From 2013
Conceptual influences around the making of three paper collage brooches.
The girl in Vermeer’s painting 'The lace Maker' sits at her work. I saw this painting for real last year and it has popped up in my memory over the last few months. Sometimes these memories are opaque sometimes translucent but always present, nagging even, as if there is something I need to address but am avoiding. Maybe my own needle work obsession. So I try to make this memory visible, to give it shape.
I like the way a brooch has the potential to be an image while also revealing the making process. So I start to make some paper collage portrait brooches thinking about my own needle work and the Vermeer painting intricately. What I first think about is how time is seen on the surface of the painting, emphasising Vermeer's decisive and light paint brush marks of soft blues, browns, yellows and then the awkward positioning of the figure contained, within time, set in the frame.
Open to contingencies of materials and memories three paper portrait collages emerged.
Sandra Bushby 20013
1 - 3 Portrait: In search of image, brooches $105 each
Acid free watercolour paper, water colour, inkjet print, uv protectant coat, 9ct gold pin
From 2007
1 'Louis Comfort Tiffany glass beetle brooch' $260
Wool, satin, silk thread, 9ct gold
2 'Louis Comfort Tiffany glass beetle brooch' $260
Wool, satin, silk thread, 9ct gold
3 'Louis Comfort Tiffany glass beetle brooch' $260
Wool, satin, silk thread, 9ct gold
From 2006
1, Pixel pearls with safety chain brooch, $500, Embroidery thread, felt, ribbon
From "Stolen Jewels", 2006
1, 'Pixel pearls' brooch,
Japanese silk embroidery thread, satin ribbon, wool
70mm W x 70mm H $660
2, 'Pixel pearls' brooch
Japanese silk embroidery thread, satin ribbon, wool
50mm W x 60mm H $560
3, 'Pixel pearls' brooch
Japanese silk embroidery thread, satin ribbon, wool
50mm W x 60mm H $560
4,5,6, 'Pixel pearls' earings
Japanese silk embroidery thread, satin ribbon, wool
20mm W x 60mm H $300 pair
From 2005
"Baby Beads" brooches
1-4. micro beads, glue, sterling silver, $200 each
"Embroidered Tiffany" brooches
1. Diamond shaped; silk thread, wool felt, stainless steel pin, $190
2. Round; silk thread, wool felt, stainless steel pin, $220
3. Green and gold; silk thread, wool felt, stainless steel pin, $220
From 2004 "Cut Outs"
"Since 2003 I have been making sculptural installations and brooches using domestic fabric and the handcraft of embroidery.
The brooches for this exhibition have been inspired by New Zealand hand made jewellery from the 1930's era. My approach is modernist cut out techniques and traditional embroidery methods. Using the scissors and fabric I have cut out positive/ negative geometric shapes and embedded found objects in to the fabric.
Materials used are found objects such as bakelite and glass haberdashery combined with felt, linen or towels. Random themes such as navigation have been developed as a direct result of meanings associated with a particular found object."
Sandra Bushby, 2004 |