The history of jewellery is punctuated by examples of exquisitely crafted jewels inspired by the natural world. The naturalism of the mid Victorian period was exemplified by intricate and bejewelled pieces of flowers and foliage. The underlying formal language of nature continued to be the main source for the designers of the Art Nouveau period, where René Lalique stands out for his unconventional vocabulary of materials and subject matter.
The link from historical examples of naturalistic style to the contemporary art jewellery in ‘Natural Beauty’ is more subtle; the influence of nature is more abstract and tenuous. The group showing in this exhibition references the natural and manmade world to express unconventional, abstract and personal ideas in a variety of materials.
Jane Adam uses the nature of the material itself to create form and surface while Jennie Hancox makes abstract wrapped and bound pieces where the form is simplified and reduced to outlines. Momoko Kumai describes her work as evoking memories and addressing an inner landscape of the mind. Nora Fok is fascinated by nature, structure, systems and order and makes delicate work with monofilament. The way the natural elements form, erode and sculpt the open spaces of the far north of Scotland inspires Beth Legg’s work. My own work is a fusion of the subconscious with my visual experience reflecting obliquely aspects of the human form.
Dorothy Hogg MBE
