Internalised

[Melissa Cameron]

Late last year I introduced to you a silver plate, in my post Currently on the bench.

The plate was about to meet the saw, for a piece that was being made for exhibition as part of Transformation 8: Contemporary works in small metals, an exhibition that displays the finalists of the 2011 Elizabeth R Rahael Founder's Prize. Transformation 8 is currently running at the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh.

Winners were announced some months ago at the opening. Meghan Patrice Riley is this year’s deserving winner, with a work entitled Interstitial. The works remain on show at the SCC until the 30th of June 2012, and if you can't make it, they are all viewable via the SCC's website.

As for my piece, in my post I did say that I would update you on what happened to our hapless hero, the silver plate. The following photo essay explains its trajectory:

I have a small section on the making of this work on my personal blog, describing my adventures in attempting to sign my name on this piece.

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My statement

This work highlights the decorative band that encircles this mid-twentieth century, Indonesian, silver plate. Aside from an aesthetic role, the rim of any plate functions to ensure that the contents thereon are guarded.

By altering the plate, the rim’s function changes from edge or border to focal point - drawing attention to the artistry and artisanship that gave rise to these iterations of familiar patterns.

Envisioning the plate’s likely origins in Southeast Asia, one can contemplate transmission of pattern motif—like pomegranate and acanthus leaf—to distant lands far from the subject’s origins.

[Brigitte Martin]

Can't wait to meet you at the conference :-)