Contemporary Enamelling Exploring Ice Through Reclaimed Steel and Stone Setting

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Background: Researchers in the contemporary field of enamelling advance the medium by engaging in materials based creative research and the development of conceptually driven artwork. Authors such as Glenn Adamson, Tim Ingold and Richard Sennett discuss the development of craft skill and material practices. Enamellists who have developed this area include Christine Graf (Germay), Jamie Bennett, Linda Darty, Jessica Calderwood (US), Elizabeth Turrell, Jessica Turrell and Helen Carnac (UK). My research is contextualised within this international advancement of vitreous enamelling in art.
Contribution: The Ice section brooch extends enamelling knowledge through technique and concept. Ice section is made from found steel meccano components that are enamelled and revalued through the application of layers of vitreous enamel and Clear Blue Lustre at high temperatures. The conceptual aspects of Ice section brooch respond to my visit to GNS Science (NZ) in 2014; there, the meter-long square sections cut from the ice core’s interior was continuously melted in order to analyse every droplet of water from within the core for gas, particulates and air. The Ice section interprets the processing of the Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution (RICE) Project’s ice core samples. The brooch as an artefact records this personal experience and alludes to contemporary ecological issues.
Significance: ‘The National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute’ is the peak body for craft in Taiwan. This exhibition was curated by Wu Ching-Chih, Yang Xin-Biao and the Chinese Taipei Enamel of Art Association. This selected survey of international enamel was presented alongside The Japan Shippo Conference and The Center for Enamel Art (US). The artists were selected on the premise that their work approached enamel in innovative and original ways. I was the only artist to be selected from Australia.