Reflection• necklace, 1993, sterling silver, enamel

Below: Frames of Reference brooches, 1995 left to right: Brass, sterling silver, paint;

Copper, sterling silver;

Brass, sterling silver, paint

JEWELL ERV AS A MESSENG R RECENT WORK BY LARSEN AND LEWERS

... JEWELLERY ACTS AS A MESSENGER BETWEEN THE MAKER, WEARER AND VIEWER, MARKING AN OCCASION, A CEREMONY OR A RITE OF PASSAGE...

'Fc\k.lo.-.._ ~~ , .. ~ti;,_. ~ /(Y\~~

19

SIiverware chalice , paten, 2 candlestick halden, using the spiral motif, St. James Church, Sydney, 1990

Understanding the meaning of body decoration, or why and how we respond to it in diffe rent ways, is a fascinating process.

Body decorat ion, including jewellery, must be among the

most intimate of all forms of expression, carrying with it a range of symbolic, ritual, material and social histor ies. The meanings and values we place on items of decoration, from skin tattoos to tribal head-dresses or diamo nd neckpieces, depend entirely on the connections we each make to the materia ls or forms of the ob jects. A nd these vary infinitely, not only for the maker of the work, but also for its wearer or observer.

Body decora tion is worn in di fferent p laces and d ifferent times for bot h persona l and social identity. It can identify the wea rer as either par t of a group or as a separate expression of ind ividuali . It extends from rub tiaras to owers in t e a r; om Poppy lip stick to the painting of flag s on faces by rugby supporters; and from ritual, tribal scarification to secret, punk body­piercing .

Over centuries, motifs and forms that have had a religious meaning or ritual function in one society have been adopted and adapted to develop different meanings in another, according to the interpretation placed on them in new contexts.

With contempor~ry jewelle'}'., as with many other items of social or ritual function, the decision about it meaning is mode twice . Someone who chooses a form of ornament or

decoration does so by recognising elements in the piece that they identify with- they read something into the colours, forms and materials and wont to wear the ob ject to make a connection between those elements and themselves. But so too does the maker. Whether working wit hin the proscribed conventions of a tradition, no matter whether it is western studio/art jewellery or ceremonia l triba l costume, the maker draws on a similar repertoire of meanings associated wi th the materials and forms of the things they design.

Sometimes, makers-on ce aga in, whether o commercial western jeweller using go ld and diamond s or o shaman in o society that equally values tusks and shells­remain working w ith their conventional forms, secure in a continuation of shored meanings and values. But more often, meanings, materials, forms and motifs shift and change and move from society to society and from time to time. Fascinating amalgamations have always occurred as a result of travel, trade and conquest of political and relig ious systems, through economic and technolog ical challenge or through aspirations advanced through the contemporary printed wo rd and, now , electronic communication .

W hat does this have to do w ith the recent wo rk o f Helge Larsen and Doroni Lewers? Nothing, because in making jewellery they have always responded to the complexity of their own backgrounds and their

they have ext ded their immediate hrough travel, into the

Asian regi and are responding as others re, to that experie nce.

We ac pt without question the influent I Scandinavian and Europ n influences on their ideas and fo s, and indeed, the socia l, ecolog al and environmental influen s that hove influenced their w k w ithin Australia over the last 30 ors. Yet today, a key issue fo rtists wo rking wi th the motifs on oteriol s of cultures other than f ir own is whether it is possible to pond to those societies wi t I tegrity w hile not app ropriating ir cultural meanings.

Helge Larsen and r ni Lewers hove been wo rking c in Sydney since 1961. [ grew up in Australia and 1

early jewe llery training with th Estonian jeweller Nino O ts (whose retrospective exhibition she recent! organised) before travelling to Europe for further experience in the lote 1950 s.

Helge Larsen trained and set up a business in Denmark in the 1950 s and came to Austral ia with Lewers, to eventually teach at the University of N ew South Wales before setting up the jewellery and metalsmithing course at Sydney College of the Arts in 1977 . Despite commitments by both to education, croft organisations and arts funding bodies, Larsen and Lewers hove maintained an impressive, consistent commitment lo making and exhibiting their collaborative work in jewellery, hollow-ware and orgesco e comm1ss1on wor s throughout these decodes.

The jewellery exhibited recently at

Sydney's Sherman Galleries exemplifies their long experience of observation and interpretation . Always at the core of the work is on element of Scandinav ian simplicity, usually through the inclusion of abstract sterling silver forms, and o scrupulous concern for fine finish and craftsmanship. Always there are expressions of on awareness of the Australian natural environment, through inclusion of stones, pieces of wood and shell­perhaps, in port, a legacy from Nin a Ots who used river stones in her early work in Australia . Over the years the work of Larsen and Lewers has always reflected the immedia te experience of their lived environment: the rooftops of Paris, the verandahs and trellises of Queensland, the Opera House, Harbour Bridge and picture postcard cultural icons recogni sed

in a return to Australia , and the fragments and marks of the Australian desert.

Their work has also reflected a social understanding of the shifts and changes in the ways in which contemporary jewellery is valued and worn in the west. The shifts from making ob ject­statements like large pendants in the seventies, to using found materials as a social statement in the eighties, or assimilating existing componen ts and abstracted ideas from other cultures in the nineties, is all part of a wider consideration of end use: making contemporary ornaments for arms, necks, ears, heads or torsos.

