Poppy Porter's Posts - crafthaus2024-03-28T10:11:18ZPoppy Porterhttp://crafthaus.ning.com/profile/PoppyPorterhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/357647775?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://crafthaus.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=1sury78wmpsgh&xn_auth=noUnited in Variety: Sieraad International Jewellery Art Fair at the Westergasfabreik, Amsterdam 2016 November 10-13tag:crafthaus.ning.com,2016-12-05:2104389:BlogPost:5597352016-12-05T16:00:00.000ZPoppy Porterhttp://crafthaus.ning.com/profile/PoppyPorter
<p><img alt="" class="wpGallery mceItem" src="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wpgallery/img/t.gif" title="gallery ids="475,474,473,472,482,481,478,477""></img> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398935397?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398935397?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a> A view of the Westergasfabreik and my Synaesthetic Fragments Series</p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: Open Sans,sans-serif;">Fitting my entire display into twenty three kilos of checked baggage to fly to Amsterdam was more liberating than frustrating as I shed unnecessary items and went with the bare essentials to run my stand. On the…</span></p>
<p><img class="wpGallery mceItem" title="gallery ids="475,474,473,472,482,481,478,477"" alt="" src="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wpgallery/img/t.gif"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398935397?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398935397?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-full" width="750"></a>A view of the Westergasfabreik and my Synaesthetic Fragments Series</p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: Open Sans,sans-serif;">Fitting my entire display into twenty three kilos of checked baggage to fly to Amsterdam was more liberating than frustrating as I shed unnecessary items and went with the bare essentials to run my stand. On the other hand the choice of bag I packed it all in will require revisiting next time. “The Elephant Bag” (as it is known) saw me through two, year long stays in the USA. Now I remember why I don't use it very often. While it is capacious it is also unwieldy especially at rush hour on the Tube and especially when they close the doors on the Jubilee line due to overcrowding. Never mind, my flight was delayed anyway not that I knew this as I sweated and cursed my load via Kennington to London City Airport.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: Open Sans,sans-serif;">There were twenty other jewellers coming from the UK and I met up with seven of them when I arrived for a cab ride to the <a href="http://www.westergasfabriek.nl/" target="_blank">Westergasfabreik</a>, we needed the largest cab they could find at Schiphol Airport. We spent the rest of the day setting up in the industrial setting of the old gas holder.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: Open Sans,sans-serif;"><a title="SIERAAD Art Fair" href="http://www.sieraadartfair.com/" target="_blank">SIERAAD 2016</a> was opened by the Dutch “Princess of Craft” <a href="http://www.deparmedesign.com/en/" target="_blank">Margarita de Bourbon de Parme</a> who is herself a jeweller, furniture maker and textile artist which set the tone for an incredibly smart and well educated audience. It was a real pleasure to talk to so many knowledgeable buyers, whose excellent English was appreciated by me and the other non-Dutch artists there. It really was a truly international art fair, many nations were well represented from all over Europe with exhibitors coming from as far afield as Australia, USA, Russia, Japan, Brazil, Columbia, Uruguay and South Korea. The fair was by no means dominated by Dutch artists. The variety and standard of work being shown was astounding, the show was entirely dedicated to art jewellery from the precious to the deliberately non-precious with over eighty exhibitors using materials from platinum, gold and gemstones to plastic broom bristles, leather and paint.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: Open Sans,sans-serif;">I was so busy it was tricky to get a moment to look round the show, as a jewellery lover myself I really did not want to miss the opportunity to see so much incredible work in one place. <a href="http://www.galerie-ra.nl/en/" target="_blank">Gallery Ra</a>, one of the original Amsterdam galleries to dedicate its space to art jewellery was celebrating forty years of success, owner Paul Derrez had a selection of works on display from his personal collection that included some classics that I had only seen in books before now.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: Open Sans,sans-serif;">Of all the fantastical work there two artists stood out for me. <a href="http://christophziegler.com/" target="_blank">Christoph Ziegler</a> a German jewellery and performance artist whose inspiration comes from the humble domestic sphere and uses found objects and shining plastic broom bristles to great effect in his brooches which encapsulate grandeur and humour. He calls his performances “Möbeling” which roughly translates as “Furnituring” but it sounds way better in German!