Rise Creatives

Emma Bourke 'Wild Fortunes'

The Craft Council of Ireland’s, 21^st Century Icon exhibition showcases iconic Celtic jewellery, made modern, by some of Ireland’s contemporary jewellers. The exhibition which is currently in Galway (April – August 2012) is touring the country.

Featuring the work of Emma Bourke, Laura McNamara, Sabrina Meyns, Justyna Truchanowska, Eily O’Connell and Sam Hamilton the exhibition examines how Celtic jewellery such as neckpieces, torcs and lunulas would be designed by modern day Irish jewellers. How would the jewellery convey something about us – as Irish people – to the world?  What would it look like and what would it be made from?

The exhibition curated by Ann Mulrooney tries to offers some answers to these and other questions.

We went to see this exhibition when it was in the National Craft Gallery in Kilkenny. The creative inspiration, designs and material used were outstanding. Each designer’s interpretation of Celtic jewellery was both modern and powerful. We would highly recommend a visit to the Galway City Museum to see this exhibition.

Galway City Museum 22 April 2012 – 2 August 2012

Taking something negative and recreating it into something positive is the concept behind, the work of up-and-coming jewellery designer Sam Hamilton. Through her jewellery designs she wants to show that “items of potential danger and destruction, if beautifully crafted, can be transformed into fashionable objects that are desirable and just a bit cool.”

Sam Hamilton 'Bomblace'

From her Bombs collection, the “bomblace” is made of nine silver bombs. The bombs are strung on steel cable and held in place using silver crimps and  then covered in rubber tubing.

Sam Hamilton 'One Size Fits All' ring

Her Switch collection features the ‘Flick It Switch Ring’, made from silver with a red perspex ball and her “One size fits all” adjustable handmade silver ring. The “One size fits all” ring features an orange glass handle which moves up and down on 3mm threaded wire, which is soldered into the handle. The orange glass handles are also made by hand from glass cane. Sam’s “Control Panel”, another piece from this collection was featured in the Rise Creatives Augmented Reality exhibition for Culture Night 2011.

Sam Hamilton 'Control Panel'

Sam is currently studying at the Alchimia Contemporary Jewellery School, Florence, Italy – specialising in Contemporary Design. This May she is exhibiting in Germany, Spain, Poland and Italy. Her exhibition in Spain is titled “Beginning Middle Endless”, and we here at Rise Creatives really like the concept behind it. It is a collaborative exhibition between Massachusetts College of Art and Design and Alchimia, Florence, Italy. The students were asked to create one half of a neckpiece and the curator of the exhibition, Heather White, paired and physically assembled the halves to make whole necklaces in which the “unexpected ensues”. The exhibition travels to Boston, MA, USA in the autumn.

The Alchimia Blog is currently showcasing the work from this exhibition. To view more work by Sam Hamilton you can visit her web space.

Justyna Truchanowska - Jewellery Designer

The work of jewellery designer Justyna Truchanowska is inspired by her love for Africa and Tibet. Drawing inspiration from these two cultures, Justyna has created a collection that is visually and sensually striking. Justyna uses brightly coloured hand-made 100% wool felt and silver. According to Justyna, “felt offers infinite possibilities for developing form whilst the nature of the material allows me to utilize a myriad of colour and tones. Geometric silver units punctuate the larger felt pieces, accentuating their organic texture. This jewellery presents a unique reflection of nature whilst keeping pace with contemporary practice.”

Justyna’s work has been described as ‘wearable art’ and with her bold use of colours, shapes and materials, she creates real statement pieces. Visit Justyna’s portfolio web space to view more of her work.

Justyna Truchanowska, Jewellery as Art exhibition at Cill Rialaig, Co Kerry

Justyna is currently taking part in “Jewels in the Kingdom – Jewellery as Art.”  The exhibition features the work of “six major talents in Irish Jewellery design” and runs until the end of May at the Cill Rialiag Arts Centre, Dun Geagan, Ballinskelligs Co Kerry. The exhibition also features the work of Theresa Burger and Eily O’Connell.

Justyna Truchanowska, Art of Craft Exhibition, Armagh

Her work can also be viewed at the Art and Craft Fair exhibition running at The Market Place Theatre, Armagh. The exhibition is exploring the popular question: is it art or craft? The exhibition features the work of 27 artists and designer-makers. Visitors to the exhibition will be asked to vote for their  favourite piece and a cash prize of £300, ‘The Peoples’ Prize’, will be awarded to the winning Artist/Designer-Maker.

View more work by Justyna Truchanowska.