Bodywork

Australian Jewellery 1970–2012

Exhibition
7 Sept 2013 – 20 Oct 2015
Gold Armband with ray like decoration on the outside

Brenda Ridgewell, Space edifice, armband, 2002, purchased 2003

About

The celebration of the local, the regional, the private and the personal, and the value of experience and memory, is territory that many contemporary jewellery designers and makers seek to articulate and make real.

Jewellers preside over the manipulation of materials and the transformation of their meaning and value. Design involves working on a small scale in relation to the intimate site of the human body and exercising advanced craft skills to bring a variety of materials together as desirable and durable objects. The juxtaposition of materials, the recycling of objects and the subversion of traditions can also bring a new understanding to familiar forms and imbue everyday materials with a poetic presence.

This exhibition includes the work of 42 Australian jewellers exploring jewellery from a number of viewpoints within six broad themes: Romanticism, Interpreting the Vernacular, Encapsulating Nature, Technics, Social Message and Sculpture for the Body. All of the works are from the collection of the National Gallery of Australia.

Curator: Dr Robert Bell AM

Touring Dates and Venues

  • The Moree Gallery, NSW
    7 September – 3 November 2013
  • Glasshouse Regional Gallery, NSW
    22 November 2013 – 2 February 2014
  • Port Pirie Regional Art Gallery, SA
    28 February – 4 May 2014
  • Murray Bridge Regional Gallery, SA
    29 August – 12 October 2014
  • Devonport Regional Gallery, TAS
    6 November – 7 December 2014
  • Museum of Art and Culture Lake Macquarie, NSW
    13 March – 26 April 2015
  • Artspace Mackay, QLD
    22 May – 4 July 2015
  • Rockhampton Art Gallery, QLD
    18 July – 23 August 2015
  • Craft ACT, ACT
    6 September – 20 October 2015

Related

Exhibition

Penguins and Ice
Photographs of Antarctica 1910–2010

Past Exhibition
Black and white photograph of many penguins on a beach next to cliff faces

23 Dec 2011 – 25 Mar 2012

Photographing in the extreme conditions of Antarctica is difficult even now; this exhibition features the results of those heroic expeditions.

Exhibition

FuturePlay
from the house of tomorrow

Past Exhibition
Model layout of exhibitions with hands adjusting the location of works of art

19 Mar 2005 – 29 May 2005

futurePlay transforms the Children’s Gallery into a playroom of the future, with an electronic world of digital animations and interactive artwork.

Exhibition

Indigenous Australia
Masterworks from the National Gallery of Australia

Past Exhibition
A painting of a figure

17 Nov 2017 – 26 Aug 2018

This exhibition showcased the very best work produced by Australian Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people from the late 1800s through to today.

Exhibition

The Birth of the Modern Poster

Past Exhibition
Print of a green goblin holding a bottle of alcohol upon a black background. Yellow text underneath reads Maurin Quina

10 Feb – 13 May 2007

The Birth of the Modern Poster examined poster art and its evolution from the late 19th century to the early 20th century.

Exhibition

Myth and memory in recent American landscape photography

Past Exhibition
Black and white gelatin silver photograph of a cactus in the desert

12 Jan 2015 – 13 Jul 2015

The Wild West have always had an important place the imaginative life of the American people, shown in these photographs of late twentieth century.

Exhibition

Robert Rauschenberg
1967–1978

Past Exhibition
Collage with two elephants in the centre, small clock face, pill and fingertip images

1 Sep 2007 – 27 Jan 2008

Rauschenberg worked beyond the restrictions imposed by media, style and convention, and adopted a unique experimental methodology.

Exhibition

Bali
Islands of the gods

Past Exhibition
Traditional image of seven mythical creatures from the Ramayana

13 Jun 2014 – 3 Aug 2014

This exhibition displayed a number of works of art, architectural elements and ritual objects to celebrate the rich Hindu tradition of Bali.

Exhibition

Home at last

Past Exhibition
Impressionistic painting of the interior of a bedroom painted with short, multicoloured strokes

13 Sep 2008 – 8 Mar 2009

Home at last encourages children to think about the home through artworks about home life and objects from different times, places and cultures.

Exhibition

Sean Scully
Body of light

Past Exhibition
Abstract Painting of two dimensional red, black, white and yellow rectangle and squares

23 Jul – 10 Oct 2004

This exhibition, conceived and organised by Finland's Sara Hilden Art Museum, was broadly representative of Sean Scully's work.

Exhibition

Stars in the River
The prints of Jesse Traill

Past Exhibition
Black print of river and surrounding bushland on dark cream paper

16 Feb – 23 Jun 2013

This exhibition celebrates the artistic career of one of Australia’s most important printmakers of the twentieth century, Jessie Traill.