In-tension is a collection of silver and bronze works that interrogate the interplay between the incidental and the intended. The series explores a unique and intimate relationship between material and maker. In-tension is a body of work that is guided by material and process.
In this body of work, I explore the possibilities of manipulation without intention. That is to say, the naïve handling of materials so as to understand them. In this way, the artefact is resultant and entirely secondary. In some instances, the artefacts constitute the discarded and by-products of the lost wax process. As with most process-driven practices the maker is guided by the materials and its inherent qualities. In such practices, material is afforded agency and in return provides a liveliness that is unique to the incidental.
As the artefacts of the process develop, I imbue the work with my vision and the collaboration between material and maker commences. Here, intention is introduced and the pieces are reimagined and fashioned into the wearable. Each piece holds true to the nature of its process, by preserving the language of the casting material – wax.
Its pliability, its brittleness, its fluidity, its surrender to a rasp is honoured in each of the castings. As the wax gives way for its new form, it adopts a new language. The language of metal. In this language, deeply coded in the industrial, the forms find a unique synergy between fabrication and the organic.
In-tension seeks to highlight the polarity and tension between sincerity of the medium and the contrived nature of the fabricator.