Ice Brooch 2

Gathered through the extended lingering of residence or the transient presence of travel, memories of places and experiences inform my practice. The Ice brooches draw on research undertaken during a three-month residency on Suomenlinna, the 18th century fortress island in Helsinki Harbour. Throughout the glittering brilliance of a snowy winter to the sweet emergence of spring, I documented the daily-changing forms of ice and snow accumulating and dissolving on the land and in the Harbour, where sea ice thickened and fractured, moved, slowly or quickly, by tides and passing ships. I developed a library of several thousand photographs, both as complete images and as continuing inspirations for studio work in jewelry. The continually changing forms of snow and ice remain a poignant reminder of temporality.
Concept and skill are correspondingly important in my work, as beauty in an object or a piece of jewellery may derive in equal part from its form, imagery and the fineness of making.