often what makes a piece of work remarkable.

James Rigler, Precinct 2012

Source: Thomas Rydin

James Rigler, Precinct 2012

Ceramic artist James Rigler is interested in what determines whether something is seen as ordinary or extraordinary. Inspired by architectural forms he creates work in response to everyday objects around us.

At Jerwood he is making three monuments, an obelisk, a statue, and an archway, which will be made to seem less grand, as they’ll be composed of fabric, wood, paint and metal.

William Shannon Kiln House 2012

Source: Thomas Rydin

William Shannon Kiln House 2012

William Shannon’s investigations into the provenance of objects, has led him to design a 1.2mx1.2m pottery work shop replete with imaginary potter and working kiln, which will produce real pottery from locally sourced London clay.

His, argument, brilliantly illustrated through the installation, is that localised manufacturing, with local materials, can allow lightweight industries to be re-introduced to the city.

Louis Thompson Hive 2012

Source: Thomas Rydin

Louis Thompson Hive 2012

Glass artist Louis Thompson is interested in patterns of repetition, sequencing and multiples, and the aesthetics of medical apparatus.

His Jerwood project has led him to explore material quality, composition, scale, collection, distortion, and ambiguity, using water and light to  ‘exploit mass and volume, shadow and reflection, distortion and illusion,’ organisers say.

Spurred by the desire to understand all of these things, which are seemingly at odds, viewers will be cajoled into touching the objects to answer questions such as ‘Is it glass?’ ‘Is it solid?’ ‘Is it full or empty?’ it is hoped.

Silvia Weidenbach Fractal Invention - Another White Night! 2012. Photo Thomas Rydin

Source: Thomas Rydin

 

Meanwhile jewellery artist Silvia Weidenbach has combined her gold and silversmithing skills with 3D printing to look at the decomposition of materials.

Three neckpieces have been created for the exhibition. By photographing made or found objects before manipulating them with digital symmetry computer prgrammes, Weidenbach creates new forms, which are printed as 3D prototypes, to be adapted, cast in resin, silver or titanium, and embellished with precious stones.

Jerwood Makers Open runs from 11 July – 26 August, JVA at Jerwood Space, SE1 0LN

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