MasterMakers

Artist list

Ruby Aitchison, Helen Aitken-Kuhnen, Robert Baines, Nicholas Bastin, Peter Bauhuis, Dianne Beevers, Doris Betz, Renee Bevan, David Bielander, Julie Blyfield, Zoe Brand, Helen Britton, Beatrice Brovia, Sue Buchanan, Melissa Cameron, Bifei Cao, Pamela Chan, Nicholas Cheng, Yufang Chi, David Clarke, Anna Clynes, Katie Collins, Anna Davern, Helen Dilkes, Bin Dixon-Ward, Joungmee Do, Mark Edgoose, Edwards. Sian, Ian Ferguson, Karl Fritsch, Emi Fukuda, Eli Giannini, Kiko Gianocca, Allona Goren, Rowena Gough, Wayne Guest, Caz Guiney, Marcos Guzman, Mary Hackett, Kirsten Haydon, Peter Hoogeboom, Marian Hosking, Katherine Hubble, Linda Hughes, David Huycke, Naoko Inuzuka, Kazuhiro Itoh, Nicole Jacquard, Tassia Joannides, Cara Johnson, Hermann Jünger, Jiro Kamata, Jung-Hoo Kim, Inari Kiuru, Wendy Korol, Daniel Kruger, Otto Künzli, Andrew Last, Benjamin Lignel, Sue Lorraine, Carlier Makigawa, Stefano Marchetti, Marion Marshall, Chris Massey, Claire Mcardle, Kelly Mcdonald, Lindy Mcswan, Sam Mertens, Karl Millard, Yutaka Minegishi, Marc Monzó, Shelley Norton, Michaela Pegum, Jana Roman, Lucy Sarneel, Elise Sheehan, Debbie Sheezel, Bettina Speckner, Michelle Stewart, Leah Teschendorff, Elizabeth Turrell, Renée Ugazio, Michael Wong, Aurelia Yeomans, Manon van Kouswijk

The 84 artists in MasterMakers have either taught a masterclass or have attended one of the workshops. The 200 extraordinary works on display reveal the influence of three generations of boundary pushing which test our understanding of contemporary gold and silversmithing in new and unexpected ways.

From taxidermy to textiles, 3-D printing to recycled materials, as well as unusual combinations of precious metals, MasterMakers celebrates the intricacies of the handmade, the importance of ideas and the mastery of skills and technique.

Starting in an era before digital communication, social media and the ubiquitous Instagram feed, the persistent regularity of RMIT’s masterclass workshop series since the 1980s and the international standing of the Gold and Silversmithing Studio at RMIT has brought jewellers, students and practitioners in contact with leading makers from around the world.

Lead by practitioners from a remarkably diverse range of backgrounds, genders and identities, the intense, in-depth, and often immersive experience of working with experts has been transformative for generations of students.

The workshops offered participants a steady succession of makers from the UK, USA, Japan, the Netherlands and Germany, such as influential jeweller Lucy Sarneel from The Netherlands whose distinctive use of fabricated zinc is inspired by her local architecture.

According to curator and lecturer, Mark Edgoose the workshops had a profound impact on the training of the craft in Australia, fostering international contact and communication, and leading to the sharing of skills, methods and philosophies of making. He recalls Melbourne jeweller Bin Dixon-Ward first learning 3-D printing in a workshop run by American artist Nicole Jacquard in 2010.

The masterclasses enabled new ways of working and thinking about the possibilities of contemporary jewellery, especially at a time when ideas were primarily disseminated via books and magazines and international travel wasn’t commonplace, Edgoose said.
 
They also helped build a community of makers as the workshops were not part of the teaching program and were open to both practicing jewellers and students, so the influence and impact was widespread.

MasterMakers showcases both recent works of the master makers who taught the workshops over the decades, as well as work they produced at the masterclasses, alongside recent work by those who participated in the workshops.  

A complementary exhibition Insistent. Gestures curated by Taiwan-born jewellery artist Yufang Chi, an RMIT PhD graduate, will also be exhibited at RMIT Gallery alongside MasterMakers. The result of an early career curator mentorship program offered by the Melbourne Contemporary Jewellery and Object Biennial Radiant Pavilion, the exhibition brings together the exquisitely detailed work of five artists who live, work or were born in Asia.


Opening speaker: Virginia Trioli. Journalist, author, radio and television presenter.
For over two decades, leading Australian and international Gold and Silversmithing artists have delivered and participated in masterclasses in the RMIT School of Art which has had a profound impact on the training of the craft in Australia.
This major exhibition explores the masterclass legacy and records the cultural, artistic and technical shift in contemporary jewellery and object.