Kristin and Judy

About Kristin /  About Judy

Rationale behind my choice….

I chose Judy because she is not a jeweller.  She does not live overseas.  She is not averse to meeting for a cup of coffee and talking about books.  Judy is a successful artist, writer, speaker, teacher, mother and instigator.  I was drawn to her practice because she continually bucks trends and works to her own terms.  Every meeting is a thrill.

June 2013 – Milk & Honey  –  Installation at Objectspace

Making this work has been a challenge but really, really fun.  It is very apparent which material I am more comfortable with vs the one that is pushing my comfort zone(clear flat plastic tops vs round white bowls).  I have been working on these pieces late at night thinking… ” I really need to stop and go to bed… but I just want to do this one last thing” – Hours later I finally go to bed and the darling little alarm clocks are merciless.   10pm? 1am? 4am? 5am? Maybe all of the above.   I love that I am loving the making/no chore here.   Judy likes the direction the silver decor is going.

Installing this work was really fun.  Judy’s work is amazing and looks fantastic.  She proceeds to turn all of my ideas about installation on their head –  it is great to work with a sculptor.  We had big plans about a horizontal ‘ceiling’ board but scrap them once we see the physical work together in the space.  Judy suggests a more traditional hang.  Judy’s begging bowls attack a pillar.  She had suggested that I make the pins really absurdly long to poke out from the board and she arranges them as an object (like a flower or lollypop) rather than “as they would sit on the body”.  This is another break in the norm… why had I not thought to do that before?   I ask if it is too busy, Judy says not busy enough.  I have gotten wild and used one color….  Maybe in 50 years I will be up to the myriad of colors Judy conducts so masterfully.

Sarah comments that Judy wooshed in with so much color, holding color and installing color.  I have to confess that Judy is the best super-star, fluro, art cheerleader ever!

May 2013 – Collaboration: Milk and Honey

“We, Judy and Kristin, chose milk and honey as the theme for our collaborative work.  This theme emerged from discussions around mothering, feminism, breast feeding and art.  We have found the most fertile ground for collaboration when discussing the terrain of physical materials and modes of exchange. It seemed appropriate that the collaboration begin with a named material rather than an aesthetic convention.  We experimented with small plastic bowls used as takeaway containers in Japanese restaurants. The takeaway container is already a familiar trope in Kristin’s jewellery, but in this case, the containers are curved instead of straight; opaque instead of transparent. Judy has used the bowls in a totally different way, as begging bowls which continue the discussion of exchange, commodity and alternative economies.  The whole process has been a joyful one for both participants and the work echoes this sentiment.”

April 2013 

It is a Thursday morning and my due date.  I randomly run into Judy at our favourite cafe/her local.  I introduce her to my husband and son (who is two years older than when she last saw him).  We are on our way to Rocket Park.  Later that day I have a baby.  All healthy!!

March 2013 – Hello Munich

After much tooing and frooing… I decided to board the plane – 34weeks pregnant and fly 30 hours to Munich!  It was a hard flight, but a fabulous trip.  Well worth every minute of it. (Thank you Creative NZ).

Out of seven pieces I sent over, five were shown in Schmuck and I was thrilled with that.

Reflections:

• At first I was impressed with the scale.  Everyone says it, but the European work was often very large.
• I loved looking at the displays and thinking about which installs highlighted the work vs interesting installations. Mia Maljojoki at  Gallerie spektrum and Plateaus Jewellery, (with Barbora Dzurakova, Patricia Domingues, Katharina Dettar, Edu Tarín)  were favourites there…. Also the Otto install was pretty darn amazing.
• As the days went on, I was really impressed by small scale work that packed a big punch.  I thought two makers excelled in this area…. Henriette Schuster, “Grow” and Akiko Kurihara “ Was that a Cat I saw”.
• And lastly, the level of detail and finishing was really high.  It was great to see work that looks like it might be made with a passionate impulse, and then on second glance, noticing the hours of work that went into a chord,   aka Mia Maljojoki – loved those chords.

