fly my pretties – final piece, sarah read

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Fly my pretties (phase 1: habitat trials)
Sarah Read, 2010. Silk, steel, adhesive, card, paint, helium balloons (gallery installation view to follow)

Dear SCA jewellers,
These broochlets are far from home; to thrive they need loving shelter and the unique spiritual sustenance that is generated by active jewellery practice. Please help with this habitat trial and take one into your home when the exhibition ends. With luck and tlc it will adapt to the Sydney climate, and flourish alongside your own work.
Enjoy,
Sarah x

end point statement – sarah read

Fly my pretties

This project has been a blast; thanks to Kelly and Joyce for organising, also thanks to rui for my text STAY FOOLISH and amanda for my materials (formica chips), which have both been great to work with.

Note: No formica chips were harmed in the making of this piece (inspiration taken instead from their gift-tag shape and their repeating-unit-ness); they are now happily re-homed with Vanessa, Whiti’s queen of reclaimed laminates:

Formica chips find their true home

mid point statement – sarah read

Just. Do. It (Get. Over. It. And. Blog)

19^th June. Wet Saturday, working at home, me at the dining table, teenage son doing homework opposite,  husband pottering around. We are each trying to manoeuvre/bribe one of the others into baking.

So anyway, my ideas came together quickly in the end, and now it’s just down to the making and problem-solving. The train of thought went something like:

-          the initial instructions about sending material : This material must not contravene any customs laws So, no live things, seeds, earth, etc. Hmmm..

-          my text: ‘ Stay foolish’. Go with intuition; also, be playful

-          my first reaction to my materials (envelope, formica chips, bubble wrap) : airmail, parcels, gifts

-          national identity/ symbols. Our flightless birds.. assisted flight…

-          traditional rivalry between the countries, and the nature of the exchange: our NZ pieces are to be shipped to Sydney for the show  (dropped behind enemy lines?) – this could be seen as a step up in the world for them – from a little dark not-so-rich country to a big richer sunny country with more opportunities… it’s a chance, a shoe-in to the Big Smoke. But will they flourish in the new habitat? Who will look out for them?

-          OOS… my hands are v e r y sore after too much hammering and sawing of metal… so, low-tech solutions only

-          my ongoing body of work… the notion of jewellery as a sentient force, living with us and on us, regardless of our assistance/invitation.

So, travelling jewellery bugs it is.  Setting off to Sydney for their new start – life in the Big City, with Australian jewellers.

And helium balloons for flight (and added foolishness). I’ve had a helium balloon in my studio at tech for some days now, checking on longevity.  Brought it home with me and it bops and bounces on the ceiling, following the air currents, a sweet silent housemate or the perfect pet. The research around this has been great; lots of voluntary participation from said son, who is the king of You Tube.  For a taste of my day, try this from the todays big thing archive:

Chewing gum helium experiment http://technology.todaysbigthing.com/2010/06/04. Intense! and relevant. And then of course we have:

Adorable robot climbs stuff http://technology.todaysbigthing.com/2010/05/25, and The amazing screen-jumping iBall http://technology.todaysbigthing.com/2010/02/08

Somewhat off-topic, but it’s Saturday after all.

beginning statement – sarah read

My text : ‘Stay foolish’. Wonderful, I love it.  Google reveals it’s a phrase Steve Jobs used in an address in 2005, in turn quoting from the Whole Earth catalogue of 1974:

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

‘Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.’  Etc, etc…

So far, so good. Now waiting waiting, (foolish, hungry), for the materials…

It’s hilarious opening the (handwritten) envelope, unfolding the (special) bubblewrap to reveal…. Formica chips. My first thought – doh! this is Vanessa’s material. Interesting, how we attribute/take ownership of materials, and how this random allocation has obviously contravened some unwritten rules of the workshop. (Someone else has MY precious – I react like a 2-year old). Interesting to see how many of us are immediately looking for wriggle-room, ways to transform our material, rather than embrace it.

24 formica chips, tied with a too-short plastic cable tie, so they can’t lie flat. Various colours, with some repeats, different textures and thicknesses. Some with rounded corners, others shaped like luggage tags or gift tags – these are my favourite.

Breathe. Stay foolish. Something will come.

I like – the repeated units, the luggage/gift tag-ness. Taken with the envelope and bubble-wrap, there are for me undertones of travel/airmail, of gift-giving, of surprises. And in the trans-Tasman context: Smuggling? Contraband? Parachute drops (behind enemy lines? Delicious).  I realise I am totally ignoring all physical aspects of the material: the colours, the textures, the potential of  flat surfaces.

materials – from Ali McKellar to sarah read

Paper envelope, bubblewrap, 24 formica chips

text – from rui todoroki to sarah read

“STAY FOOLISH”