Illuminate

Illuminate is a group exhibition on now at Studio Ingot. It is part of the  contemporary jewellery and object trail, Radiant Pavilion. This event is on all this week all over Melbourne (1- 6 September). Check the website via link for full details.

The brief for this exhibition was to create 3 important neckpieces exploring the continuum of individual practice. 

I have further explored my interest in the spiritual and symbolic relationship between ourselves and the natural world. These are pieces to contemplate, let the imagery and the material move something deep within. They are part of a story that you already know.    

 The first piece is Snake/ Earth. The snake is also ouroboros, the powerful ancient symbol of the eternal cycle of life/creation, forever beginning and ending. 

The second piece is Whale/Sea. Within the whale all things are transformed. The breath of the whale is the very nature of divine energy. 

The third piece is Bird/Sky. The bird flies through the night sky, lifted by currents of air, rising and falling. From its beak stream stars...

                             Snake/Earth- fine silver, sterling silver, fine gold, oxidized and sealed with beeswax.

                              Reverse

                             Whale/Sea- fine silver, sterling silver, shell, oxidized and sealed with beeswax.

                             Reverse

     Bird/Sky- fine silver, sterling silver, meteorite, oxidized and sealed with beeswax.

                               Reverse

Firebird

Sterling silver, 18ct rose gold, solid white opal.

Studio Ingot

My work is now available at Studio Ingot! They are an extremely knowledgeable bunch of jewelsters (I believe I have made this word up!)  They are at 234 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. 

Over Your Head Exhibition

 The Potala in a whale in a bottle is in this  group exhibition in Sydney at the Stanley Street gallery. It's an exhibition of neckpieces, the opening is on Thursday the 14th of August.

Instagram

 I'm now on instagram!  Find me at  jennifermartinjewellery Here's a peek at some of the images I've been posting.

Lilly Pilly earrings

The Aviary

Bee necklace and twig bundle earrings.

In Beauty May I Walk

  

                       Feather net- 2014
                      

                     In beauty                                               may I walk

                     All day long                                           may I walk

                     Through the returning seasons              may I walk

                     Beautifully will I possess again

                     Beautifully birds

                     Beautifully joyful birds

                     On the trail marked with pollen             may I walk

                     With grasshoppers about my feet           may I walk

                     With dew about my feet                          may I walk

                     With beauty                                            may I walk

                     With beauty before me                           may I walk

                     With beauty behind me                           may I walk

                     With beauty above me                            may I walk

                     With beauty all around me                     may I walk

                     In old age, wandering on a trail of beauty

                                                                    lively,      may I walk

                     In old age, wandering on a trail of beauty

                                                          living again,     may I walk

                     It is finished in beauty

                     It is finished in beauty

Anonymous- translated from the Navajo by Jerome K. Rothenberg

A Short story.

When I was a child there was a whale that beached itself, or more likely now I think about it 

was injured and washed ashore at Phillip Island.

 I remember watching from the clifftop.

Blood and cold salty water mixed together as the whale rolled helplessly in the breakers. 

It was on the news. 

There were pictures of people sitting atop the whale. 

My mother said, "that is disgraceful that those people are sitting on that poor whale".

 I searched the world wide web but could find no record of this whale.

 I'm sure it happened I remember it clearly.

 Some men and machines, I imagine, dragged the whale all the way up the cliff and buried it at the top. For a long time there was a big mound of ugly dirt there.

It slowly sank deeper and deeper, till there was a depression there.

It took years.

There is no marker there. 

The End.

ANZAC DAY

Returning, We Hear the Larks 

Sombre the night is,
And though we have our lives, we know
What sinister threat lurks there.

Dragging these anguished limbs, we only know
This poison-blasted track opens on our camp-
On a little safe sleep.

But hark! joy-joy-strange joy.
Lo! heights of night ringing with unseen larks.
Music showering our upturned list'ning faces.

Death could drop from the dark
As easily as song-
But song only dropped,
Like a blind man's dreams on the sand
By dangerous tides,
Like a girl's dark hair for she dreams no ruin lies there,
Or her kisses where a serpent hides.

Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918)

Galaxy Earrings.

    Sterling silver, snowflake obsidian.

Matisse and his birds (in my studio)

Stone Feather

    I am stone
    I am air
    I am one thousand years old
    I have only just arrived
    I am light
    As a feather

Contemporary Art Society Brooch Show.

Winter is coming! Time for a new brooch to smarten up your outfit and brighten the Winter world. Get down to the Fitzroy library 3 April- 30 May and the South Yarra library 3 June - 30 July to view this unique show. Borrow a book while you're there! No better place to get inspired than the library. These three birds will be there.

Pincushion

Faith

Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith in its course. It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow it. Never let it out of your sight. It will take you.

Sheng-yen (b.1930- d.2009)

Happy Day!

    At last I have my own packaging! So when you purchase from my exclusive shop you will receive  something like this!
 

and inside something like this! 

or this! 

Red Bird and Blossom Brooch.

      Sterling silver, fine silver, felt, thread, fabric, plastic.

Swan Brooch

     Sterling silver, fine silver, shell, felt, thread.

Bird brooch

Sterling silver, fine silver, felt, thread, fabric.

Shop Open!

My shop is open ! At the moment it is the only place to find my work. I think that makes it exclusive!

Rockpool

Everything ends...

                                                       
                                                          Everything ends...

                                                          Doors close,
                                                          Windows open,

                                                          Everything begins...

I'm over here...thinking...

    I'll just be sitting over here for a bit...See what this little bird has to say...

2014

  

The New Year is here!

                             Power Owl calls in the New Year.
                             Repoussed and engraved using Fine silver, Sterling silver and Obsidian beads.
                             Formed from volcanic glass Obsidian is a mysterious and compelling stone.
                             It has  been used in antiquity to make mirrors and in shamanic rituals. It is a powerful
                             reflective stone.                    

Star seekers.

There is a story told in the Christian scriptures of three astrologers who followed an immensely bright star (Matthew 2:1-12). They were so drawn by this star that they followed a hunch in their hearts that it would lead them to the Divine. So set were their hearts on this bright vision in the sky that they pursued it over great distances and through many struggles. Following the star meant that they had to do their traveling at night. They did not know where they would be led. They only knew that they had to follow. They lost sight of the star, and in great humility, they had to rely on other starseekers to tell them where to locate the star again.
This star "filled their hearts with delight"(Matthew 2:10). They continued to follow it in the darkness of the night, journeying until finally they found themselves at the feet of the one whom they had long sought...
from The Star in my Heart by Joyce Rupp

Wings of Gold and drop of divine.

                             18ct gold, parti sapphire, 45cm chain.

The stars on the way...

                     The stars on the way... necklace- Sterling silver, fine silver

     Star earrings- Sterling silver.

    Star Spangle earrings- Sterling silver.

    Star Spangle bangle- Sterling silver.