I saw 22 shows which was about half of what Munich had to offer, I am sad I didn’t see more. I have lots of “I wishes….”

I saw a few shows twice and realised how much more I was able to absorb from a second viewing, especially when it was not “at the opening”.

The handshake show was great and the book is amazing… here is my spread.  Thankd to Becky for a wonderful job.

24 January 2013
It could be the **real coffee** but I walked away from my meeting with Judy buzzzzzzzzzzzing.  It has been nearly two years since we started this mentorshhip – wow!

I meant to bring my Schmuck work to show Judy along with pictures from my collaborative exhibition (below) and the partially finished works I had for the handshake show. But as I was walking into the cafe, I could not find my box of schmuck work. ummmmm mild panic?  It could be at home, on my studio worktable or in the ladies bathroom in the unitec jewellery wing.  Oh well, no use fretting while at coffee. I thought as I had about 7 heart attacks.  I could always remake it…. right?

Judy arrived at kokako – the best newly relocated cafe in Grey Lynn, in an amazing blue vintage dress.  We discussed my attempts to take Judy’s advise and go big.  I am trialling two methods…going big as a number of components or go big as in big pieces of plastic.  We are leaning toward many components.  Judy was interested in the ways I am starting to change what I am doing with the plastic components.  And you would think I could control the material by now, but I am still finding the take away containers annoyingly brittle, especially as I am trying to scale up.  I have started to use milk bottle plastic.  It is more opaque but more giving and flexible.  We discussed the importance of milk to the NZ economy and how that was a nice material to use in an overseas setting. And very in keeping with all things maternal.

My “maternal-ness” is getting a bit hard to ignore these days.  I am 28 weeks hapu (maori for pregnant) and off to the midwife after this meeting.  I am wrestling with the decision of whether or not to fly at 34 weeks pregnant.  Hmmm Schmuck are you worth it?  I change my mind daily.  Judy was very supportive and a good sounding board for me. She votes yes. So do I today.

Other points of discussion:

Judy is reading about “the drip” and the two camps in the art world for and against.  Its bodily, unruly nature.  She is definitely for.

Spaceship artist in residencies.

Life changes -phases of life and how your career is not always in the same place as you are mentally.  We are on opposite ends of the “motherhood” trip.  I am have decided to life vicariously through Judy….

So our time is up much too soon.  I pop over to Judy’s studio to pick up some spare mirror board that she has – to play with that.  Hurray until next meeting in a fortnight.

Update: My box of schmuck work was found sitting safely on a windowsill in the unitec jewellery department hallway.  Eeeek, I am a real danger to myself.

7 January 2013

We rang in the new year with a 3am earthquake in lovely New Plymouth…..  that heralds a year full of rock and roll if you ask me.  I have been busy making for my next meeting with Judy scheduled in a few weeks.

The lovely RETROSPECT show, curated by Jo Mears is heading toward The Dowse museum on Feb 1.  I love this museum and am over the moon to have my work there.  The work started off as “retrospect” work but has seeped into Handshake and Schmuck work….

I am especially honored to be on the add for this one… read more about it here.

2012 Part 2 – MakeShift with Raewyn Walsh…..the side project

Imagine that, I was involved in another project….. (gasp)  So here is a peak at what that was all about.

The Jewellers Guild of Greater Sandringham is pleased to present:

makeShift: a jewellery exhibition resulting from a collaborative artist in residence between Kristin D’Agostino and Raewyn Walsh. 

What happens when a workshop is shared and the craftspeople that inhabit the space are interested in reconnecting with the jewellery wearer, while maintaining individuality?  In Raewyn and Kristin’s experience, their ideas, materials and processes have crossed over at times and they have seen similarities appear in their work.  However, because of this and out of respect of the other’s oeuvre, they have managed to restrict their individual practices so as not to encroach on each other’s jewellery ‘territory’.

Raeywn and Kristin have recently extended their collaborative endeavors into an experimental project that goes beyond the traditional view of craft as a display of virtuosity, to assert jewellery as a practice that actively connects with its audience.  They have used the collaboration to take their work to a new place, where shared artistic concepts, materials, and processes are privileged, and extend their individual practices at the same time. In doing so, their desire is to lift the restrictions they have imposed on themselves, both real and imagined.

