Rings for exhibition by invitation: each invited Artist was invited to create two new pieces inspired to the specific subject of the book “Six memos of the next millennium” a collected essay derived from the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University that the author was invited to give in 1985.
The collected memos, published in Italy under the title “American Lessons”, and translated in English in 1993 highlight the values of literature that Italo Calvino felt important to lead in the new millennium. The result is a series of five lectures which are a truly summa poetica of Calvino’s way of thinking and working.
Following the author along the path of his literary wanderings and on the aspects such as Lightness, Quickness, Exactitude, Visibility, Multiplicity and their antithesis, we enter a world made by literary, philosophical juxtapositions and values that encompass the simple field of writing: this is the reason why we want to read this works under the lens of contemporary jewellery.
Artists -
Lightness: Karin Johansson & Patricia Domingues
Quickness: Andrew Lamb & Ralph Bakker
Exactitude: Ezra Satok-Wolman & Lin Cheung
Visibility: Helen Britton & Réka Lörincz
Multiplicity: Robert Baines & Gésine Hackenberg
Consistency: Hannah Gallery
My Theme - Quickness summary
It might be considered a contradiction in terms talking about quickness and rapidity in jewellery, since goldsmithing is an art that has lot to do with patience and concentration. Starting from the concept of quickness, intended as rhythm in structures, we can think about rapidity as a movement. How can we detect movement through the structures and the technique of goldsmithing applied to contemporary jewellery? How can the internal rhythm be achieved and detected by the wearer and the viewer?
“The moment an object appears in a narrative, it is charged with a special force and becomes like the pole of a magnetic field, a knot in the network of invisible relationships.”
The two pieces I designed and created for this exhibition are my response to Italo Calvino’s lecture about the virtue of quickness or rapidity.
Italo thinks of quickness in a physical sense, but more importantly in relation to speed of thought. Much like Calvino, my ideas come to me as flashes of inspiration. That said, a creative spark will often take many weeks or even months to develop fully into the physical form. This is something Calvino recognised when he wrote, “it is natural to digress, to jump from one subject to another, to lose the thread a hundred times and find it again after a hundred more twists and turns.”
In the same way he crafts his stories, by considering objects and their ability to tell a story, for me it is vital that visual flow, rhythm, movement and spontaneity are translated into my finished pieces.
The motto ‘festina lente’ resonates with me as qualities such as patience are essential to a goldsmith. I create work with an instant visual appeal which has the power to connect with viewer and wearer quickly yet continually puzzle and engage in its minute detail.
Optical phenomena and visual illusions are subjects I’ve enjoyed exploring previously and I was drawn to the multiple ways in which Calvino referred to magic, spells and force fields in his lecture.
From Calvino’s words, in particular my interpretation of the ancient legend and its protagonist which opens the lecture, I was inspired to design and make two rings to illustrate the exploration of new forms.
Each piece took on its own unique shape following experiments with magnetic forces and metal filings. Mesmerising patterns, which seemed to have their own magic to them, quickly developed and then the crafting process began. This involved trying out, developing or discarding ideas and the procrastination Calvino described, as my ideas were narrowed down into the finished pieces, was all too familiar.
Whilst finishing the rings may be the end point for the jeweller, for the rings themselves it is just the starting point of their narrative!
