Home > News > Media Release From physics to AI and objectification of women in western culture, GSA Silversmithing and Jewellery students create collections with wide range of inspiration
Media Release From physics to AI and objectification of women in western culture, GSA Silversmithing and Jewellery students create collections with wide range of inspiration
Image: Astronomy-inspired pieces (Aquamarine, 18ct Yellow Gold, Oxidised Silver + Iron)by Michelle Currie, who has also had the rare accolade of having her photograph taken into outer space on the SpaceX mission to the International Space Station.
Silversmithing and Jewellery students at The Glasgow School of Art are celebrated both for their creativity and craftsmanship. This year’s cohort have taken a wide range of inspiration for their collections of jewellery and decorative objects much of which is for sale.
Image: Goldsmiths Centre precious metal award supported collection
of gravitational wave inspired pieces by Michelle Currie
Michelle Currie has combined her interest in physics with her creative process to make wearable objects using iron oxide powder. Her astronomy-inspired work has also won Michelle a rare accolade: a photo of Michelle was part of a mosaic of 2020 graduates from across the world that flew in the SpaceX mission to the International Space station earlier this month.
“My final year collection is an exploration of the physical properties of ferromagnetic materials, combining them with the traditions of silversmithing and emerging technologies,” says Michelle. She has explored what she calls “the beautiful collision of science and art” taking craft skills and fusing them with scientific enquiry, collaboration and scientific materials
Working with Glasgow University’s Physics and Astronomy Laboratories Michelle looked at gravitation experiments and materials used in apparatus for the detection of gravitational waves caused by exploding stars
“My pieces capture the explosive moments as miniature static sculptures which are inspired by the way gravitational wave data is captured by the scientific apparatus which confirms the warping of spacetime,” she explains.
A winner of a prestigious Goldsmiths Centre precious metal award, Michelle used the bursary to make a collection that includes a Ferrofluid Inspired Bracelet, and a Black Rhodium Silver + 18ct Yellow Gold Cast Link Bracelet.
Images: Blue John, a stone which comes from Castleton in Derbyshire, and
BLUE JOHN STONE CANDLESTICK a piece inspired by Blue John Stone (a collage of a copper sample, textured silver and titanium samples) by Alice Fry.
Multi-award-winning jeweller and silversmith Alice Fry celebrates the chaotic beauty of crystal and mineral formations through the medium of metal. Her work re-imagines rare mineral specimens as functional jewellery and objects, without depleting precious resources. She is also one of a handful of metalworkers in the UK working with niobium
“To create these rock-like textures and forms, I use ancient techniques of chasing and repoussé,” says Alice. “As well as developing this technique, I have spent a lot of time studying the effects of incredible metals, titanium and niobium, which provide bursts of colour to my designs.”
From 2020-2021, Alice Fry will be studying at Bishopsland Educational Trust, a prestigious residential course specialising in ancient crafts of jewellery and silversmithing.
Images: Collection of fine jewellery andAFARIT – white precious metal and yellow plated precious metalearrings of AI generated face, with citrine stone setting by Laura Knowles
For Laura Knowles technology is a subject of fascination and exploration. Her collection of necklaces, bracelets and earrings presents a developing conversation around Artificial Intelligence and the everyday.
“Applying Artificial Intelligence to jewellery, often considered an everyday object, reveals a number of anxieties and apprehensions in how we might utilise technology in future designs,” explains Laura. “In particular, our fear of ‘deepfakes’ combined with future generations of ‘trans-humans’ led to my investigation of human faces in this collection.”
By mimicking AI’s function of sculpting, and extruding AI generated faces, Laura has created a collection of wearable artefacts that reflect a conversation between the machine and the designer.
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Images: TRIPTYCH – Copper and vitreous enamel pieces by Sarah Murdoch
and DIVE 3 (Work in progress) by Ahsun Wang
Sarah Murdoch’s collection focuses on Western ideals of beauty and the extremity of the objectification of women in our culture.
“In today’s society women are under constant pressure to ‘correct’ their bodies to an ideal image, to the detriment of their mental health,” says Sarah. “My pieces form a collection of vessels focussing on the mental health crises in young women reflected in the myriad pressures society places upon them.”
Her collection of smooth, organically-shaped and brightly patterned objects are representative of the character and collective nature of specific relationships.
Meanwhile, South Korean designer Ahsun Wang,has made a collection of pieces I inspired by the wave formations left by someone jumping in from the water’s edge or someone floating on the water.
See full details of off all these projects and more on the Graduate Showcase 2020 digital platform.
