Jewelrassic Park by Felieke van der Leest in Cambridge
Exhibition
/
18 May 2019
-
16 Jun 2019
Published: 11.03.2019
Ring: Rex Ring, 2016
Textile, plastic animal, oxidized silver, cubic zirconia.
4 x 4 x 4 cm
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.

In this tense political situation in America and the world, it is truly a pleasure and "a breath of fresh air" to have Felieke tackle things like climate change etc… with her wit, humour and bold, vivid sculptural, wearable forms...
Artist list
Felieke van der Leest
Ever since I saw the movie Jurassic Park in 1993 I have had a fascination for dinosaurs. Knowing that those animals have lived on this planet for millions and millions of years, it is almost unbelievable. Bones are being found, footprints, egg shells. Every day we know a little bit more about these mysterious creatures.
I read books and watched DVD's, I went to natural history museums to learn about dinosaurs, surrounding myself with hundreds of plastic toy dinosaurs to get inspired. It was not as easy as I thought because we don’t know much about their behaviour and there are no fables or fairytales written about them. They don’t exist in contemporary human history. But bit by bit the stream of creativity began to flow...
One of the biggest problems we have on this planet is environmental problems and global warming. The way people live is not very sustainable and we have to change that before it is too late.
(Think Sustainable! ) The font type is inspired by the famous word “Hollywood”, situated close to where famous movies are being made. (Like Jurassic Park in 1993) The letters I made out of (legal) mammoth ivory, which is now widely available to buy because of the fast disappearance of the permafrost. Mammoths died out thousands of years ago, maybe because of global warming or they went extinct because of being hunted down by humans… or a combination of those two. The red necklace the dinosaur is wearing is a large exclamation mark. The letters stick to the dinosaur’s back because of little magnets inside.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex is always depicted as a voracious meat eater. Rex is also the name of a famous German Shepherd police dog in the TV series Inspector Rex. When dogs are sick they sometimes need to wear these kinds of plastic collars so they cannot harm themselves. The head is hinged to the ring an can move back and forth like when dogs are fighting over a bone.
One of the best know dinosaurs is the Triceratops, known for his large bony frill and his three horns. The frill was first thought to be defensive weapons against predators, but scientist now thinks they were used for identification, courtship and to display dominance. Together with most dinosaurs, it died out 66 million years ago, probably because a large meteor hit the earth. My Tricereyedtops also has three eyes, the third one prominently placed in the middle of his frill. With a Third Eye it is said men can see the future. The pendant the dinosaur is wearing contains a little piece of an iron meteorite found in Argentina called Campo Del Cielo.
People who know about the history of contemporary jewellery will recognize the two necklaces the dinosaurs are wearing, therefore An Inside Story. The dilophosaurids on the left side is wearing the necklace Dew Drop made by Gijs Bakker in 1982. The oviraptor on the right is wearing a collar by Emmy van Leersum in 1968. This necklace can be seen as a tribute to these two Dutch pioneers of contemporary jewellery. Both are made in the original materials, the miniature aluminium collar by rapid prototyping.
The velociraptor is wearing a combination of a ballet tutu and a straight jacket. As a ballerina (Velociraptorina) she is restrained in her movements to dance. Is her laugh really? Maybe she is a happy lunatic (Lunatitia) thinking she a dancing ice cream.
Cupid is an ancient Roman god of love often presented as a winged, naked, infant boy with bow and arrows. He shoots his arrow at people’s heart so they will fall in love. Cupidopteryx however shot the arrow through his own head…
The Attenborosaurus is officially not a dinosaur but a member of the swimming reptile family: the plesiosaur. The attenborosaurus is named after the famous British documentary maker Sir David Attenborough. I made a combination between this animal, which swims in the water and a drone, that flies in the air. The drone propellors have the shape of screw propeller of a ship. The blue bullet shaped gemstones are of topaz.
