The Sadness of the Chairs and New Works by Felicity Peters
Exhibition
/
05 Nov 2020
-
22 Nov 2020
Published: 28.10.2020
Gallows Gallery
- Mail:
- contact
gallowsgallery.com
- info
gallowsgallery.com
- Management:
- Kathryn Stafford
Necklace: Walnuts from Majdanek Poland, 2020
Sterling silver oxidized, walnuts from Majdanek, gold leaf.
53 cm long
Photo by: Yasmin Photostudio
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.

This exhibition has been inspired by a memorial to the Jewish Polish people in Heroes Ghetto Square Krakow Poland, which I saw in 2009. The memorial consists of 73 large and medium chairs, referencing the furniture that the Jewish people bought for the square, thinking they were being relocated to the countryside. Instead, all the furniture was left at the square whilst the Jewish population was taken to Auschwitz.
Artist list
Felicity Peters
I have previously made a 52 chair ring, Lest we forget Krakow 2009, which is now in the Zurich National Museum as part of the Alice and Louis Koch collection. This time I have made a necklace titled There will always be a chair at my table for you (Titles are extremely important to me). The exhibition has also been inspired by the history of the Jewish population during the Second World War of a beautiful small town in Eastern Poland called Kazimierz Dolny. I researched this town by visiting it on several occasions, and also visiting the Polin Museum of Jewish History in Warsaw in 2019.
Two Brooches, Homage one and two, reference the relocated Jewish Cemetery memorial which was built after the Second World War. Broken headstones were resurrected from the roads where they had been used for building material. There are only a few graves behind this memorial wall. The necklace, Walnuts from Majdanek Poland, reference something I witnessed when I visited the Majdanek Concentration camp which is outside Lublin, not far from Kazimierz Dolny. Whilst there I noticed Ravens cracking something against rocks or bits of old concrete paths. Upon closer inspection, I saw that they were successfully cracking whole walnut shells. The vast grounds around the camp are totally bare of trees, so I could only assume that the ravens were raiding orchards. I wondered if ravens had done something similar when the camp was in operation from 1939 to 1945.
I have been fortunate to receive a grant from the Western Australian government through the Department of Culture and the Arts to develop new work, using new skills for this show. I have been working with copper shim which I have corrugated and then formed, constructed, or raised vessels and objects. I have just started working with fine silver sheet using similar methods. I purchased a kiln and have been enameling these objects using both liquid and traditional enamels.
Some Judaica pieces have also been made, some using CAD design, as well as my take on the small stones and pebbles that Jewish people place on graves. I have made Pebbles of Memory from slip-cast porcelain as my take on the pebbles. Again a new skill for me. My work tends to express my feelings about political and social events, particularly injustices. I also believe they we so often listen but don’t hear, look but don’t see… and maybe this is my way of bringing a small part of history or events to others. Sometimes people are receptive sometimes not! Big smile.
I would be driven mad if I had the same style year in and year out in my practice... Endlessly making the same thing with slight variations. I like to challenge myself, and grow and learn and understand from those challenges. I enjoy taking old traditions or skills and twisting them around or making adaptions so they end up being new skills. Always evolving never static.
/Felicity Peters
Opening:
Thursday, 5 Nov, 6:30 pm.
The exhibition will be officially open by Colin Walker, director of the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
Opening Hours:
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10 am - 4 pm.
Fridays, 10 am - 3 pm.
Saturdays, 11 am - 4:30 pm.
Sundays, 2 pm - 4:30 pm.
Two Brooches, Homage one and two, reference the relocated Jewish Cemetery memorial which was built after the Second World War. Broken headstones were resurrected from the roads where they had been used for building material. There are only a few graves behind this memorial wall. The necklace, Walnuts from Majdanek Poland, reference something I witnessed when I visited the Majdanek Concentration camp which is outside Lublin, not far from Kazimierz Dolny. Whilst there I noticed Ravens cracking something against rocks or bits of old concrete paths. Upon closer inspection, I saw that they were successfully cracking whole walnut shells. The vast grounds around the camp are totally bare of trees, so I could only assume that the ravens were raiding orchards. I wondered if ravens had done something similar when the camp was in operation from 1939 to 1945.
I have been fortunate to receive a grant from the Western Australian government through the Department of Culture and the Arts to develop new work, using new skills for this show. I have been working with copper shim which I have corrugated and then formed, constructed, or raised vessels and objects. I have just started working with fine silver sheet using similar methods. I purchased a kiln and have been enameling these objects using both liquid and traditional enamels.
Some Judaica pieces have also been made, some using CAD design, as well as my take on the small stones and pebbles that Jewish people place on graves. I have made Pebbles of Memory from slip-cast porcelain as my take on the pebbles. Again a new skill for me. My work tends to express my feelings about political and social events, particularly injustices. I also believe they we so often listen but don’t hear, look but don’t see… and maybe this is my way of bringing a small part of history or events to others. Sometimes people are receptive sometimes not! Big smile.
I would be driven mad if I had the same style year in and year out in my practice... Endlessly making the same thing with slight variations. I like to challenge myself, and grow and learn and understand from those challenges. I enjoy taking old traditions or skills and twisting them around or making adaptions so they end up being new skills. Always evolving never static.
/Felicity Peters
Opening:
Thursday, 5 Nov, 6:30 pm.
The exhibition will be officially open by Colin Walker, director of the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
Opening Hours:
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10 am - 4 pm.
Fridays, 10 am - 3 pm.
Saturdays, 11 am - 4:30 pm.
Sundays, 2 pm - 4:30 pm.
Necklace: There will always be a chair at my table for you, 2020
Sterling silver, 18ct gold argyle, diamond 24ct gold, keumboo, semi-precious stones.
chairs: 2 x 0.8 x 0.6 cm, open: 53 cm
Photo by: Yasmin Photostudio
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Necklace: There will always be a chair at my table for you, 2020
Sterling silver, 18ct gold argyle, diamond 24ct gold, keumboo, semi-precious stones.
chairs: 2 x 0.8 x 0.6 cm, open: 53 cm
Photo by: Yasmin Photostudio
Detail view.
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Vessel: Green Bowl, 2020
Copper shim, enamel.
5.5 x 12.8 x 1.7 cm
Photo by: Yasmin Photostudio
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Vessel: Embers, 2020
Copper shim, enamel.
5 x 10.5 x 10.5 cm
Photo by: Yasmin Photostudio
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Vessel: Embers, 2020
Copper shim, enamel.
5 x 10.5 x 10.5 cm
Photo by: Yasmin Photostudio
Alternative set view.
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Pendant: Lifeboat to Live, 2020
Seedpod, gold leaf, silver chain.
3 x 6.2 x 9.5 cm
Photo by: Yasmin Photostudio
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Brooch: Homage One, 2020
Sterling silver oxidized, 24ct gold, keumboo, enamel, silver leaf.
6 x 0.5 x 4.5 cm
Photo by: Yasmin Photostudio
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Brooch: Homage Two, 2020
Sterling silver oxidized, shibuichi, enamel, 24ct gold, keumboo.
6x 0.5 x 4.5 cm
Photo by: Yasmin Photostudio
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Object: Pebbles of Memory, 2020
Porcelain.
4 x 3.5 x 3.2 cm
Photo by: Yasmin Photostudio
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Gallows Gallery
- Mail:
- contact
gallowsgallery.com
- info
gallowsgallery.com
- Management:
- Kathryn Stafford
-
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