My long term friend and colleague Catherine Large and I have recently sent works to the USA to contribute to The Alchemy of Sustainability at Terra Firma Gallery, Berkeley.

The Alchemy of Sustainability is a fundraiser for Ethical Metalsmiths whose mission is to Lead jewelers and consumers in becoming informed activists for responsible mining, sustainable economic development and verified, ethical sources of materials used in making jewelry. I am on the international advisory council for Ethical Metalsmiths.

My contact with the Ethical Metalsmiths started in late 2006 when I emailed Christina Miller. I was in the process of making changes to the Jewellery Program at QCA and I was keen to talk to academics and researchers with shared interests. Christina was the first I found and we began conversing by email and mail. The conversations led to Christina and her collaborator Susie Ganch visiting QCA to host a Radical Jewellery Makeover in 2011. This was to be the first international RJM and the 4th in the ongoing series of the travelling community mining and recycling project that draws public attention to the creativity and skills of local jewellery designers, reveals the stories behind our personal collections and encourages re-consideration of our habits of consumption.
​​
​You can read about the RJM in Brisbane here and here

Notes:
​Christina Miller cofounded Ethical Metalsmiths, and when I first contacted her she was Executive Director of the organisation. She is now a consultant inspiring and mentoring bold social and environmental leadership in jewelry, education and the arts. 

I am conscious of the mixed use of spelling of jewellery and jewelry in this post, jewelry is used for any text that is American.

I was fortunate to be able to both attend and participate in the one day conference Flux - Fair Luxury held at the Goldsmiths' Centre London on 19 April 2016. ​I was so impressed that the conference sold out in 2 weeks and had a waiting list of 30 people! The keen interest hopefully allayed any fears the organisers may have had about the importance of the event. 

This was the inaugural conference organised by the Flux team and it was very well received. The enthusiasm and sense of optimism at the event was palpable. The hard work and ambitions of the Flux team saw their idea for the conference become a reality. I suspect it all moved too fast for each of them to fully appreciate their achievements. The day covered lots of different approaches and ideas towards improving the environmental and ethical standards of the jewellery industry.

Orsola de Castro, Co Founder of the Fashion Revolution Day talked about her evolution into a Fair Fashion activist with enthusiasm and drive. Her approach was accessible and based on the discussion that ensued, quite possibly (hopefully) infectious. 

Lina Villa, Executive Director of Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) talked about the origins of ARM and how she and the alliance had been developing and changing.

Interestingly the idea of a journey was used by several speakers and I think that allowed for the room for all to understand that there wasn't an absolute we are all aiming for at this moment. It is very much a journey.

When I started my practice in the early 1990s producing jewellery and tableware in small scale production my aim was to be environmentally friendly. I used a lot of metal retrieved from waste. I used cardboard unbleached packaging that could be recycled or would biodegrade. This was in part because I had a strong dislike for flocked plastic jewellery boxes and bags. My clients at the time were never as excited about my unbleached packaging as I thought they should/would be. 

It was around 2000 when I was rethinking my practice undertaking masters research that I started to think about other aspects of my studio practice, the chemicals I used for example and the stones I was using. I started to think that stones being natural was not enough, I needed to know where they had come from and how they were sourced. It has definitely been a journey for me in terms of understanding my priorities and reconsidering all aspects of my studio practices. This is an ongoing process.

In the second session of workshops I was involved with leading one with Peter Crump from Vipa Designs and Samantha Rose from September Rose.
​We covered:
What are the challenges of responsible sourcing from the perspective of:
·        education, (working with new students)
·        manufacturing, (working with designers looking to upscale their business to sustainable level)
·        designer-maker, (working through the practical issues of responsible sourcing)
Peter, Samantha and had been in contact with me by email, it was great to meet them face to face on the day. I think we were well selected to present together. Our approaches were complementary and we received some great questions.

I hope this will be just the start of our conversation. ​

I am really looking forward to attending and participating in Flux - the Fair Luxury Conference in London.

Flux: Redefining Luxury: Inspiring responsible practice in the jewellery industry.

• What : UK’s first conference-style event dedicated to debating and investigating issues surrounding responsible sourcing and best practice within today’s jewellery industry.   

• WHERE: The Goldsmiths' Centre
• WHEN: 9.30am – 5pm Tuesday 19 April 2016    

This one-day event offers all in attendance the opportunity to further understand what is meant by ‘responsible practice’ and discuss the need for transparency within the prestigious setting of London’s Goldsmiths’ Centre. 

Pioneering figures from across the worlds of fashion and jewellery will come together in offering the rare chance to share in their experience.

• Hear first-hand from industry leaders currently questioning the way we approach provenance and sustainability by examining the journey between original source and end consumer.
• Key note speakers include:
• Lina Villa - Executive Director Alliance of Responsible Mining (ARM)
• Jack Cunningham - Group Sustainability Manager Gemfields
• Orsola de Castro – Co-founder of Fashion Revolution

Delegates are invited to participate in workshops covering key topics. I will be on a workshop panel addressing the challenges of responsible sourcing with Peter Crump, Owner of Vipa Designs Ltd and Sam Rose, Owner of September Rose Jewellery. 

Organising an event like this takes a lot of time, energy and commitment. The great news for the team who are organising Flux is that the event is fully booked - it has sold out! 