In the past people never knew that the earth was inhabited for millions of years by dinosaurs. Because we have found bones we know they must have existed. And every day we learn more and more, but will we ever know everything? And what about aliens? They might have visited earth when the dinosaurs were around. Although we have not found their bones… yet. Maybe bones of aliens have been found but we think they are from dinosaurs. Are dinosaurs from the past aliens from the future? (text about Brachiosaurus Tree with UFO Nest and Alien Eggs )
These Two (Duo) Diplodocus (Diplo) dinosaurs are identical (Duplicated).
Their heads are in a comic speech balloon in the shape of a heart. Are they in love and say nice things to each other? They stand on a sort of arena (inspired by a kind of dart board) where they are boxing …. they are hugging each other. The boxing gloves are also heart shaped. Is this love? Is this anger? Is this love-anger?
The Hatze gopteryx is officially not a dinosaur but a member of the flying reptile family: the pterosaur. It is chained to a train of winged carts on which his/her eggs are lying. The eggs are half pink and half blue; is it a boy? Is it a girl? Thishatzegopteryx has also different colored eyes: one is pink and the other is blue.
The Pachycephalosaurus is a dinosaur famous for having a large, bony dome atop its skull, like a helmet. It could be that is was used by the males to fight each other. When I bought this toy I stuck my finger between its legs so it was a ring. I wanted to change its underground and replaced it by a ball. The ball is crocheted with 24kt goldplated seed beads. When wearing it as a ring the ball feels very pleasant in the hand.
The therizinosaurus is related to the tyrannosaur family but the only one eating plants. It is standing on a carpet of water, that is embroidered with blue beads in circular water ripples. In this work, I also played with the speech balloon used in comics. I combined that with a halo (religious saints have that around their heads) and the helmet an astronaut is wearing so it is able to breathe in space. Is Therizini Blub Blub preaching in air bubbles or are the small bubbles coming from the mouth his last breath before drowning?
Miss Universe is an annual international beauty contest where woman are judged by their outside beauty. On the contrary: In some countries woman wear special dresses called “burqa” which doesn’t show the female body at all. I played with these contrasts in this work. The Giganotosaurus has a mouth full of sharp and dangerous teeth but they are hidden by a beaded veil. I painted the dinosaur silver to give it a more spacy look. (the color of the stars in the universe) She also wears an engagement ring with an excessively large “daimant”, which is a caricature on the rings films stars show the public when they are getting married.
I love hard rock and heavy metal music, when I was younger I played bass guitar in a gothic metal band. One of the pieces I made when I graduated from the art academy in 1996 was the pin Spermheart. In this work, the ornithocheirus (a kind of pterosaur) is playing a metal spermheart guitar.
Religious extremists rule the news with their terrorist attacks, but there are also other types of extremism. This Daspletosaurus is practicing extreme yoga: with his tiny arms lifting up his big head.
I read books and watched DVD's, I went to natural history museums to learn about dinosaurs, surrounding myself with hundreds of plastic toy dinosaurs to get inspired. It was not as easy as I thought because we don’t know much about their behaviour and there are no fables or fairytales written about them. They don’t exist in contemporary human history. But bit by bit the stream of creativity began to flow...
One of the biggest problems we have on this planet is environmental problems and global warming. The way people live is not very sustainable and we have to change that before it is too late.
(Think Sustainable! ) The font type is inspired by the famous word “Hollywood”, situated close to where famous movies are being made. (Like Jurassic Park in 1993) The letters I made out of (legal) mammoth ivory, which is now widely available to buy because of the fast disappearance of the permafrost. Mammoths died out thousands of years ago, maybe because of global warming or they went extinct because of being hunted down by humans… or a combination of those two. The red necklace the dinosaur is wearing is a large exclamation mark. The letters stick to the dinosaur’s back because of little magnets inside.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex is always depicted as a voracious meat eater. Rex is also the name of a famous German Shepherd police dog in the TV series Inspector Rex. When dogs are sick they sometimes need to wear these kinds of plastic collars so they cannot harm themselves. The head is hinged to the ring an can move back and forth like when dogs are fighting over a bone.
