As a young Masters student of Interior Design at Griffith University’s Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, Xaiohui Yang produced a series of intricate and minuscule models. It didn’t take long for jewellery senior lecturer and practitioner Elizabeth Shaw to realise Yang might be better suited to the study of Jewellery and Small Objects. The two have since collaborated on an exquisite exhibition of works in Artisan gallery, Tales from the Studio: Yang+Shaw, that explores the relationship between body and object. They have also begun an exchange between their two universities, Shandong University of Art and Design and Griffith University’s Queensland College of Art, that incorporates education programs for their respective students. Tales from the Studio: Yang+Shaw will tour Australia and China over the next couple of years. Here they discuss ideas and shared histories with More Margie. 

Lisa Bryan-Brown is Curatorial and Collections Officer of Griffith Artworks at Griffith University.  Here she shares her wonderful catalogue essay Extensions on the exhibition at Artisan Gallery in early 2016.

Taking the body as their point of conceptual departure, both Xiaohui Yang and Elizabeth Shaw create works that explore human interrelationships and socio-cultural issues. The two are lecturers in contemporary jewellery and small objects at their respective universities— Yang at Shandong University of Art and Design, Shaw at Griffith University’s Queensland College of Art (QCA)—and they met in 2008 while Yang was completing her Master’s with Honours at QCA. When Yang returned to China, their critical dialogue continued through correspondence, and, in 2013, they worked together to curate NOW: The Start of a Conversation, an exchange exhibition of their graduate students’ work.

Tales from the Studio is the first time that the pair have exhibited their works together, and it reveals the distinct trajectories of each artist’s practice despite their shared academic concerns. While the role of the body is important in the conceptual resolution of both Yang’s and Shaw’s works, to position their practices within a framework of jewellery would incorrectly privilege notions of adornment over their nuanced approaches to the body as a performative site for artistic installation. For both artists, the wearer plays an active role in the realisation of the artwork, giving it function and context.

Yang’s practice is broadly concerned with exploring culturally informed differences and similarities in human interaction. Her Hold the Etiquette series contemplates the handshake, a distinctly Western greeting that is now dominant internationally, and increasingly prevalent within China specifically. Made to be held, each ceramic form fits snuggly with the hand, exploring the notion of touch through the language of form.

Yang’s Relationship Measurement rings consider the social mores surrounding personal space and physical interaction. They act as a tape measure; anchored to the wearer, the rings quantify the distance separating them from their companion. Her Distance of Sense Organ pieces operate similarly, measuring distances between different points of perception on the wearer’s own body—their eyes to ears, or heart to mouth.

Shaw works in response to found objects she has collected over time; some hold sentimental value, others were found serendipitously, and many were acquired through friendships with other artists. Innately attracted to broken or incomplete objects already imbued with history, Shaw intuitively ‘mends’ the found component, augmenting it in order to reconcile its form and orient it within its new context.

Activating these damaged objects through narrative (e.g., Rotary Sickle and Bird), mechanism (e.g., Tapper Ring) or prosthetic (e.g., Diver), each piece precipitates a distinct personality. By repurposing her collected materials, Shaw engages with a culture of repair and reuse that is consistent with the ethics of making and sustainability that underlie her practice.

Tales from the Studio reveals the common threads that exist between Yang’s and Shaw’s practices. United by their approach to body as both a site and a subject, the artists extend the body in order to make sense of it: Yang the bodies of her wearers, Shaw the bodies of her objects. Thoughtful and critically reflexive, their works engage with issues pertinent to contemporary jewellery and object-making practices.

延续 丽沙·布莱恩布朗

以躯体为概念的出发点,杨 晓晖和伊丽莎白·肖的创作 都围绕人群的内在关系和所 属的社会文化展开。这个共 同的属性以及她们长期以来 的合作使其作品充满内在的 共鸣。(两人相识于2008 年,届时杨晓晖以荣誉生的 成绩从澳洲格里菲斯大学昆 士兰艺术学院 (QCA) 毕业。 现两人分别执教于山东工艺 美术学院和 QCA,讲授现 代珠宝设计。)她们的交流 在杨晓晖回国后依然延续, 并于2013年举办了展览 “现 在——对话的开始”,一个基 于各自学生作品的交流展。

“工作室的故事” 是两人首 次举办的个人作品展,在展 现她们相近的学术诉求的同 时也揭示出她们迥异的创作 风格。虽然躯体在她们的创 作中起到了将概念实体化的 重要功能,但如果把她们的 作品简单地归于珠宝首饰的 框架里难免会一叶障目,忽 视了她们微妙各异的、将躯 体作为其装置艺术场地的视 角。佩戴者在两位创作者的

艺术实现中不可或缺,给她 们的作品提供了功能和背景 的附着点。

杨晓晖的创作旨在探索人群 互动中文化的异同。她的“握 住的礼仪”系列对握手这一行 为作出思考,审视这个曾经 是西方礼节,如今为世界、 特别是中国所接受的礼仪方 式。系列中每个瓷器都与握 持的手严丝合缝,用形状探 索着握手时的触觉感受。

她的“关系测量戒指”意在观 测社会习俗中的个人空间和 肢体接触,像尺子一样时刻 测量着佩戴者和周围人的距 离。与之异曲同工的“感观的 距离”系列则是在度量佩戴者 各个感觉器官的距离——目 到耳,心至口。

伊丽莎白·肖的创作灵感源于 她个人收藏品的激发。这些 收藏中有的寄托了她的特殊 感情,有的是无心插柳的收 获,还有很多是她的艺术家 朋友们的馈赠。伊丽莎白有

一种与生俱来的对破损或不 完整物品的青睐,着迷于它 们所承载的历史。她直觉性 的“拼接”起这些残品,将它 们从形状的残缺中升华,赋 予新生。

以叙事(飞鸟镰刀),机械 (指尖器),或者义肢(土 陶肢体)作为创作手法,伊 丽莎白将这些残品激活,使 每件作品都展示出独特的个 性。通过修补和再次利用的 方式赋予这些收藏品新的意 义,也恰恰暗合她对于可持 续发展和创造的哲学思考。

“工作室的故事” 展示了两 位艺术家灵犀相通的创作过 程。不管一个躯体属于佩戴 者还是收藏品,她们均以这 躯体作为对象和场地,通过 对躯体的延续来诠释其意 义。她们的作品对现代珠宝 设计制作进行探讨,充满了 思考和自省。