</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: Open Sans,sans-serif;">The second artist was Russian <a href="http://www.kseniavoh.com/" target="_blank">Ksenia Vokhmentseva</a> whose crocheted forms where a pure abstract interpretation of her emotions. She has explored her depth of feeling through shape after her mother was diagnosed with cancer. “Sometimes It Doesn't Hurt” is a compelling body of work both dark and poignant. Unsettling but fascinating her work reminded me of how Alexander McQueen approached his self expression.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-family: Open Sans,sans-serif;">In amongst the contemporary jewellers was an exhibition of ethnic jewellery from around the world by a collaboration of Dutch Museums. Stunning antique pieces, that the work of all exhibitors had to hold their own against. They reminded us where we came from and that some functions of jewellery have never changed.</span> <span style="font-family: Open Sans,sans-serif;">SIERAAD Art Fair was a very positive experience for me, my work was well received and it enabled me to see it in an international context in amongst the work of artists from all over the world. Whether you go as a visitor or exhibitor to SIERAAD it is worth taking the time to appreciate it as a rare gathering of jewellery art.</span></span></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398936396?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398936396?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-full" width="750"></a></p>
<p>Ksenia Vokhmentseva "Sometimes It Doesn't Hurt"</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398937398?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398937398?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-full" width="750"></a>Christoph Ziegler "Black Star Sunshine"</p>
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<p></p>Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty at the V&A and Collect 2015 at the Saatchi Gallerytag:crafthaus.ning.com,2015-05-11:2104389:BlogPost:5142012015-05-11T09:30:00.000ZPoppy Porterhttp://crafthaus.ning.com/profile/PoppyPorter
<p align="center" style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398860419?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398860419?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="650"></img></a> I expected to love my visit to these two exhibitions, to see gorgeous things and return inspired. Instead I have been left with a sense of ambivalence and uncertainty. The …</p>
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398860419?profile=original"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398860419?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="650"></a>I expected to love my visit to these two exhibitions, to see gorgeous things and return inspired. Instead I have been left with a sense of ambivalence and uncertainty. The <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a title="Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty at the V&A" href="http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-alexander-mcqueen-savage-beauty/" target="_blank">Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty</a></span> exhibition at London's Victoria and Albert Museum is all a blockbuster exhibition should be. Big, bold and slightly overwhelming in it's presentation. It was truly an experience and particularly in the case of the Cabinet of Curiosities section awe inspiring. I should love Alexander McQueen's work, it is dramatic and fantastic, colourful and unsettling. The tailoring incredible and beautiful, the use of materials and textures fabulous and I do love his work up to a point.</p>
<p>The opening quotes in the exhibition spoke of McQueen's desire to empower those women he dressed, make them awe inspiring and scary. The clothes he designed were just that but what ever shape,colour, material or inspiration he used under every ensemble was the inescapable stick figure of the fashion model. Display after display there was the same homogenous female body. The male body was entirely absent, where was his menswear? The male body has seemingly been banished from his cannon of work.</p>
<p>There was much talk of his undeniable skill in tailoring and taking the shape of the body into account in all his designs, he was quoted as saying he designs from side, the worst side for curves to ensure an all round interesting silhouette but again he was only using one homogenous female form. For all the talk of crossing boundaries this one seemed to be one he could not even see, his work was entirely unable to break the bounds of fashion model's tall thin body.</p>