One of the best know dinosaurs is the Triceratops, known for his large bony frill and his three horns. The frill was first thought to be defensive weapons against predators, but scientist now thinks they were used for identification, courtship and to display dominance. Together with most dinosaurs, it died out 66 million years ago, probably because a large meteor hit the earth. My Tricereyedtops also has three eyes, the third one prominently placed in the middle of his frill. With a Third Eye it is said men can see the future. The pendant the dinosaur is wearing contains a little piece of an iron meteorite found in Argentina called Campo Del Cielo.
People who know about the history of contemporary jewellery will recognize the two necklaces the dinosaurs are wearing, therefore An Inside Story. The dilophosaurids on the left side is wearing the necklace Dew Drop made by Gijs Bakker in 1982. The oviraptor on the right is wearing a collar by Emmy van Leersum in 1968. This necklace can be seen as a tribute to these two Dutch pioneers of contemporary jewellery. Both are made in the original materials, the miniature aluminium collar by rapid prototyping.
The velociraptor is wearing a combination of a ballet tutu and a straight jacket. As a ballerina (Velociraptorina) she is restrained in her movements to dance. Is her laugh really? Maybe she is a happy lunatic (Lunatitia) thinking she a dancing ice cream.
Cupid is an ancient Roman god of love often presented as a winged, naked, infant boy with bow and arrows. He shoots his arrow at people’s heart so they will fall in love. Cupidopteryx however shot the arrow through his own head…
The Attenborosaurus is officially not a dinosaur but a member of the swimming reptile family: the plesiosaur. The attenborosaurus is named after the famous British documentary maker Sir David Attenborough. I made a combination between this animal, which swims in the water and a drone, that flies in the air. The drone propellors have the shape of screw propeller of a ship. The blue bullet shaped gemstones are of topaz.
In the past people never knew that the earth was inhabited for millions of years by dinosaurs. Because we have found bones we know they must have existed. And every day we learn more and more, but will we ever know everything? And what about aliens? They might have visited earth when the dinosaurs were around. Although we have not found their bones… yet. Maybe bones of aliens have been found but we think they are from dinosaurs. Are dinosaurs from the past aliens from the future? (text about Brachiosaurus Tree with UFO Nest and Alien Eggs )
These Two (Duo) Diplodocus (Diplo) dinosaurs are identical (Duplicated).
Their heads are in a comic speech balloon in the shape of a heart. Are they in love and say nice things to each other? They stand on a sort of arena (inspired by a kind of dart board) where they are boxing …. they are hugging each other. The boxing gloves are also heart shaped. Is this love? Is this anger? Is this love-anger?
The Hatze gopteryx is officially not a dinosaur but a member of the flying reptile family: the pterosaur. It is chained to a train of winged carts on which his/her eggs are lying. The eggs are half pink and half blue; is it a boy? Is it a girl? Thishatzegopteryx has also different colored eyes: one is pink and the other is blue.
The Pachycephalosaurus is a dinosaur famous for having a large, bony dome atop its skull, like a helmet. It could be that is was used by the males to fight each other. When I bought this toy I stuck my finger between its legs so it was a ring. I wanted to change its underground and replaced it by a ball. The ball is crocheted with 24kt goldplated seed beads. When wearing it as a ring the ball feels very pleasant in the hand.
The therizinosaurus is related to the tyrannosaur family but the only one eating plants. It is standing on a carpet of water, that is embroidered with blue beads in circular water ripples. In this work, I also played with the speech balloon used in comics. I combined that with a halo (religious saints have that around their heads) and the helmet an astronaut is wearing so it is able to breathe in space. Is Therizini Blub Blub preaching in air bubbles or are the small bubbles coming from the mouth his last breath before drowning?
Miss Universe is an annual international beauty contest where woman are judged by their outside beauty. On the contrary: In some countries woman wear special dresses called “burqa” which doesn’t show the female body at all. I played with these contrasts in this work. The Giganotosaurus has a mouth full of sharp and dangerous teeth but they are hidden by a beaded veil. I painted the dinosaur silver to give it a more spacy look. (the color of the stars in the universe) She also wears an engagement ring with an excessively large “daimant”, which is a caricature on the rings films stars show the public when they are getting married.
