Three makers working in metal based in Birmingham - Myself, Miranda Sharpe and Rajesh Gogna have been awarded Arts Council funding to make new work for the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter. Over the next few months we will be researching, making together and engaging in critical debate, our mission will be to capture the mood of the museum in metal.
The Museum of the Jewellery Quarter houses the Smith and Pepper Jewellery Factory. The proprietors decided to vacate the factory in 1981 unaware they would be leaving behind a perfectly preserved time capsule complete with grubby overalls left on coat hooks. Little changed in the eighty years leading up to the factory's closure.
Engaging with this space throws up a multitude of questions... how are we similar to the factory workers? Is it right to create an intervention in this environment or is it more appropriate to use a white gallery space -How can a maker engage with a 'time capsule'?
We currently have an exhibition of existing work being exhibited at the museum in the gallery space. The exhibition is called 'Regenerated'. The work will change over in September to house our new commissions and findings which will be on display until January 2014.
I'll update the blog as we go to show you are progress. For more information on the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter and the exhibition click here