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<p>The only hint things are otherwise was his <a title="Alexander McQueen Voss Collection" href="http://www.alexandermcqueen.com/experience/en/alexandermcqueen/archive/?years=2001#id_article=159" target="_blank">Voss</a> collection where writer Michelle Olley posed as the death of fashion, which is apparently a fat woman with no clothes on. I was pretty insulted by all the assumptions surrounding that show piece. Her body was the only hint that any other kind of woman (or indeed any other kind of body) could exist outside the fashion model “norm”. Yes I know that was kind of the point and one of McQueen's fascinations was the "other" body but in the forrest of identical mannequins it just came across as crass. I was disappointed that this was the impression the exhibition had formed on me, I wanted to be taken in and marvel at the genius we were being told he was.</p>
<p>I also began to get the impression I was stuck in a visual Radiohead album, relentlessly serious with no humour whatsoever. Even Shakespeare tragedies have some light relief, there was nothing light here, fashion is a very serious business and Alexander McQueen took himself and his work very seriously. I am always dubious of anything that cannot laugh at itself occasionally, it lacks something essentially human and fails to fully connect and communicate. I could not help but wonder about comparing his timeline with that of another towering figure of British fashion, Vivian Westwood. His work remains distant, trapped in an impressive bubble, billowing and gorgeous like his Pepper's Ghost illusion of Kate Moss but ultimately untouchable and uncommunicative.</p>
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<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398861437?profile=original"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398861437?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="650"></a></p>
<p>Perhaps it was my mood after visiting the Alexander McQueen exhibition or walking past those beautiful but unoccupied mansions bought as investments by rich foreigners in the streets between Kensington Gore and Sloane Square, or the recent election result but the Craft Council's lavish presentation of contemporary craft at the Saatchi Gallery <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a title="Crafts Council Collect" href="http://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/what-we-do/collect/" target="_blank">Collect 2015</a></span> was problematic too. This is a festival of the most fabulous objects presented by the worlds best contemporary craft galleries. It is billed as a place to see and buy museum quality contemporary craft. The quality of the work on show was undeniably excellent and evidence of museums purchasing was clear in little cards denoting which pieces had been bought by what museum with what funding. Private individuals making purchases were also in evidence.</p>
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<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398862327?profile=original"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398862327?profile=original" width="427"></a></p>
<p>Again, I wanted to be affected by what I saw, I wanted to be moved by the beautiful aesthetic of the work on show. I was but again only up to a point. Highlights for me were the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a title="Cynthia Corbett Gallery" href="http://www.thecynthiacorbettgallery.com/index.php" target="_blank">Cynthia Corbett Gallery</a></span> with Chris Antemann's £82,000 worth of truly taste free, baroque <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a title="Lemon Chandelier on Artsy" href="https://www.artsy.net/artwork/chris-antemann-lemon-chandelier-courtesy-meissen-couture-r-art-collection-dot" target="_blank">Lemon Chandelier</a> </span>and <a title="Jo Taylor Ceramics" href="http://www.jotaylorceramics.com/index.htm" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Jo Taylor's</span> </a>elegant flowing blue porcelain. There was also drawers full of<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> <a title="Anna Heindl Farbkorper Jewellery" href="http://annaheindl.at/farbkorper/" target="_blank">Anna Heindl's Farbkorper jewellery collection</a></span> (<em>image below</em>) at Gallerie Sofie Lachaert. <a title="Tord Boontje Chairy Tales" href="http://tordboontje.com/news/COLLECT-2015-Chairy-Tales/" target="_blank">T<span style="text-decoration: underline;">ord Boontje's Chairy Tales</span></a> was an interesting and enjoyable exercise in narrative sitting apparatus or maybe you could call them personality perches.</p>
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<p>However, many of the galleries seemed to be showing exactly the same things they had 2014. I walked past several of the same objects or artists who were in exactly the same places as they were last year! It was as if the show had been wheeled away last year and wheeled out again this year. The lack of context given to the works was also irritating, beautiful objects stranded in a no-mans land of arty blankness some galleries had not even marked who the pieces were by. There were several galleries new to the show and new artists marked but they were all seemed to be very small works. Given this is the Craft Council's flagship event and that a ticket to Collect was about the same price as a ticket to the McQueen exhibition (£17) I felt they could have all tried harder to be more cutting edge and up to date. As it was the repetition from last year gave a stale and stranded sort of deja-vu feel to the whole affair. Last year I left Collect feeling motivated and inspired this year I felt it was static and disconnected. It left me questioning how all these objects had become so disconnected from the fervent creative drives that created them. They all felt like they were destined for those beautiful empty mansions I had walked by to get there. Context is everything and the way Collect is presented made me feel like craft was adrift in an impersonal space.