This is a post that the Flux team did recently:

Fair Luxury
March 28 at 10:51pm · 
We are very pleased that Elizabeth Shaw, a Senior Lecturer at Queensland College of Art, will be part of our event next month. Elizabeth exhibits regularly and also contributes to academic research with a focus on ethical practice and the social and cultural values and meanings associated with objects. She is an international member of the advisory board for Ethical Metalsmiths and the inaugural chair of the Ethical Metalsmiths Education Committee.
Elizabeth initiated and chaired Green Symposiums in 2009 and 2010 to raise awareness of ecological, environmental and ethical concerns in jewellery studio practices and will be sharing her experience in one of our workshops at the Fair Luxury conference.
Book your place here - http://goldsmiths-centre.org/…/public-eve…/flux-fair-luxury/

Garland Magazine was launched late last year as an online magazine "to encourage a dialogue across the Asia Pacific about the objects that give our lives meaning." Kevin Murray, Olivia Pintos-Lopez and Damien Wright are the editorial team members. The first issue published articles from 30 writers covering a wide range of perspectives in relation to thinking about craft.

I recommend having a read and I also suggest you consider subscribing - it isn't essential to access Garland, but it will support this important initiative.

Annual subscriptions, are affordable at $AUD 40, and enable special access to the quarterly essays. Subscriptions go towards commissioning future essays and supporting cultural dialogue around what we make.

You'll find Garland Magazine here

In association with the launch of Garland Magazine, the inaugural online exhibition Intimate Imensities was launched. Above is the picture of my work included in the exhibition.

The exhibition was curated by Olivia Pintos-Lopez, and brings together works from 23 artists from the Asia Pacific in the virtual online gallery.  The artists are: Susan Robey | Ian Mowbray | Rosa Hawker | Varuni Kanagasundaram | Damien Wright | Anna Gray | Andrew Stinear | Nalda Searles | Amelina Trainor | Andrew Baldwin | Andrea Mina | Caroline Baum | Clare McCracken | Vicki Mason | Julie Blyfield | Elizabeth Shaw | Paola Moreno | WALKA | this.means.that studio | Melissa Cameron | Trudy Golley | Inup Park | Juree Kim

Here is the callout for the next exhibition:

Calling Second Home - exhibition for Garland #2 
While home is something many of us take for granted, it is fact of life, if not history, that we will change our primary shelter. Human, animal and plant life is littered with discarded shells. Techniques can evolve to re-purpose these, such as the shell money from the Solomon Islands, that is arranged in beautiful necklaces. To explore the creative uses of real and metaphoric shells, Garland is calling for works to its next online exhibition, Second Home. See here for more details. 

A JMGQ exhibition of pendants and earrings at Woolloongabba Art Gallery from 8 - 19 December 2015.

The list of installed artists is big, it is a big exhibition:
Albert Tse, Alicia Lane, Alison Stone, Amelina Trainor, Andy Lowrie, Ann Chadwick, Beth Hodges, Catherine Large, Clare Poppi, Chris Hardwick, Dan Cox, Elizabeth Shaw, Emma Clippingdale, Esther Shelley, Helen Moriarty, Helen Wyatt, Jandy Pannell, Jen Eales, Jesika Hanford, Joan Teo, Karah Sinden, Kathleen Hunt, Katie Stormonth , Keith Swan, Kristina Gittins, Lucille Atkins, Lynda Shale, Maree Heard, Megan MacKenzie, Milly Bell, Pat Holcombe, Pierina Curties, Rachel Boland, Renata Fojtikova, Robyn Pell, Sarah Smith, Stephanie Owens, M. Veronica Silva & Vivien Bedwell.

You are cordially invited to the Opening Reception of ACJ's 2015
exhibition Sleight of Hand, at Plymouth College of Art Gallery.
Wednesday 18th November 5.00 to 7.00 pm

There are two Artist Talks during the show.
Wednesday 25th November, Dauvit Alexander
Wednesday 2nd December, Viktoria Munzker   
both 5.30 - 6.30 pm at the Studio Theatre next to the Gallery, free entry.

Sleight of Hand will be on show until Saturday12 December

​ for how to get there, see
http://www.plymouthart.ac.uk/latest/calendar/sleight-of-hand-exhibition

The Abrams Claghorn Gallery will open 2016 with Greensmith. The exhibition will run from 9 Jan to approximately 8 Feb 2016.

I have a new 3 metre bench in my studio. It is looking like I will finally be able to sort through my hammers. A new hammer rack for the back of the bench is being planned. It looks like it will need to be at least 2 metres long. The plan is that my stakes and mandrels will be housed in the cabinets under the bench and my tools that need to be bolted down will be moved to this bench, freeing my other one for hammering. I have to work out the locations for the tools to be bolted before I commit to drilling holes.

I am really pleased to have my ring 'Bird of Prey' selected for the exhibition Sleight of Hand. 

The exhibition opened at the Brewhouse, Burton upon Trent, open 1 - 28 September

The exhibition will tour to the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, open 7 - 31 October, PV 6 October
and Plymouth College of Art Gallery 
16 November - 12 December, plus artist talks

Catalogue on sale now - £5.00  order your copy