The Cicely & Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award 2006

Roseanne Bartley

Artist statement

Jewellery is intimate in scale, yet rich with metaphor. It is an ideal medium through which to see the world. Recently I have been fortunate to travel and work overseas … I made work with what was immediate – maps, Met tickets and safety instruction cards. When worn, these pieces may only last the day, but they are a way of grounding my experience of travel in a tangible form. When I’m at home I work with materials I find around me – in streets, parks, laneways and drains. I am attracted to the environmental effects of weathering, frequent sightings of the same object, and forms with a graphic typology. This process of collecting suggests a type of surface archaeology … I look upon something that is essentially rubbish and contemplate making something else of it – the outcome may even be beautiful.