Swedes at Salts in September
ROOTED
A Sumptuous Smorgasbord of Swedish Art Jewellery
Exhibition runs from 17th September – 8th November 2015
This autumn, Kath Libbert, inspired by her recent trip to Stockholm and Gothenburg, has selected twelve prestigious Swedish jewellery artists to present a veritable cornucopia of wearable art for the body. Their work will appear at Kath Libbert Jewellery Gallery at Salts Mill in Yorkshire, which has enjoyed an international reputation for showcasing the best in radical contemporary jewellery since 1996.
The lakes, forests, fields and ocean of Sweden, provide not only the inspiration but the materials for much of the artwork on display and the exhibition features potatoes, fish skins, mussels, flies, beetles, flowers, sticks and stones, beautifully crafted to create surprising, earthily elegant pieces that are eminently collectable.
All visitors to the exhibition will be invited to Sow a Seed for a Swede in the gallery’s indoor miniature vegetable patch thereby giving a vote to their favourite collection. All seed sowers will be entered into a prize draw to win a KLJG Voucher for £100 and a bag of Swedes!
The Jewellery Artists:
A lifelong fascination and fear of the ocean inspire Karin Roy Andersson’s collection ‘Catching Big Fish’. Karin hand cuts myriad fish scales from silver and recycled plastic to create fluid bracelets that furl elegantly around the wrist.
Mia Larsson harvests leftover mussel and oyster shells to create jewellery which she believes holds a symbolic protection. Her work raises awareness and concerns about sustainability and the way we use natural materials.
Catarina Hällzon is a fisherwoman, catching only what she needs to eat. She tans the skins of the huge perch transforming them into brooches shaped like ancient arrow heads. She says “Living in a society that urbanizes faster and faster it has become important to keep close to nature … I try to keep fragments of old knowing and translate it into my language.”
Elin Flognman celebrates the humble potato in ‘Everyday Matter’, a surreal series featuring golden potatoes strung around the neck or clustered on the body as brooches – delightfully drawing attention to the politics of food, a celebration of the precious importance of this humble vegetable.
Flies and flowers are inspiration for Hanna Liljenberg, a painter turned jeweller who meticulously cuts and folds hundreds of tiny pieces of paper to form the building blocks for her sumptuous statement feather weight floral brooches. Her collection ‘Vanitas’ is inspired by 18th Century Dutch still life paintings. Märta Mattsson presents beetles and spiders dissected and beautifully bejewelled in a contemporary twist on the18th Century Cabinet of Curiosity.
It is the curiousness of ‘the human’ that captures the imagination of Charlotte Alfort who creates characterful portraiture brooches in embossed, meticulously painted copper – like miniature Folk Art masterpieces.
‘Human interference or possible domination of nature’ is a recurring theme in Jenny Klemming’s subtle collection ‘Land Pieces, her ‘Greenery’ necklace in enamelled copper and steel appearing to be crafted from actual leaves and twigs, asks the question: what is natural?
There are also angular colourfully spray painted necklaces by urban inspired artist Linnéa Eriksson, hammered silver seascape brooches by Klara Brynge, abstract works by Lisa Björke and a wonderful ‘Butterfly Collection’ by Karin Johansson.
