Current Events Sim Luttin Exhibition Baked, Not Fried Past Events New Works My Pet Rock Through the Window Transitions Twice Bitten Sweet Dominance New, Used and Fused Portals and Night Vision Teresa Lane Nibbles Welcome to Gemrock Goodbye Robot Correlation Fever Opening Party An Exhibition of Contemporary Jewellery September 28 - October 21, 2006 Greetings and 'Welcome to Gemrock'! After a year of experimentation, gold and silversmith Nina Ellis has produced a highly innovative collection of new work for her first solo exhibition. The work has sprung from the fruitful relationship with her mentor, ceramic artist Titania Henderson. They were joined together by becoming the recipients of the 2005 Emerging Artist Initiative through Craft Victoria. Ellis sources gems which are tolerant of the intense heat of the kiln, and then sets them into fine porcelain which she has tinted to create different colours. Entirely non-traditional in her approach, this is almost an anti-jewellery method as instead of setting the stones to maximize their sparkling quality; she embeds them into the porcelain. Fascinated with the geological formation of gemstones, in 'Welcome to Gemrock', Ellis returns these minerals to an earthly home. The forms of the jewellery hint to the title Gemrock. Some of her neckpieces are made of round flat 'beads' of porcelain that are reminiscent of the simplified jewellery worn by cartoon characters from her childhood like Wilma Flintstone and Marge Simpson, the artist creating her own 'Stone Age' jewellery pieces. As a recipient of several awards and having exhibited both in Australia and internationally since graduating from RMIT Gold and Silversmithing in 2003, Nina Ellis is a leading emerging artist and this new body of work is an exciting development in her oeuvre. 'Welcome to Gemrock' is showing as part of the 2006 Melbourne Fringe Festival.