I love hard rock and heavy metal music, when I was younger I played bass guitar in a gothic metal band. One of the pieces I made when I graduated from the art academy in 1996 was the pin Spermheart. In this work, the ornithocheirus (a kind of pterosaur) is playing a metal spermheart guitar.
Religious extremists rule the news with their terrorist attacks, but there are also other types of extremism. This Daspletosaurus is practicing extreme yoga: with his tiny arms lifting up his big head.


Piece: Think Sustainable!, 2017
Textile, plastic animal, oxidized silver, mammoth ivory, glass beads, magnets, steel.
32 x 14 x 14 cm
Object with necklace.
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Necklace: Think Sustainable!, 2017
Oxidized silver, mammoth ivory.
Ø 17 cm
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Brooch: Tricereyedtops, 2017
Textile, polyester/polyamide, plastic animal, 14kt gold, oxidized silver, glass, meteorite (Campo Del Cielo, Argentinia), peridot.
11 x 10 x 6 cm
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Necklace: Jewelrassic: An Inside Story, 2017
Textile, plastic animals, oxidized silver, aluminium alloy, paper, plastic, cubic zirconia.
15 x 11 x 6 cm
Photo by: Eddo Hartmann
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Brooch: Lunatitia Velociraptorina, 2016
Textile, plastic animal, Argentium®, cubic zirconia.
14 x 7 x 7 cm
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Necklace: Cupidopteryx, 2016
Crocheted, metalwork, embroidered textile, plastic animal, Argentium® silver.
10 x 11 x 9 cm
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Object: Attendronosaurus, 2016
Textile, plastic animal, Argentium® silver, glass beads, topaz, steel metalwork, embroidered.
15 x 17 x 16 cm
An object with brooch.
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Brooch: Attendronosaurus, 2016
Plastic animal, Argentium®, topaz, steel
19.5 x 9 x 5 cm
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Brooch: Brachiosaurus Tree with UFO Nest and Alien Eggs, 2016
Textile, Argentium®, magnets.
8 x 8 x 6 cm
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Object: Brachiosaurus Tree with UFO Nest and Alien Eggs, 2016
Textile, plastic animal, Argentium® silver, glass beads, leather, magnets crocheted, metalwork, embroidered.
20 x 20 x 31 cm
An object with brooch.
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Earrings: Duo Dupli Diplo, 2017
Plastic animals, Argentium®.
5 x 5 x 1 cm
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Object: Duo Dupli Diplo, 2016
Textile, plastic animals, Argentium® silver, glass beads, steel, leather crocheted, metalwork.
25 x 35 x 14 cm
An object with earrings
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Bracelet: Hatze Gopteryx and the Mystery Eggs, 2016
Textile, oxidated silver, glass beads, magnets.
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Piece: Hatze Gopteryx and the Mystery Eggs, 2016
Oxidated silver, glass beads, cubic zirconia, magnets.
20 x 20 x 15 cm
Object with bracelet.
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Ring: Pachyceballosaurus, 2016
Textile, plastic animal, oxidized silver, gold plated glass beads, garnet, magnet.
10 x 10.5 x 5 cm
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Necklace: Therizini Blub Blub, 2016
Silver, plastic animal, topaz.
9.5 x 8.5 x 2 cm
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Necklace: Therizini Blub Blub, 2016
Silver, plastic animal, glass beads, topaz, leather.
24 x 23 x 17 cm
Object with necklace.
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Piece: Miss Universe, 2017
Textile, plastic animal, oxidized silver, glass beads, cubic zirconia, leather.
15 x 28 x 16 cm
Object and necklace.
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Brooch: Spermheart Rocker, 2017
Textile, plastic animal, silver, cubic zirconia.
12.5 x 6 x 4.5 cm
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Ring: Yoga Extremist, 2017
Silver, plastic animal.
5.5 x 5 x 2.5 cm
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
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