Feature.. JamFactory ICON 2024 Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion
JamFactory ICON 2024 Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion
One of Australia’s most revered contemporary craft practitioners, Julie Blyfield is a jeweller and metalsmith renowned for her intricately crafted jewellery and sculptural objects that capture the essence of the Australian landscape.
With a practice spanning over 35 years, Blyfield is highly skilled in the traditional metalsmithing techniques of chasing and repoussé. Often referencing specimens found in natural history collections and those she collects herself in nature, Blyfield’s work is inspired by the forms, textures and patterns of Australian botanicals, plants and marine life.
The refined and heavily detailed surfaces of Blyfield’s pieces confirm her mastery of the craft and her acutely tuned aesthetic sensibilities. That said, rather than seeking to accurately re-create botanical specimens, Blyfield is concerned with creating stylised representations that capture the inherent qualities of her subjects. The discerning artistic gaze Blyfield applies ensures that, even as she dismantles, rearranges, reconstructs and reimagines the various forms and structures of her specimens, the essential being of her subject remains.
Primarily working with sterling silver and copper, Blyfield uses the techniques of chasing and repoussé to interpret botanical forms into her delicate and ornately patterned works. Arising from the French word chasser (‘to chase’), chasing is a process whereby intricate designs are struck using a chasing hammer and small steel tools to create line and pattern on the annealed metal surface. The technique dates to 3000 BCE and is applied in conjunction with repoussé, from the French repoussé (‘push up’), in which raised designs are made by hitting the metal upwards from both the front and reverse. Chasing is an incredibly labour-intensive process and Blyfield’s use of this technique demonstrates her abiding devotion and commitment to ‘chasing her passion’.
In the national touring exhibition JamFactory ICON Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion, Blyfield presents a new collection of meticulously crafted works inspired by her experience of visiting the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef in far North Queensland. As designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites, both are celebrated for their rich biodiversity, exceptional beauty and universal value to humanity. Collectively referred to as Viridescent Corallium – from the Latin ‘green’ and ‘coral’ respectively – Blyfield’s works are a homage to the natural beauty of these landscapes.
Located on the traditional lands of the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people, the Daintree Rainforest is 135 million years old, making it the world’s oldest rainforest and a globally significant ecosystem. The ancient growth of the Daintree Rainforest provided inspiration for Blyfield. Astonished by the breathtakingly thick wall of forest, dense canopy and intermingling vines, Blyfield was moved to capture the sensory experience of the lush landscape of the tropical rainforest. The fleshy leaves and fluid cable lines of Viridescent neckpieces make explicit the rampant growth of the vines, while the densely layered leaves of the wall pieces echo Blyfield’s memory of an almost stifling overhead canopy. Surprising touches of colour, in the form of delicate golden butterflies and striking pink hibiscus blooms, appear amongst the abundance of green works.
The cavernous underwater landscape and myriad of corals that Blyfield encountered while snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef offered inspiration for the creation of the Corallium brooches, neckpieces and sculptural objects. Largely drawing on her memories of the coral clusters, rock forms and ledges of the Reef, Blyfield also engaged in collection-based research at the South Australian Museum. During this time, Blyfield worked closely with the museum’s collection to gain a more comprehensive scientific understanding of coral ecology and structure, taking photographs and making sketches of specimens from which to develop work. Exemplifying the incredible diversity of hard and soft corals, the Corallium series deftly captures Blyfield’s delight in the contrasting colours, textures, shapes and scale.
With the piercing eye of a jeweller, Blyfield brings sensitivity, curiosity and meticulous craft to her interpretations of the natural world. Serving as a poetic metaphor for life and loss in a time of increasing environmental peril, Blyfield’s masterful renderings immortalise threatened ancient forests and vulnerable species of delicate corals. The intricate details and fine patterns encourage a deeper reflection on both the fragility and preciousness of our natural environments and our own lives within them.
Watch the Video!
JamFactory ICON 2024 Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion is showing at JamFactory Adelaide until 15 September 2024 and JamFactory at Seppeltsfield from
5 October 2024 - 2 March 2025 followed by a national tour.
@julieblyfield
Shop the Exhibition
Shop the Exhibition Merchandise