</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398863911?profile=original"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398863911?profile=original" width="320"></a></p>
<p>Perhaps I should have stopped to see the <a href="http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/7736/" target="_blank">Caroline Broadhead/Angela Woodhouse dance piece “Sighted”</a>aiming to give an experience context to craft through exploring ways of looking but the notice requesting the audience to stand for the 20 minute silent dance piece put me off, that and the silent part.</p>
<p>Both shows were fabulous, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed them with a good friend who also loves to “enjoy the aesthetic” as she describes it. With both shows I expected to have my disbelief suspended, I expected to be taken in to the worlds of wonder that both McQueen's work and the contemporary objects at Collect promised. I wasn't, the scenery kept intruding and the actors were wooden.</p>
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<p><a href="//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/"></a></p>“Icons of Formula 1″ and “Over Easy Rider”: First Custom Painted Jewellerytag:crafthaus.ning.com,2014-05-14:2104389:BlogPost:4836972014-05-14T15:00:00.000ZPoppy Porterhttp://crafthaus.ning.com/profile/PoppyPorter
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<div class="entry-content"><div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_201"><a href="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/DSC3153b.jpg"><img alt="Icons of Formula 1 Necklace" class="size-medium wp-image-201" height="300" src="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/DSC3153b-300x300.jpg" width="300"></img></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Icons of Formula 1 Necklace, Poppy Porter 2014 – clockwise from top: Graham and Damon Hill, Moss, Lauda, Mansell, Senna, Vettel, Schumacher, Prost, Alonso, Fangio, Hamilton, Gilles Vilneuve.<br></br> Photo:Ray Spence…</p>
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<div class="entry-content"><div id="attachment_201" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/DSC3153b.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-201" alt="Icons of Formula 1 Necklace" src="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/DSC3153b-300x300.jpg" height="300" width="300"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Icons of Formula 1 Necklace, Poppy Porter 2014 – clockwise from top: Graham and Damon Hill, Moss, Lauda, Mansell, Senna, Vettel, Schumacher, Prost, Alonso, Fangio, Hamilton, Gilles Vilneuve.<br/> Photo:Ray Spence</p>
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<h1 class="entry-title"><span class="sep" style="font-size: 13px;">Posted on </span><a href="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/?p=199" title="2:31 pm" rel="bookmark" style="font-size: 13px;">May 14, 2014</a></h1>
<p align="left"><span>New skills are always inspiring, particularly when you know where you want to go with them and just require a bit of practice and experimentation to get there. My last post covered the course with Simon Murray and learning airbrushing and custom painting. Since then I’ve been busy applying my new found knowledge to a few projects.</span></p>
<p align="left"> <span>The first is the Association for Contemporary Jewellery’s exhibition “ICONS: Jewellery for the the Famous and Infamous” up at the National Centre for Craft and Design, Sleaford. The second I’ll cover in another post.</span></p>
<p align="left"> <span>I had two ideas for this exhibition one was successful the other was not but I completed both pieces. The successful idea was “Icons of Formula 1” a necklace of miniature custom painted helmets signifying the greatest drivers in F1. Racing drivers often adopt a distinctive helmet design so they can be recognised on track, these designs become iconic in their own right and in many cases stand for the driver with no further explanation needed. My favourites are the graphic bi-coloured helmets from the 70s and 80s like those of Prost and Villeneuve.</span></p>
<p align="left"> <span>The challenges for this piece were ones of scale and simplification and I had to adapt the designs to fit a spherical fake pearl bead rather than an asymmetrical helmet.</span></p>
