The National Contemporary Jewellery Award list of finalists has just been sent out.

without further ado:

Brendan Adair-Smith, Marina Antoniou, Kristy-Lee Agresta, Jane Bowden, Melissa Cameron, Simon Cottrell, Catherine Da Costa, Anna Davern, Christopher Earl Mibourne, Susan Frisch, Emi Fukuda, Linda Hughes, Tassia Joannides, Jin Ah Jo, Puneet Jodhka, Erin Keys, Ingrid Lockley, Chris Massey, Leslie Matthews, Claire O’Halloran, George Plionis, Nicole Polentas, Jessamy Pollock, Phoebe Porter, Brenda Ridgewell, Amy Robson, Regine Schwarzer, Mitsue Slattery, Bernadette Trainor, Linda Van Niekerk, Kathryn Wardill, Andrew Welch and Katherine Wheeler.

With so many of my friends on this list, someone I know is going to have to win it!

Buda 2011 – Register your interest / submit an Intention to Enter form by September 27th

Preziosa Young – Online application deadline October 30

Schmuck – Online application deadline October 1st (same site/deadline for Talente)

Craft Victoria – Applications for July-December 2011 exhibitions, due September 30

At the end of day two of the Rapid Prototyping course, this was the drawing that I had completed, showing two pendants. They’re both specified to be in 1mm material, with the ‘outer’ quatrefoil shape 9mm in diameter, so all up both ‘pendant’ designs are pretty small pieces.

And to clear up something in case you were wondering, these were designed with the gypsum colour printer in mind that resides at the campus where Nicole works in the US. (Or a laser sintering machine, if you happen to have one lying about the place.) See, the bails are not joined to the body of the works, so those of you who know anything about casting, they would have to be sprued separately. They could end up accidentally attached to the main body of the piece at a weird angle due to the vagaries of the casting process if not done carefully.

Via the gypsum printed method (as just one of many direct object printing technologies, where the printed material is the final finished material) the unfixed nature of these pieces would not be a hassle. The bails, once released from the unfixed print matter that holds all of the objects in place while they are being printed, would be ready to go. Just like a bought one!

When drawing this piece I was inspired by the fact that Nicole has kindly offered to reprint our rings with her machinery back in the US,  so we can experience the same designs in a different material (thus making me keen to make something appropriate for gypsum-based 3D colour printer).

The first print of our files was fired off today by the new RMIT wax-extruding machine (more on that soon), which we can have cast afterward, by the caster of our choice! (Nominations of ‘choice’ casters gladly accepted in comments.)

The rings in progress today (some students had theirs done overnight last night) will take 38 hours to complete. My little baby is only accounting for 4 of those, and with maybe six rings being done simultaneously, I could tell you who is taking up the lions share of time, but that would be impolite!

Suffice to say, while it may be called ‘rapid’, this is in name only, and not due to reputation.

I was at RMIT yesterday, and will be back today, for the Rapid Prototyping course with Dr Nicole Jacquard. I was inordinately proud of what I managed to achieve in the first hour or so of play, and so while the second image represents something that could be considered a jewellery object, I kinda prefer the first.

At the recent RMIT seminar it was noted that there is precious little criticism of artist jewellery works in Melbourne. It will be interesting to see what others across varying disciplines of the visual arts think, especially since the tag line on the website reads, “Why Australian arts criticism is failing us all.”

So it’s not just the jewellists?

This image looks kinda suspicious, yes? But who would have that many nails?

Want to partake in some interesting discussion about modern art?
Prefer your artwork wearable?
Enjoy seeing said art in salubrious surrounds, with your fellow sophisticates?

Then join us for Part B at Gallery Funaki this coming Saturday from 2pm, to see the show featuring David Neale and Emma Price.

Tim Freedman is looking for a guy name Peter Brown. Have you seen him? He was the band’s unofficial astrologer in the early 90′s, when he’d turn up to band practice and tell The Whitlams members their fortune.

As you’ve figured, I’m a bit of a fan of ‘ole Timmy here, so when he announced that he’d be doing one last circuit of the country before splitting up the band, I had to go, for old times sake. Lucky for me, and all precious the memories I hold of listening to his music and going to his gigs, he’s still got it 
As has Jak, the guitarist [pictured right], so my youngest sister tells me…

It was more than a little strange to be bopping around the place to a band that I fell in love with as a teenager, and first saw live almost 13 years ago. But when it comes to performing (even after a day at the Caulfield Races, and a couple of bottles of wine on stage) Tim, with Jak and Warwick and of course Terepai (anointed King of Tonga by Tim on stage, I wonder how that will make this guy will feel… let alone this one) was in some of the finest form I’ve witnessed.

Long live The Whitlams.
(And the King of Tonga)

It’s stamped “silver plated” (but is awfully clean for an op-shop find), and I found that it can be held by a magnet (the swarf jumped onto my scissors. Want something more scientific than scissors crusted with iron filings? The second stage of testing, using an actual magnet, was conclusive.) So I have my doubts about it’s silvery-ness, and I’m inclined to believe only that which I can prove…

I mentioned laser cutting recently in reference to its place in my work, and Ponoko responds by putting up a whole bunch of laser cut jewellery. Some of it is interesting, and some makes me think that laser-cutting is the 21st century’s knitting.