Cairns Art Gallery
Search Cairns Art Gallery
  • Visit
    • Check in
    • Plan a Trip
    • Cafe
    • Contact us
  • What's On
    • Current Exhibitions
    • Future Exhibitions
    • Past Exhibitions
  • Shop
  • Learn
    • Yoga
    • Adult Art Classes (16+)
    • Kids Art Classes
    • Educational Resources
    • Tours
    • Competitions
  • About
    • History
    • Venue Hire
    • Employment
    • Volunteers
  • Join & Support
    • Membership
    • Foundation
    • 2021 Gala Dinner
    • Donate
    • Partners

Zoe VENESS Return Loop: Double Loop 2020 Photographer: Zoe Veness / Pennie Jagiello What We Leave Behind: Heirlooms of the Anthropocene #4, 2019-2020. Image: Bewley Shaylor

Jess DARE Making time: Exchange Between Jess and Her Son Banjo 2019 Image: Marcus Ramsay

MADE / WORN Australian Contemporary Jewellery

24 October – 31 January '21

Made / Worn: Australian Contemporary Jewellery explores the act of making jewellery, from intimate pieces to large-scale objects. All works in the exhibition are designed to be worn - to adorn and embellish the body and to be a vehicle for personal expression. 

Twenty-two jewellers are represented in this exhibition, with works spanning a wide range of materials, techniques and meanings, and designs that are playful, intricate, conceptual, personal and political. 

Jewellery has been defined as an act of art, craft and design, which lives and breathes on the bodies of those who wear it. It begins with a concept, often in the form of a two-dimensional line drawing, before taking shape as a unique and multifaceted object. Once completed, a piece of jewellery can contribute to the persona of the wearer, while seemingly taking on the attributes of a wearer. Most importantly, it can out-live the initial wearer to become a time-honoured and treasured possession for future generations. 

In the supporting exhibition publication, Melinda Young explains in her essay, ‘Everything and nothing – jewellery beyond adornment’ that as a maker, a wearer and a viewer of contemporary jewellery, she is interested in jewellery beyond its life as adornment. 

This is a visually exciting exhibition that showcases some of the most striking, personal, conceptual and beautiful items of contemporary jewellery and body adornment being made in Australia today. 

FILM 

The Made/Worn film was made to accompany the exhibition by Angus Lee Forbes. It features a number of artists in the exhibition and gives some deeper insights into what inspires these artists and what contemporary jewellery can be. 


IMAGES:
Zoe VENESS Return Loop: Double Loop 2020 Image: Zoe Veness 
Pennie Jagiello What We Leave Behind: Heirlooms of the Anthropocene #4, 2019-2020. Image: Bewley Shaylor
Jess DARE
Making time: Exchange Between Jess and Her Son Banjo 2019 Image: Marcus Ramsay 

 


Current Exhibition

Ben Quilty The Entangled Landscape 12 December - 14 March '21

Current Exhibition

Albert Namatjira And the Hermannsburg School 12 December - 14 March '21

Current Exhibition

Buhlebezwe Siwani Dedisa Ubumnyama (Turn the darkness away) 15 January - 14 March '21
Opening Hours
Mon-Fri9am - 5pm
Sat10am - 5pm
SunClosed

Gallery Shop Open

Gallery closed on Public Holidays

Cnr Abbott & Shields

Contact Us
+61 7 4046 4800
Email Us
Follow Us
Subscribe
Gallery News & Events Workshops & Classes