Mari Funaki Award for Contemporary Jewellery Exhibition 2014

Gallery Funaki is proud to announce the inaugural Mari Funaki Award for Contemporary Jewellery, one of the richest jewellery awards in the world.

Mari Funaki was a unique and passionate advocate for contemporary jewellery in Australia, both through her own remarkable practice and her establishment and directorship of Gallery Funaki in 1995. Her vision and championship of the medium established Melbourne as an internationally renowned centre for contemporary jewellery. This Award aims to celebrate Mari’s legacy by rewarding the skills and talent of jewellers, both local and overseas, and by providing a platform for outstanding new work to be shown in Australia.

“Mari played such an important role in contemporary jewellery, she was really an icon of the arts here in Melbourne. As well as establishing a leading gallery and maintaining a celebrated practice, her mentoring and support of emerging Australian artists in the 1990s and 2000s really helped put Australian makers on the map. I wanted to instigate an Award that encouraged recognition of her impact and keeps her name alive and present” says Gallery Director, Katie Scott.

Entries for the Award were invited from artists worldwide, at any stage of their practice and attracted over 530 applications from more than 35 countries. The work of the 31 finalists will be shown in a major showcase exhibition at Gallery Funaki from 13 August – 13 September 2014.

“There are few awards open to emerging contemporary jewellers, in particular. The emerging category of the Mari Funaki Award was established in response to this. We want to encourage the work of promising younger artists, presenting it alongside more established artists’ work. This kind of context is an important opportunity for younger artists – and I think people will be impressed at the quality of this emerging work,” says Scott, “it certainly holds its own.”

A $5000 prize will be awarded to an established artist and two prizes of $3000 each will go to emerging artists.

The judges are:
Warwick Freeman is an eminent New Zealand jeweller who has exhibited with Gallery Funaki since 1995. He is the recipient of the Francoise van den Bosch Prize (2002) and the Bayerischer Staatpreis ‘Modern Classic’ (2013).

Simon Cottrell is a prominent Australian jeweller and educator and currently acting head of the Gold and Silversmithing Workshop at ANU, Canberra. Cottrell has an extensive exhibition history and his work is held in numerous international collections.

Julie Ewington is a leading Australian art specialist with almost 40 years experience as an academic, writer and curator. Most recently Curatorial Manager at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art, she has a particular interest in contemporary jewellery and has written extensively on the topic, most recently in the 2013 Lark publication, Contemporary Jewelry in Perspective. She was recognised this year with an Australia Council for the Arts Visual Arts Award.

The Mari Funaki Award for Contemporary Jewellery is generously supported by Vivienne and Leo Donati, Johannes Hartfuss and Fabian Jungbeck.

The artists selected for exhibition are:
Ela Bauer – Poland / Israel / The Netherlands (established) | Alexander Blank – Germany (established) | Conversation Piece – Sweden (established) | Hermien Cassiers – Belgium (emerging) | Jane Dodd – New Zealand (established) | Patrícia Correia Domingues – Portugal / Germany (emerging) | Benedikt Fischer – Austria / Germany (emerging) | Emi Fukuda – Japan / Germany (emerging) | Sara Gackowska – Poland (emerging) | Kiko Gianocca – Switzerland (established) | Marcos Guzman – Australia (emerging) | Jo Hawley – England / New Zealand / Australia (emerging) | Therese Hilbert – Switzerland / Germany (established) | Lucie Houdková – Czech Republic (established) | Linda Hughes – Australia (established) | Kaori Juzu – Japan / Denmark (established) | Jiro Kamata – Japan / Germany (established) | Inari Kiuru – Finland / Australia (emerging) | Jun Konishi – Japan (established) | Lore Langendries – Belgium (emerging) | Carlier Makigawa – Australia (established) | Gitte Nygaard – Denmark / The Netherlands (emerging) | Martin Papcun – Czech Republic / Germany (established) | Nelly van Oost – France / Belgium (emerging) | Thanh-Truc Nguyen – Germany (established) | Mette Saabye – Denmark (established) | Michihiro Sato – Japan (established) | Helen Shirk – USA (established) | Blanche Tilden – Australia (established) | Julia Walter – Germany / The Netherlands (established) | Reinhold Ziegler – Norway (established)

Gallery Funaki is pleased to announce the winners of the Mari Funaki Award for Contemporary Jewellery. See who won the competition here.