<p align="left"> <span>The design was finished off with what will become my signature “R” clip clasp. In titanium and silver. Heat treated to give the impression it has been used near a hot engine. I like this utilitarian looking clasp, it echoes clasps used in motor-racing and has been a while in development. This is the first iteration of it’s design. No doubt it will change and improve in the future.</span></p>
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<p align="left"> <span>The second piece is the one that did not make it into the exhibition (feedback indicated I had not presented the idea clearly enough – there’s a lesson there). “Over Easy Rider” references the iconic 60′s film “Easy Rider” and imperial Faberge eggs. An odd combination but one that is inspired by a custom paining technique that resembles the guilloche enamel that was used extensively on Faberge eggs. Plus it makes a good pun, I love a good pun in a title!</span></p>
<p align="left"> <span>I’ve painted the egg on one side with stars and stripes like Henry Fonda’s “Captain America” Chopper, the other is painted with hot rod flames like that of Dennis Hopper in the film except these are done in the guillochet enamel style. The neck piece then references Dennis Hopper’s tasselled suede jacket with wooden beads to add colour and complete the 60′s counter-culture feel of the piece. I’m going to be wearing this piece when I go up to visit the exhibition and symposium in June.</span></p>
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<dd class="wp-caption-text gallery-caption">“Over Easy Rider” Captain America Side</dd>
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<dt class="gallery-icon"><a href="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/?attachment_id=211" title="Over_Easy_Rider10web"><img src="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Over_Easy_Rider10web-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt=""Over Easy Rider" Guillochet Hot-Rod Flames Side" height="150" width="150"/></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-text gallery-caption">“Over Easy Rider” Guillochet Hot-Rod Flames Side</dd>
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<dd class="wp-caption-text gallery-caption">“Over Easy Rider”</dd>
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<dd class="wp-caption-text gallery-caption">“Over Easy Rider” Captain America Side</dd>
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<dd class="wp-caption-text gallery-caption">“Over Easy Rider” Guillochet Hot-Rod Flames Side</dd>
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<dd class="wp-caption-text gallery-caption">Detail of Hot-Rod Flames</dd>
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<dt class="gallery-icon"><a href="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/?attachment_id=204" title="Over_Easy_Rider3web"><img src="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Over_Easy_Rider3web-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Detail of Hot-Rod Flames" height="150" width="150"/></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-text gallery-caption">Detail of Hot-Rod Flames</dd>
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<dt class="gallery-icon"><a href="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/?attachment_id=206" title="Over_Easy_Rider5web"><img src="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Over_Easy_Rider5web-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Detail of Hot-Rod Flames" height="150" width="150"/></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-text gallery-caption">Detail of Hot-Rod Flames</dd>
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<dd class="wp-caption-text gallery-caption">Detail of Stars and Stripes Painting</dd>
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<dd class="wp-caption-text gallery-caption">Detail of Stars and Stripes painting, beads and stitching</dd>
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<dd class="wp-caption-text gallery-caption">Work in progress – marking up flames</dd>
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<dt class="gallery-icon"><a href="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/?attachment_id=213" title="IMG_1773"><img src="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/IMG_1773-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Work in progress - burr engraving the flames" height="150" width="150"/></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-text gallery-caption">Work in progress – burr engraving the flames</dd>
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<dt class="gallery-icon"><a href="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/?attachment_id=214" title="IMG_1778"><img src="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/IMG_1778-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail" alt="Work in progress - masking and painting" height="150" width="150"/></a></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-text gallery-caption">Work in progress – masking and painting</dd>
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</div>The Strange Attractors Project Starts To Take Shape…tag:crafthaus.ning.com,2013-08-22:2104389:BlogPost:4307792013-08-22T08:41:24.000ZPoppy Porterhttp://crafthaus.ning.com/profile/PoppyPorter