Originally shown at Unitec: Snowhite gallery Then a condensed version was shown at  Masterworks gallery (pictured above).

30 August 2012

Hello Christchurch!  Last Friday I joined the Handshake party in Christchurch for the opening at the National.  It was a wonderful whirlwind trip.  Pictures coming as soon as I get back from this Friday’s adventure….

19 August 2012

Hello Hamilton!  Last Friday I made a road trip down to the fair city of Hamilton to see the opening of Judy’s show, SCI FI curated by Karl Chitham, at Waikato University.  It was a really great day.  The installation and opening event were great.

My work was safely on its way down to Christchurch (phew).  And I am planning a Handshake with Christchurch event- mulled wine and fondue!!!  A warm winter treat.  This originally began as the idea of a community dinner…. but due to short time frames and travel restrictions(good ideas do pop up a little late sometimes….) it was pared back to “treats”.  Still a mighty tasty idea.   The hope is that I will repeat this type of event at other handshake shows and potentially host an event with Judy in Auckland during the Objectspace show.  So please excuse me, I have to go get my fondue pot bubbling!

August 2012

Back in July I had to cancel my meeting with Judy on account of a nasty cough.  Later that week, on a sunny winter’s day, I was driving down the road in Grey Lynn when I spotted a brightly clad lady walking down the street.  Of course it was Judy.  So I popped out of the car and had an impromptu walking meeting with her – a la West Wing.  It was just what the Doctor ordered.  Walks can be such marvelous things.  It is  a great way to relax and talk.  We discussed grand plans and minor details.  I ended up stopping over to see pictures of Judy’s recent trekking trip to the Himalayas.

They were amazing photos full of color and vibrancy.  It was a very inspiring day.

Community events are back on the cards.  They were our original idea for a collaboration project.  But I had a panicked moment of life overload and thought it was better to ‘just focus on the making’.  I culled them in an effort to stay focused.

However, a few weeks have passed and major projects have finished up (curating Imaginary Cartographies, and crazy times at my day job) and I am seeing the value of this shared interest in Judy and my practice.  I think it would be good to incorporate the ‘take away’ containers into a community event and Judy is in agreement.  More to come on this.

july 2012

Report in from our April meeting:

Any meeting with Judy is always a pleasure.  I was two minutes early on this particular, fabulous, sunny Thursday and took a moment to sit down and breathe.  We met in Ponsonby at the wonderful, coffee supreme.  The Selby was obviously hot on our trail and must have rushed out to try to snap our pictures.  But he just missed us.

Judy looked fabulous and full of life as always.  Every time we meet, I am always impressed with how colorful her outfits are.  This is not your black wearing kind of art lady.

We had a lot to catch up on.  I had a number of publications to give to Judy and we chatted about JemPosium.  We talked about sources for more material for me to try out and different avenues to research.  We also talked about our next collaborative efforts……..

Judy was off the next day for “a family vacation” to hike the Himalayas.  That made my brain do summer-saults.  It is a far cry from the family vacations I knew, how cool!

I cannot wait to hear the travel report.

april 2012

Well, I am a month behind on my posts.  I had a fabulous meeting with Judy and she left the next day to climb the Himalayas…. We caught up, talked collaborations and the conversation ranged from paper construction to dog shows.  More soon as I decipher my notes.    k

march 2012

JEMposium rocked my world.  Literally.  I am still recovering.  The idea of collaboration popped up a number of times.  Karl Fritsch is leading the way with some really interesting projects and exploring interesting territory.  In February, I started a collaborative residency with jeweller,  Raewyn Walsh that will last a year. It is about crossing the barriers between long time studio-mates and merging each other’s practices.  There are limits, we are working out boundaries.  But it is bliss.