A review of the work of Larsen and Lewars uncovers their quest for an understanding of how jewellery holds a relationship with the body; how it decorates or interacts wit h the way the body moves. The forms and themes of the jewellery of the lost two years come from the legacy of their two different backgrounds : from many years of wo rking colla boratively on ideas that are responses to their environment and, in particular, from their responses to recent travel in India and South East l ;~::hy Asia? 'The thing that 1/f;j attracts us in these countries is Ii that the crofts are port of living ;, cultures; the use and ritual /) significance of on artefact gives meaning to life. We were not ,ut ~ , ece,.odly look;,g ot jew~lle~ b£

~

at the visual environment: building s, temples, tools, clothing. The real challenge for us is to find mea ning in what we do; to reinterpret and synthesise our experiences without appropriat ion.'

Most of this work is abstract in its forms, comprising metal shapes with found objects such as bead s, pieces of wood, fragments of glass, bone and stone. The pieces are not overtly about the places visited. The cultural references that might be there are deliberately ambiguou s for the viewers, and we read into the elements in the works what understanding s and experiences we bring to them ourselves. For the makers, the work does have strong connections with the places they have experienced. Variou s materials and forms reflect a recognition of a dependence on nature and an identification of the

~ 21

Below centre: Neckring, sterling

sliver, African bead, leather cord, 1995

Below right: The Way, brooch, sterling silver, gold

leaf, 1995

Detail from Sri Channakeshava temple

at Somnathpur outside Mysore

importance of farm ing communities. O ther materials and motifs reflect an acknow ledgemen t of the centrality of the religious and spiritual in a traditional way of life w here 'simple objects are treasured, valued, honoured, marking signif ica nce, celebrating an affirmation of life'.

'There is o spontaneity in the crafts of traditional cultures-objec ts of ritual significance and folk art are made wi thin a tradition but are often made with a free-wheeling naivety and freedom . Statues are repainted, ephemera l decoration is thrown away and replaced, and there is an innovative recycling of materials ... costume and jewellery fuse together, espec ially in dan ce, w here eye and finger movements, jewellery, headpieces and bells on ankles, for examp le, make a totality ... we want to celebrate the divers ity of traditional cultures, currently threatened by the effects of o global economy, and at the same time experiment wit h new ways of making jewe llery that alter perceptual frameworks .'

The current work focuses on a few forms. Most of the rings, ' the only truly three-dimensional item of

jewellery', are designed to fit ~.'!.) more than one ~~ ~ finger, wi th the

~ decorati ve !f.1< elements often ~ sitting ~ between

rather than on the finger,

or sweeping across the hand. The titles of different groups of rings : Unity, Tower, Connections and Interdependency, broad ly reflect the ideas behind them. The forms in Unity, for examp le, are to do wi th the centrality a nd yet plight of the rainfore st in traditional cultures. A lmost all refer to bird s-flyi ng across the finger, nesting, and about to toke Flight.

Brooches and neck-rings are seen as works in relief, sitting against the plane of the body . One group of brooches, Frames of Reference, is mode in copper or brass with silver, and invites connections with both buildings and their construction and surfaces as well as an awareness of on outsider's observation of a different way of life. Another group , The Way, refers to seeking unity through duali sm, an aspect of Hindu worship . The abstract silver forms ore scored with seemingly symbolic marks, and are sometimes app lied with patches or smears of gold leaf , a constant decorative element on sculptures in temples.

The neckpiece Signs and arm-rings Fragments, are constructed wi th spiral coils of silver wire, on which are strung beads, found objects that are often fragments of something that hod o previous function, and abstracted silver shapes. They implr fragments of o narrative, aspects o a half-understood language, and hove been compared by one observer to the notations on o musical score.

The spiral is a form that Larsen and Lewers have used for some years, both in their jewellery and in some of their major commissioned works. A ceremonial mace made for the University of Technology , Sydney,

used a spiral in the form of the double helix of DNA , the code of life, combined with other emblems; the silverware made for the St. Jomes Chape l in Sydney similarly used a spiral form as on expression of the theme of creat ion.

Larsen and Lewers maintain o strong phi losophical connection between the jewellery they choose to make and their commissioned pieces. Underpinning all their work is o concern for social relevance combined with o valuing of the process of working in collaboration-not only together, but with the clients and other artists and contractors who become involved in the resolution of major pieces. Interest in ritual, for example, is port of the fo~cinotion in making jewellery, but is an essential aspect of commissioned work wh ich is usually made for a place and a purpose of ceremonial and spiritual significance. A known audience has an understanding of the expected symbolic function of commissioned wo rks, and this requires craftspeople to interpret their needs in a contemporary way , and act as o mediator with a range of people in order to interpret the brief and construct the works . Lorgescale religious and ceremonial work involves the reworking of symbols in a contemporary context to give fresh meanings to spiritual and social values.

'Just as the jewellery is on ly comp lete when worn on the body, so too is commissioned work on ly successful when ii meets the needs of those who wi ll use it.'

Grace Cochrane

Powerhouse Museum, Sydney