<div class="entry-content"><p>I’ve finally started work on my Strange Attractors Project, its been on my mind for a while now (you will notice it is also the title of my blog and is a phrase I use to describe my creative process, it is actually something complicated to do with maths but that’s not necessarily relevant) and will be recording progress and posting updates on my blog <a href="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/">http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/</a>. I will be…</p>
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<div class="entry-content"><p>I’ve finally started work on my Strange Attractors Project, its been on my mind for a while now (you will notice it is also the title of my blog and is a phrase I use to describe my creative process, it is actually something complicated to do with maths but that’s not necessarily relevant) and will be recording progress and posting updates on my blog <a href="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/">http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/</a>. I will be revealing the ideas and creative processes behind the development of this project.</p>
<p>It’s time for a different direction with my work and while the general inspiration is familiar the source of my inspiration is totally different and has started to branch out beyond my initial starting point. Yes you guessed it F1 cars again! This time rather than the physical appearance of the cars it is the sound of their engines.</p>
<p>Sound is all around us and mostly we pay little attention to it but there is so much to be gained from just closing your eyes and listening. It’s quite revealing and there is so much to discover. However the sound of an F1 car engine is a sound that cannot be ignored and I find it symphonic in its complexity. Now there’s a problem with trying to listen closely to an F1 engine the sound is so loud you have to wear ear plugs or it is truly uncomfortable! So I kitted myself out with one of <a title="Zoom Q3 HD" href="http://www.zoom.co.jp/products/q3hd/">these</a> and set out to record some sound and video.</p>
<p>Living in the South of England means I am lucky enough to have access to F1 cars once a year in July at the <a title="Festival of Speed" href="http://www.goodwood.co.uk/festival-of-speed/fos-live/foslive.aspx">Festival of Speed</a>. Last year’s visit inspired my Racing Wings collection launched at the beginning of the Summer. This year I left my sketchbook aside and recorded some sounds. I’ve put a few of the best videos and sound recordings up on <a title="Poppy Porter YouTube Channel" href="http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvvQvp9fHcClr5vce_jxgvA" target="_blank">my YouTube Channel</a>, go over and have a listen, an F1 engine is a curious beast.</p>
<p>However, engine noise is not the only sound my ears love! I have always enjoyed listening to music and have a large collection of albums, I also love to listen to birdsong in the woods while I’m walking the dog. There is so much to hear once you open your ears.</p>
<p>So, now where am I going with all this? Sound waves are not exactly wearable. Back to the sketch book but this time with my headphones on and what happened was that some rather curious landscapes and abstracts started to emerge. Some of the below are based on songs, some on engine noise and one is a lark rising….but which is which?</p>
<div id="attachment_150" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_16581.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-150" alt="Sketchbook pages, abstracts based on sounds. Some are songs some are engine noise one is a Lark rising." src="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_16581-225x300.jpg" width="225" height="300"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text"></p>
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<div id="attachment_151" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_16591.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-151" alt="Sketchbook pages, abstracts based on sounds. Some are songs some are engine noise one is a Lark rising." src="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_16591-225x300.jpg" width="225" height="300"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text"></p>
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<div id="attachment_148" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_16561.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-148" alt="Sketchbook pages, abstracts based on sounds. Some are songs some are engine noise one is a Lark rising." src="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_16561-300x225.jpg" width="300" height="225"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text"></p>
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<div id="attachment_149" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_16571.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-149" alt="Sketchbook pages, abstracts based on sounds. Some are songs some are engine noise one is a Lark rising." src="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_16571-300x225.jpg" width="300" height="225"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text"></p>