I am so full of ideas every time I walk into our room. It is an exhilarating process. But I still remake everything I want to tamper with, rather than directly alter anything that R makes.  R is like a sister to me, if I cannot bring myself to touch her work, how am I going to handle Judy?  I feel outside the box thoughts coming on….

I am meeting Judy for coffee tomorrow, it will be really nice to see her.

jan 2012…

…Jumping back into the drawing -> 3d conversation I have been having with myself.  I am loving this project and picking up little snippets from other people’s mentors as well as my own.

Recap:

We left off with Judy suggesting that I draw more, me seeing Farrah Al-Dujaili’s work again and feeling a little deflated, and then getting over myself and just making fearlessly as I imagined Judy would… who cares if it was too close to Farrah!

I just got on with it.  After many failures, I got to the point where I was making work I really liked.  It was very satisfying to work through the issues and make these pieces.   It is in the Retrospect show, and not officially part of this project, but was VERY much influenced by this project.

For the Toi Poneke – Handshake show, I kept thinking of what Andrea had said to Lynsay about going beyond the first obvious step.  This thought always reminds me of a favourite Akron Family song with the first and only lyrics:

“gone, gone, gone beyond, gone completely beyond”

So you can guess the most over-sung song in my studio these last few months.  Here is the youTube link for the full experience: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5PXxK1Ub90

2011.. you were so big and so brief

Above is my work from the Maserworks show and a picture of my boys out to support me.  Here is to a fabulous 2012!

November news:

Judy and I have been post-carding.

It is funny how bits of my conversations with Judy keep resurfacing months after they occur.

Judy made a comment about doing everything in threes.  I am making my third batch of badge-brooches and will start to morph the project in a new direction after this show.

Judy also suggested that I draw more and I have been really enjoying that lately.  I love drawing with my wrong hand.   I read a book a long while back, kept a wrong-handed self-portrait journal for a year and have never been the same.  I have repeatedly explored the relationship between drawings and 3d objects without much love.  The output is too literal or does not capture the essence.  Then I saw….

Farrah Al-Dujaili, who totally blew my mind.

It was one of those, moments when I so wished that I had done that.  Drawing and making with such life and energy!  And it made me want to stop the 2d->3d journey.

In my admiration, I almost made the fatal mistake (which I often fall victim to) of deciding that my work would be derivative or repetitive before I went through the process of making the work.  In other words, concieving of the work, making and killing it all in my head.   But I could just see Judy staring me directly in the face, and saying “make it”.  And of course, she is right.

So I did.  I was inspired by Farrah and Judy and have started making something that looks so totally different you would never think Farrah at all.  yay!   The work is still a bit raw, I might reserve these images until it matures a bit.

October update:

Judy and I have discussed the balance between organising and making in previous meetings.  It is a hard one.  I feel like I am tipping off course with too much administration.  My making time is limited and at the moment, I seem to fill that precious little time with jewellery related, non-making jobs.  I love all of the things I do, but think some re-evaluation needs to take place.  At the moment, I have just finished a piece for a fundraising auction, I am co-planning & co-running a day-long jewellery workshop in Helensville, am co-editing the jewellery newsletter the overview and am busy with the third iteration of Broach of the Month Club.  I should probably only be doing one or two of these four things.

My motto has always been, “say yes to everything” and make it work, but I think that it is time to do less and make more.  The experimentation phase leading up to the first HandShake show was so good.  I want to get back to that space and push the ideas I was working on further.

Thank you internet.

HandShake exhibition shots@ the New Zealand Jewellery Show in Wellington

It was lovely to get down to Wellington and catch up with the other Shakers and help with the setup of the show.  Thank you to all my lovely Wellington hosts, especially SR.

HandShake exhibition shots @ Studio 20/17 in Sydney 

Phase 1 In Conclusion:

I have thoroughly enjoyed my mentor-ship with Judy Darragh.  Her generosity, enthusiasm and guidance has exceeded my expectations.  Over the last four or five months my mentor-ship has been the main focus of my practice and become a wonderful part of my life. I feel so fortunate to have been able to meet up with Judy in person a number of times.   Judy has been very generous with her time and ideas.  I have developed three paths of work during this mentor-ship and only really have had time to resolve 1.5.  Judy helped me chose which to include in the Sydney and Wellington shows (as body of work number 2, part one and two).  The third body of work is one we are both very excited about, but I am still in the research and trial stage.  It will involve me learning some new skills and I ran out of time to complete it before the 2011 shows, so Handshake phase 2 is a wonderful opportunity to develop and complete that idea.

