Maker's Mark

My new maker's mark has arrived! I decided I needed a bent shank stamp (for marking the inside of rings) to go along with my original straight shank maker's mark. The design is the same as the original, but without the border (with thanks to Inari for the suggestion!). Both stamps came from Lonnies, Inc, a small jewellery supply business in Phoenix, Arizona (and my old employer, in my student days).

 

Nicole Polentas & Christopher Earl Milbourne

Nicole Polentas and Christopher Earl Milbourne's exhibition Psychomanteum opens this Thursday 13 October at the Counihan Gallery in Brunswick. Nicole's work has long been interpreting the cultural locations of her Greek heritage in text- and image-based contemporary jewellery, while Chris creates architectural vessels and objects through the fusion of precious metals.

The exhibition runs until 6 November with an artist floor talk on Saturday 15 October at 2:30pm.

Wondernamel

I finally made it to see the RMIT student enameling exhibition Wondernamel today, on its last day at First Site Gallery. This year's edition of the annual exhibition, curated by RMIT enameling lecturer Kirsten Haydon, was filled with especially exciting student work.

A painterly approach was taken on vessels by Inari Kiuru and Wendy Korol, contrasting with the subtle patterns on white enamel of Katie Brichford's salt vessel series. RMIT Artist in Residence Naoko Inuzuka's brooches depicted rainclouds seen from different perspectives, including from an airplane window.

Lucinda Knight's series "Girt by Sea" transformed common kitchen implements such as drains and scrubbing brushes with a combination of sifted and painted enamels, and Robyn Hosking's political ceramic and enameled copper object "HMAS Obfuscation" depicted prominent Australian political figures riding kangaroos on a carousel named "House of Parliament".

Lots of interesting enameling work this year!