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<div id="attachment_147" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_16551.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-147" alt="Sketchbook pages, abstracts based on sounds. Some are songs some are engine noise one is a Lark rising." src="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_16551-300x225.jpg" width="300" height="225"/></a></div>
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<div id="attachment_146" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_1667.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-146" alt="Sketchbook pages, abstracts based on sounds. Some are songs some are engine noise one is a Lark rising." src="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_1667-248x300.jpg" width="248" height="300"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text"></p>
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</div>Ear Splitting F1 Sketching Session Sparks a New Collectiontag:crafthaus.ning.com,2013-06-07:2104389:BlogPost:4193732013-06-07T10:44:15.000ZPoppy Porterhttp://crafthaus.ning.com/profile/PoppyPorter
<p>It was during a visit to the Formula 1 paddock with a sketchbook and some ear defenders at last year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed that I found the inspiration for my new Racing Wings jewellery collection. This new collection will be on show and available to buy during London Jewellery Week at <a href="http://www.treasureuk.com/" target="_blank" title="Treasure Website">Treasure, Somerset House 13-16<sup>th</sup> June.</a></p>
<p>I am a big F1 fan and love to draw my…</p>
<p>It was during a visit to the Formula 1 paddock with a sketchbook and some ear defenders at last year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed that I found the inspiration for my new Racing Wings jewellery collection. This new collection will be on show and available to buy during London Jewellery Week at <a title="Treasure Website" href="http://www.treasureuk.com/" target="_blank">Treasure, Somerset House 13-16<sup>th</sup> June.</a></p>
<p>I am a big F1 fan and love to draw my inspiration from the flow of the bodywork and immaculate mechanical shapes in the engine. Being around those incredible machines when the mechanics are warming up the engines brings them alive, the astoundingly complex and exciting sound of the engine puts enormous energy into my sketching.</p>
<p>I then take all that energy and transform it into elegant and feminine jewellery. All my jewellery captures the sleek, vivacity of the Formula 1 car and I love the paradox of creating powerful but feminine jewelery from a purely mechanical inspiration.</p>
<p>It is not only my sketchbook that got plenty of use in the F1 paddock, my camera was filling up with striking, colourful images of the cars to use in the photo-inlay technique I developed for my jewellery. This photo-inlay is unique to my jewellery and is a technique honed over half a decade to create an iridescent effect a little like a butterfly’s wing.</p>
<p>The new Racing Wings Collection will be available to see and buy at Treasure, the showpiece exhibition of London Jewellery Week running 13<sup>th</sup> – 16<sup>th</sup> June at Somerset House. It will also be available on my website very soon! <a href="http://www.poppyporter.co.uk">www.poppyporter.co.uk</a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398880886?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398880886?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center" height="380"></a></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398881990?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398881990?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center" height="364"></a></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398883697?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398883697?profile=original" width="549" class="align-center" height="366"></a></p>Down to the Waterline – “Stain-Less” in Sheffieldtag:crafthaus.ning.com,2013-05-22:2104389:BlogPost:4161902013-05-22T10:21:08.000ZPoppy Porterhttp://crafthaus.ning.com/profile/PoppyPorter
<p>They like their fountains in Sheffield. The first thing that greets you on leaving the railway station is a wonderful cascade of water. I walked across the city centre to my hotel and the peace gardens had fabulous fountains and children leaping around them, it seemed every courtyard was running water for the newly warming Springtime.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398877350?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" height="542" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398877350?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
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<p>This…</p>
