This exhibition is now closed
Gold, silver and titanium are just some of the materials used by Australian goldsmith, Robert Baines, to make his very special jewellery pieces. The Art of the Goldsmith is an exhibition of Baines's jewellery and larger works, such as a silver teapot and coffee pot.
Baines, an Australian master goldsmith with an international reputation, prefers to be known by the ancient term artificer, or one who creates mystical and religious objects by serving the community. This title is inspired by his interest in ancient civilizations and underlies the spiritual approach he takes to his work. Gold pendants, brooches and earrings all have minute silver and gold components joined together by the process of granulation. This ancient technique allows objects to be made through successive firings rather than using solder to adhere one layer to another. By using this method Baines retains the ancient significance of this process in which the surface is not regarded as a superficial decoration, but an integral part and a direct expression of the whole structure.
The works combine various metals contrasting texture and finish to produce exquisitely crafted pieces which are at the same time contemporary and archaic. A box of bones that Baines found in his studio while he was artist in residence at Waikato Polytechnic inspired the Waikato pieces. These works introduce bone used with alloyed gold and silver enhancing the quality of the metals and acting as catalyst for form and content.
In the art of Robert Baines, there is not a particular message to be read but there is a devotion to establishing a continuity between past, present and becoming. Don't miss the opportunity to see the work of this fascinating artist/artificer and experience the creative possibilities of the goldsmith. This exhibition has been organised and is being toured nationwide by Exhibitour MDF New Zealand.
('The Art of the Goldsmith – Robert Baines', Bulletin, No.81, September/October 1992, p.2)
Exhibition number 516
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Date:
17 September – 1 November 1992 -
Location:
Robert McDougall Art Gallery - main gallery -
Exhibition number:
516
Related reading: Jewellery
Bulletin 81
September/October 1992
Contents include
Toss Woollaston exhibition
Urban Bonsai exhibition
Robert Baines
Notes
Aotearoa
A texture-rich new exhibition at Oxford showcases the considerable talents of six Canterbury artists.
Notes
Host a brooch
A number of Gallery staff are planning to take part in the final Host a Brooch event this weekend.
Artist Profile
Lisa Walker: 0 + 0 = 0
It might be tempting to say that Lisa Walker makes jewellery out of any old thing – but it isn’t true. The eclectic objects that form her distinctive necklaces, brooches and other body-adornments are meticulously selected and shrewdly modified before they see the light of day. She salvages her materials from an unlikely cornucopia of sources – re-presenting objects such as car parts, animal skins and even kitchen utensils through the frame of body adornment’s long history. Tiny Lego hats, helmets and hairpieces – of the kind that clog vacuum cleaner nozzles in children’s bedrooms around the world – are strung on finely plaited cords like exotic beads or shells; trashy gossip magazines are lashed together to yield a breastplate befitting our celebrity-obsessed culture; dozens of oboe reeds donated by a musician friend bristle round the wearer’s neck like the teeth of some unimaginable deep sea leviathan.
Article
The pleasure of making: objects taking centre stage in the space of the art gallery
Was it serendipity that the opening of Christchurch Art Gallery's Burster Flipper Wobbler Dripper Spinner Stacker Shaker Maker coincided with that of Slip Cast, a group exhibition at the Dowse Art Museum that also focused on the pleasure that artists take in manipulating materials in the process of making art?
Collection
Fiona Pardington Mauria mai, tono ano
The title of this work means ‘to bring to light, to claim again’. The seven heitiki (greenstone pendants) Fiona Pardington has photographed came originally from her iwi, Kāi Tahu, in Te Waipounamu. All are now held in the collection of Auckland Museum. Traditionally worn close to the heart, heitiki are sacred fertility symbols in te ao Māori, strongly associated with whakapapa (family connections across time). Fiona not only wanted to record the physical attributes of these old and precious objects, but also to capture their more intangible qualities, such as how they speak of the past and this place, despite being stored so far away.
(Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection, 6 August 2022- )