Thank you,

Kristin

Meeting 5 Reflections:

1)        Books that I thought might be interesting for Judy (Country in the City by Raymond Williams and  books by Colin Williams?)  – YAY!  Judy has finished FAILURE (MIT press) and have been reading Sublime, which is a book she received as a gift and is about Keith Richards’ life.  She is also reading “Just Kids” about Maplethorpe.

–         The idea of generosity as a theme in work.  generosity is a nice way to think about work.

–         Discuss the idea that I like social practice but that the gallery and object are both issues in Social Practice.  Hmm

2)      My Work for Judy to curate:  For meeting 5 I took two bodies of work for Judy to look at and review.  We met at shakey isles.  It was a beautiful day and Judy had walked.  I meant to walk but by the time I got myself and baby out of the house I was late and had to leave baby at home with Dad and drive.

a)      white work  a continuation for the work I had been doing at graduate work via exploration of necklaces,

i)        A long necklace for the tall NZ woman:  Judy liked this piece and idea  and we discussed the role of photography in jewellery to convey these kinds of ideas.

       ii)       FAILURES: Step one – necklace steel wire, polymer clay, non-toxic resin, cotton,  paper-mache

b)      The egalitarian project: a collaboration with badge king Badges x 6 :  Judy was very excited about this work. She thought that this body of work was conceptually more robust and that one could see the fun coming through.  “Don’t be afraid of things that are fun.  It seems too easy, but that’s okay.”

i)       We discussed how many, I am aiming for 25-30.   Ambitious but do-able.

ii)      We discussed a price of 10-15 dollars each

iii)    Ideas and terms we discussed in relation to this work: making, materiality, interventions, generosity, experimentation, egalitarian, value, hidden, growth

iv)     JD liked that the secret material revealed at purchase.  She urged me to add more semi-precious stones, or even just dust like pearls, gold leaf or crystal dust.  She also used her word “intervention” to describe the work and that terminology made me think it was a lot closer to her practice.

v)      We discussed the secret of the material and how to list but still hide the valuable items.  List the materials on the back ie sterling silver to the value of 25.50

vi)    We discussed display and Judy’s idea of stands of different heights, maybe glass circles or rings?  I could use a sample with no list of materials on the back so I didn’t give away anything… but then we decided people know how badges look on so that might not be necessary.  I will however ask the gallery to try to stop people from just turning over all the works to see what is in the individual badges.  Keeping the decisions aesthetically based with material value a surprise.  So someone might buy a work for 15 dollars that is worth 30 or only 5.

Meeting 5 Preparation:

Agenda:

1. Talk about books and the idea of Generosity as a theme in work.

a)  Discuss the idea that I like social practice but that the gallery and object are both issues in Social Practice.

b)  Country in the City by Raymond Williams and  books by Colin Williams? As possible books.

2. My Work for Judy to curate:  For meeting 5 I took two bodies of work for Judy to look at and review.

a) The egalitarian project: a collaboration with badge king Badges x 6

b) white work  a continuation for the work I had been doing at graduate work via exploration of necklaces,

i)        A long necklace for the tall NZ woman:

     ii)       FAILURES: Step one – necklace steel wire, polymer clay, non-toxic resin, cotton,  paper-mache

Meeting 4 Reflections,  June 20:

For our meeting Judy and I talked about which path to pursue for the Sydney show where space is limited and the Wellington show where there is more room.