<p>They like their fountains in Sheffield. The first thing that greets you on leaving the railway station is a wonderful cascade of water. I walked across the city centre to my hotel and the peace gardens had fabulous fountains and children leaping around them, it seemed every courtyard was running water for the newly warming Springtime.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398877350?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398877350?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center" height="542"></a></p>
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<p>This watery theme was appropriate as the reason I was in Sheffield was to attend the opening of <a title="Association for Contemporary Jewellery Website" href="http://www.acj.org.uk/" target="_blank">The Association for Contemporary Jewellery’s</a> 2013 members exhibition “Stain-<em>Less”</em> at the Sheffield Institute for Arts Gallery as part of Sheffield’s annual <a title="Galvanise Festival Website" href="http://www.galvanizefestival.com/" target="_blank">Galvanise Festival of Contemporary Metalwork</a>. 2013 is the centenary of the invention of stainless steel and you will have read about my designs for the show in my <a title="Selected for ACJ Stain-less exhibition" href="http://www.blog.poppyporter.co.uk/wordpress/?p=69" target="_blank">previous post</a>. My two pieces were now complete and installed in the gallery, and I was excited to see the company my work was in.</p>
<p>The other exhibiting members of the ACJ had produced some fabulous work using just about every interpretation of “Stain-<em>Less” </em>from the deadly serious work of <a title="Maria Hanson Website" href="http://www.mariahanson.co.uk/intro.html" target="_blank">Maria Hanson</a>“How Many Years Without Bloodstain?” reflecting on the few years between 1913 and 2013 that the UK has not had armed forces engaged in conflict to the light hearted “Ultimate Stainless Tie” by <a title="Jodie Hook Website" href="http://www.jodiehook.com/index.html" target="_blank">Jodie Hook</a>. There was work by <a title="The Justified Sinner - Dauvit Alexander" href="http://www.justified-sinner.com/" target="_blank">Dauvit Alexander</a> “Empire State Human” highlighting the moment when Sheffield lost it’s steel industry, pieces by<a title="Chris Boland Website" href="http://www.chris-boland.co.uk/" target="_blank">Chris Boland</a>, <a title="Gill Forsbrook " href="http://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/craft-directory/makers/view/?guid=bdb67ea7-97ec-47&maker_ref=9752&page=45&from_page=/craft-directory/makers/list/&sortby=name&sortdir=asc" target="_blank">Gill Forsbrook</a>, <a title="Nicola Turnbull Website" href="http://nicolaturnbulljewellery.webuda.com/index.html" target="_blank">Nicola Turnbull</a> and <a title="Zoe Robertson Website" href="http://www.zoerobertson.co.uk/" target="_blank">Zoe Robertson</a> focusing on the internal chemical make up of stainless steel or its production and work by <a title="Rachel Colley Website" href="http://www.rachaelcolley.com/" target="_blank">Rachel Colley</a> and<a title="Grace Page (Dr Grace) website" href="http://www.gracepage.co.uk/page2.htm" target="_blank">Grace Page</a> extolling the stain removal properties of soap.</p>
<p>My two pieces were based on the Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake. Experience – The Lily is the sharper looking of the two and incorporates some stainless steel dinner knives, a familiar domestic form of the metal. Innocence – Bubbling Brook mimics the innocent action of swishing your hand in a stream. The ink inlays refer to Blake’s pen dipped in the water staining it to write “…songs that every child may joy to hear.”</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398880032?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398880032?profile=original" width="600" class="align-full"></a></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398880950?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398880950?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"></a></p>
<p>Of course half the fun of going to an event like this is not just the pieces on display but the people you meet and the jewellery they wear. There were several ACJ members there; our chairman Terry Hunt who was wearing an interesting brooch depicting an x-ray of the stainless steel pins and plates mending the show photographer’s broken ankle, Annette Petch, Tam Saville, Chris Boland (whose “Flux Rings” were amongst my favourites at the show), new board member Jo Garner and outgoing editior of Findings Muriel Wilson who was wearing Maria Hanson’s “Order and Chaos” 1997 armpiece and a lovely little Ute Decker Brooch. The Lord Mayor of Sheffield and the Master Cutler where also resplendent in their gold chains of office.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398881930?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/398881930?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"></a></p>
<p>The exhibition runs until 31st May, details <a title="Galvanize Festival Stain-less exhibition" href="http://www.galvanizefestival.com/events/Stain_Less.html">here</a> but if you can’t make it the catalogue is available from the <a title="ACJ Stainless website" href="http://www.acj.org.uk/index.php/component/content/article/235-acj-stain-less-now-open">ACJ</a> by contacting enquiries@acj.org.uk</p>