Events - Through the Window

An exhibition by Laura di Florio & Alida Cappelletta
June 3 - June 21 2008

'Through the Window' showcases the exquisite works of artists, Alida Cappelletta and Laura di Florio. Both artists employ photographic media, Cappelletta creating highly personalised jewellery pieces and di Florio manifesting romantic images in object form.

Combining photographic images with layered perspex, di Florio's objects of beauty illustrate emotive and mysterious landscapes that sit between the realms of reality and fantasy. These visions, often void of human form exist simultaneously near to, and distant from the viewer, challenging our notions of time and space, past and present, fact and fiction.

'Ideas of romance, the inherent beauty of the everyday environment, and the interior space of memory keep me continually interested...Utilising a layering technique via multiple exposures, an ordinary landscape or detail is imbued with a sense of richness and beauty, allowing it to be more mysterious and emotional - creating moments of discovery.'

– Laura di Florio, May 2008

Cappelletta's jewellery utilises old metal film containers that are fabricated in delicate ways often resembling structures observed in the natural world. Through their very materiality, they come to possess their own inherent preciousness. Her inspirations are drawn from organic plant forms, geometric shapes and tactile objects.

'Discarded objects have never looked so alluring and tempting…After working as a part-time film developer (the) artist has pondered the fate of these metal film containers deemed useless…The result: Resumed Life. A complex body of intimate precious objects precariously manipulated as if they were fragile paper.'

– Alida Cappelletta, May 2008

Events - Pieces of Eight

Artists | Justine Austen
Justine Austen is both a jeweller and miniature sculpture artist. She is fascinated with the way people communicate using body adornment and the identity they can create for themselves through a piece of jewellery. Using precious metals, pearls, pyrite, jet, onyx, crystals and beads, Austen's pieces are striking and individual in material and form.

"I particularly enjoy the way each piece develops new meanings, other than those I have attached, through the wearer and the viewer of the piece once it has left my hands."

Over her years of making, Austen has explored the symbolism and emotional attachment people give to jeweller, investing in her work a sense of history, a story, a hidden aspect that can be discovered.

Exhibitions at Pieces of Eight
Monster Zoo
October 13 - November 14, 2009

My Pet Rock
June 24 - July 19, 2008