The Silver Tongue
Consversations
Saturday, February 27, 2016
10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Stanford Perrott Lecture Theatre
Alberta College of Art + Design
Louise Perrone
I make jewellery using discarded household and industrial fabrics. My approach to constructing objects is informed by metalsmithing and questions the values attributed to traditional women's work.
Shona Rae
A lifelong fascination and study of myth, fairy tales and ancient religious artefacts are the major influences in my artwork. I believe that in our urge to tell stories we seek to give order and meaning to our lives, explain natural phenomena and understand the human condition.
Goldsmith techniques and metalwork lay the foundation for my visual artwork, while the carving of natural materials such as bone and antler is very satisfying. I feel a greater connection to storytelling when I use these materials. I am reminded that life is tenuous and fragile, yet the human spirit is strong.
In today’s technologically driven society it is important to me to use my hands, my heart and my mind to create singular objects that serve the human inclination to adorn our person and our environment with objects of meaning and beauty.
My sculptural artwork also, at times, purposely strives to bring the viewer discomfort to provide a platform to provoke the discourse on what I see as the “zombification” of our culture. As long as we continue to ignore the serious issues of global warming, overpopulation and the poisoning of our environment we are wandering aimlessly, brainlessly, eating ourselves and our children’s future.
Art making provides a vehicle that I use to address issues that are of concern and enables me to reach out and empower my community to work towards meaningful solutions.
I feel honoured to have had the privilege of creating art and music for a living for over three decades.
Robert Spark
Master Goldsmith and Hand Engraver Robert Spark currently resides in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
His career as a Goldsmith and Jewellery Designer spans 20 years. His skills and talent have been finely crafted and honed by years of working as a Jewellery Designer and Goldsmith for many fine jewellery establishments in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. His education is a broad mix of craft, fine art and industrial know how. His art education started with attending Medicine Hat College in the Visual Arts Program. There he practiced his skills as a designer and had his first exposure to the art of print making, this was the start of his curiosity for hand engraving.
His career as a Jewellery Designer began with his acceptance into The Alberta College of Art and Design, in 1993. Under the tutelage of such fine instructors as Master Goldsmith Charles Lewton Brain and Dee Fontans, he realized his passion for working in metal and started his practice in Hand Engraving. Oddly enough , although being in an art school, a large part of his focus was on technical and mechanical experimentation, as he realized that mastering solid manufacturing skills would be essential to his success, and only then could mastering the fine art of design be achieved.
His curiosity for nature, history, and traditional jewellery technique has culminated into a unique blend of skills and a broad and diverse body of work, from Mokume Gane earrings to masterly engraved Bulino belt buckles.
He is regularly commissioned by the jewellery industry and the public to make not only jewellery but commemorative pieces for loved ones past and present.