Option 1 continue to develop white works:  We discussed the recent ‘failure’ I had experienced in getting accepted into a group show with a piece from this body of work.  We discussed issues with the work.  Judy thought that after looking at more than just this piece that the chord was wrong for the necklace I had submitted and that it hung very heavy.  She also suggested that I coat the whole piece rather than parts to provide a uniformed material.  She thought there were good things happening but it wasn’t resolved.  She liked the idea of using a chord from a photoshop  as a better solution.  We discussed the value of failure and referred back to the FAILURE (Cambridge/MIT press) book we are both reading.

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. – T.S. Eliot

Option 2 Badge collaboration – The next body of work we discussed is a side project that I have been doing over the past few months.  It is one of those things that I have been naughtily working on when I SHOULD be working on something else.  It is just such fun.  Judy really liked the conceptual aspect of this project and the fact that the joy seems to be showing through.  The idea was that I use a badge maker to create 25-50 badges and fabricate one from sterling silver.  I then intervene with the badges so they all look similar from the front.   They would all be the same price to cover the silver, but most would be tin and one would be silver.    I only have 4 pieces made and would be aiming for lots and lots more.  Judy liked the idea of  multiples, mass production vs handcrafted and playing with value.  I like egalitarian jewellery, secrets and surprises and generosity.

The third idea we discussed was one we decided to table until phase two.  It is based on the idea of the portrait collar or neck lace.  Judy was very excited about this and added a few alternative ways to expound on the idea.  It is just in the research phase so needs more time than I can put toward it.  I also need to learn a few new skills to make this happen.  This is too ambitious for the Sydeny/Wellington shows.

So Judy and I decided I should pursue ideas one and two and see what it all looked like at the beginning of July.  From there she would pick which body of work should be shown.

Judy remarked that often she feels she just needs to get a show up and then is excited to move onto the next body of work.  And that her deadlines are issue that interrupt making that we just must deal with.  I was happy that this mentorship has been pushing my practice without completely changing what I am doing.

Off to work, so much to do in two weeks.

Prep for meeting 4:

Hello Judy

I feel like I have a few strands of work happening at the moment (in my head) and it is all very exciting.  Because of the show deadlines and travel plans I need to make some decisions about what to work on for which show.  Here are the three options:

1. Experiments with form. You have seen a lot of these.  I would continue experimenting and pushing chicken wire in abstract forms.  There is so much more I feel I can do here and I feel that some work is close to being resolved (to the point I want it to be for handShake).  ie I know what I would need to do mechanically to make work.
2. The second idea is my “collaboration” involving badges.  There is a bit more theoretical oomph with this one, but it is risky.
3. The third idea is too fresh to discuss publicly

I guess I must be in a good place …as far as taking risks, because I am very feeling up and down and unsure of everything.  This is emphasised when telling people like the coffee mom’s I am a jeweller and when they say what kind of jewellery do you make, I say “chicken wire”.  That is always a good time!

So I will send through images of work already at 20/17 and work submitted to the National Jewellery Showcase.  These might be on display at the same time as the other work.  Also I will send my rough sketches so that we can talk through general direction… etc.

I think I know the answer to my questions, ‘Which path do i pursue for this show? and which work to I put on hold for another day?’…..  but I would love to discuss it with you.

– Kristin

June:  Research and reader help….

My research is taking a few different paths.

1.  Participation and social practice

2.  I am researching lattice, lace and the biology of the breast as an inspiration for forms.

Breasts.  Talking to Judy about being a new mom and how to manage time and creativity in short bursts on very little sleep, led us to discuss her posters.  I think they are amazing and so inspiring.  Much of her drip paintings were related to … you guessed it, breast-feeding.   Judy thought my hemispheres looked like mammary glands.  So I have started to research the biology of breast, and breast related art and have found some really interesting things out there.  Miriam Simun’s collaborative pieces, the  The Lady Cheese Shop blew me away!

3. Collaborations:  As a side-research-project, I am trying to archive and map/graph collaborations.  Jewellery collaborations or otherwise.  Please send me your favourite collaboration, current or historical so I can add it to my box of treats!

