Ormolu

Julie Blyfield,

October 10 - November 4, 2017

In an inspired contemporary interpretation of Ormolu, silversmith Julie Blyfield and ceramicist Kirsten Coelho have collaborated to create a suite of porcelain containers with intricate silver lids and an accompanying collection of jewellery. Historically the decorative style of Ormolu involved lavish ornamentation of furniture, clocks and ceramics with gold-coloured metal alloys. The Chinese combined metal and porcelain in tea caddies, while the English created Ormolu snuff boxes and trinket containers, and made repairs using metal staples and components to prolong the life of an object. There is a rich history, too, of the Japanese Kintsugi tradition of repairing ceramics with gold, silver or platinum.

In their reinvention of these European and Asian traditions Coelho and Blyfield turn to humble domestic objects and ornaments that bear testament to an earlier Australian way of life. Together they have researched the historic connections between pottery and metalware in the Moonta Mines Museum, the South Australian Museum and the findings of the archaeological dig on the site of the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Their pieces in Ormolu take inspiration from domestic utensils, mining implements and objects to be found on dressing tables and kitchen dressers.

Both artists share an aesthetic approach that involves the ‘making precious’ of these humble objects through the time and skill invested in their making. They have a shared interest too in the way an object’s meaning can shift and accrete new associations over time in response to changes in the social and cultural context as it passes through generations of owners or is re-positioned in a museum collection. Their collaboration grew organically out of an awareness of each other’s practice over the years and developed in a series of meetings and conversations.

Kirsten Coelho’s refined porcelain forms are a reinvention of everyday utilitarian lidded forms such as ginger jars, tea caddies, storage containers and bottles, as well as the open forms of jugs, cups, bowls and funnels. As a delicate counterpoint to the sublime simplicity of the porcelain, Julie Blyfield in her ornamental stoppers and lids, and in her suite of jewellery, subverts the shiny allure of silver, darkening it through oxidisation so that it resembles baser metals like tin and pewter, or softening its sheen to a lustrous matt finish. In a specific reference to Ormolu she sometimes combines fine layers of copper and silver in bimetal stoppers, where the reddish glow of copper emerges through the blackened silver as a burnished palimpsest.

An alloy is a fusion of metals to make a stronger new compound. Ormolu by Kirsten Coelho and Julie Blyfield is a metaphorical as much as actual fusion of fine crafting skills, to make precious things inspired by the humble objects of everyday life.

Margot Osborne 4 September 2017

Yelta, 2017, porcelain, matte white, banded iron oxide, saturated iron glaze, bi-metal copper and sterling silver, cable, wax. Photograph by Grant Hancock.

Work from Ormolu

Adelaide by Ormolu Adelaide, 2017, oxidised sterling silver, sterling silver, porcelain, matt white sheen, saturated iron, bi metal copper & sterling silver, wax


Weetulta by Ormolu Weetulta, 2017, oxidised sterling silver, paint, bi-metal copper & sterling silver, sterling silver, wax, porcelain, matt white banded iron oxide
Trinket boxes by Ormolu Trinket boxes, 2017, sterling silver, oxidised sterling silver, paint, wax
Terowie by Ormolu Terowie, 2017, porcelain, matt white, banded iron oxide, bi-metal copper &sterling silver, wax
Temmoku tea caddy by Ormolu Temmoku tea caddy, 2017, porcelain, celadon, temmoku glaze, bi metal copper & sterling silver, wax
Stopper, Cone, Sieve pendants by Ormolu Stopper, Cone, Sieve pendants, 2017, oxidised sterling silver, bi metal copper and sterling silver, cable, wax
Passion Flower powder box by Ormolu Passion Flower powder box, 2017, porcelain, matt white glaze, sterling silver
Passion Flower tea caddy by Ormolu Passion Flower tea caddy, 2017, porcelain, pale celadon glaze, bi metal copper & sterling silver, wax
Moonta by Ormolu Moonta, 2017, oxidised sterling silver, bi metal copper & sterling silver, sterling silver, porcelain, matt white
Cutter brooches by Ormolu Cutter brooches, 2017, oxidised sterling silver, wax, sterling silver
Cap brooches by Ormolu Cap brooches, 2017, sterling silver, oxidised sterling silver, paint, bi metal copper & sterling silver, wax
Cap rings by Ormolu Cap rings, 2017, sterling silver, bi metal copper & sterling silver, wax
Burra by Ormolu Burra, 2017, oxidised sterling silver, cable, bi metal copper & sterling silver, porcelain, matt white, banded iron oxide, wax, bottle

Artists involved