Here are some contemporary jewellery examples:

• Lisa Walker and Chicks on Speed
• Karl Fritsch, Francis Uprichard, and Martin Gamper
• Weeds/Weedettes (thank you Fran!)
• Ilse-Marie Erl – Waterview Counter Memorial
• Sarah Read – Labour of Love
• Jacqui Chan – Material Migrations –
• Stella Chrysostomou – LIKE and CJP (community jewellery projects)
• Radical Jewellery Makeover

LW and Chicks on SpeedFritsch, Uprichard, Gamper

Non-Jewellery  Collaborations-

• Miriam Simun – The Lady Cheese Shop

May 26th: Mail Bag

Meeting #2  April 2011

Meeting 2 went very well.

Judy shared so many pearls of wisdom as always.  I was reflecting on a few things.

1 – I had lost my experimental edge prior to this project and was in a reactive mode.  When shows came up, I made for them.  I was not picking from work that was ongoing.  I need to make sure I don’t slip into that again.

2-  I have more head space these days and that is really, really nice!

3 – I am interested in using the “Participation” collection of essays from Whitechapel/MIT Press as a “course” structure and research those essays further.

We discussed side projects extensively.

Judy felt that I had made a leap, formally by ditching the organic and encouraged me to continue to play and push.

Confession time:  I feel uncomfortable making this part of my project public.  I am a brooch girl.  I am moving into necklace-land.  And I am not exactly sure where I am going and what I am doing.  Posting these photos feels really exposed… and I am not sure that I like it.  I am letting you all see my knickers drawer….

Feedback from a friend on this marquette was ‘lacey’.  Hmmm that is not where I intended to go with this at all.

Judy reflected that she is seeing ‘breasts’ in my drawings and work.  Looking at biological drawings of breasts, I think she is right.  I am a new mom and breast-feeding is my entire life these day…..  funny how that spills into my work.

Musings: 15 March 2011 –Rereading: “Judy Darragh…So You Made It?” I have come across a few quotes that caught my eye.

From the essay: Judy Darragh…So You Made It?  by Natasha Conland

• “One should either be a work of art of wear a work of art” – Oscar Wilde p 14

From   Highlights: Gwynneth Porter Interviews Judy Darragh.

• “Craft is Love”  – Judy pg 74

• ” I love the ideas of Allan Kaprow. He talks of that blurring of art and life, a state where everything is a moment of art.  Good art is that moment, a kind of slippage or re-examining.  I guess, in this moment, the punter brings to the work what they see, allowing an exchange or dialogue not driven by me.  Louise Bourgeois discusses content and the human body, and how its functions and processes relate to the treatment of materials:’pouring, flowing, dripping, oozing out, setting, hardening, coagulating, thawing, expanding, contracting – the voluntary aspects such as slipping away, advancing, collecting, letting go.’ ” Judy p 76

Judy Darragh So….. You Made It?, Ed Natasha Conland. Te Papa Press, Wellingston. 2004

Meeting #1  14 February 2011

Judy prefers soy flat whites. Her bright orange earings were a great contrast to her blue-green dress at our Monday morning meeting.  I left with more books to read and a new direction to explore in my making.

post card #1

Rationale behind my choice….

I chose Judy because she is not a jeweller.  She does not live overseas.  She is not averse to meeting for a cup of coffee.  Judy is a successful artist,writer, speaker, teacher, mother and instigator.  And it is her continual pursuit in bucking trends and working on her own terms that has drawn me to her practice.

Judy’s precise medium is often elusive, but collection and assemblages of found objects feature largely in her work.  Among her accomplishments are those as an editor, sculptor, director, jeweller, conceptual artist, curator, and community organiser.  I am most interested in her focus on alternative economies, every day materials, craft, and folk art.

I am very excited about this mentorship and feel that my own work will be challenged and pushed in a very positive direction as a result.  I am curious about how Judy thinks about her art in the margins, and artist run spaces and gracefully inhabits the fine art galleries as well.  Judy was an initiator of TestStrip Gallery, and Cockoo, an artistic initiative that organises shows in various galleries or spaces.  She is also represented by galleries such as Jonathan Smart and Two Rooms

– Kristin (10 February 2011)