Line is a contemporary jewellery design exhibition featuring the work of 6 graduates from the SilverHub one year course 2023/24. Please join us in celebrating their achievements.
Preview: Thursday 20th June 2024 | 6pm – 9pm
Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd June 2024 | 11am – 6pm
Sunday 23rd June 2024 | 11am – 5pm
Dundas Street Gallery
6 Dundas St
Edinburgh
EH3 6HZ
I am inspired by the built environment, and how we relate to it, as well as how it influences the way we as humans relate to one another. This collection was inspired by the Peace Lines in Belfast.
As I explored the brief ‘line’, I was intrigued by the apparent incongruity that lines can bring things together (e.g. threads) or keep things apart (e.g. borders). This led me to explore the Belfast Peace Lines – walls which divide communities, with many constructed under the auspices of a process of bringing people together. (There are more peace lines now than when the Good Friday Agreement was signed).
My research helped me to step back and look at some of the complexities and nuances that surround these walls, and the roles they play in our lives, both physical and symbolic. As I travelled round Belfast with my parents, photographing the walls, I was able to explore the differences in the emotional reactions and significance that exist between generations and between communities.
The Belfast Peace Lines were all supposed to be removed by 2023, but there is much debate about whether they will really ever be taken down. In areas where they have been taken down, the ghost of a wall, and the path it follows may well continue to exist for many years to come.
The one-year course at SilverHub has given me the opportunity to explore representing my interpretation of and reactions to these structures through a variety of techniques and media – from mark making in industrial enamel, to 3D printing, and to my explorations with texture and pattern in my sketchbook.
This collection is made up of a number of different elements representing the walls themselves as seen from the street, the graffiti on their surfaces, as well as the paths the walls follow, and the razor wire so often found along them.
I originated from Hong Kong and have been living in Edinburgh since 2022.
When I visited Leith for the first time, I came across Silver Hub Studio and consequently, I decided to begin learning something new there for my fresh start in Edinburgh.
I enjoy rainy days in Edinburgh. Whenever feelings of longing and unease arise, looking at the rainy scenery and listening to the sound of rain brings me peace. This inspiration led me to start a new project.
Throughout this year’s learning process, apart from absorbing new knowledge, I rediscovered my emotions and once again experienced the joy of creation.
As an artist, my work is deeply connected with the natural world, particularly the peaceful landscapes of Scotland. Wandering on beaches takes me to a happy place. Watching the sparkles jump off the waves and birds diving, breathing in the salty air and inspecting all that the sea has cast on the beach, gives me such a huge sense of calm.
I love looking at the patterns on the stones, feeling the textures and wondering where they have been carried from. Each stone tells a story, shaped by the relentless movement of the tides. I can’t help but keep one in my pocket. When back in the city, touching the stone reminds me of the peace I found.
This connection to the beach and its natural elements has influenced this collection. I have worked with the processes of etching, forming, folding and rolling to create a range of textures and shapes in brass and recycled silver. The patterns and colours found in pebbles are echoed in my pieces.
Through this collection, I aim to convey the beauty and peace of nature to the wearer. Each piece is a reminder of the serenity and happiness that can be found in the simple act of wandering by the sea.
The theme of Line was initially overwhelming. Everywhere I looked there were lines. All things were connected and created with lines. And once I worked out that lines could bend?! Firstly I turned to the nature around me and was drawn to water. I was interested how simple patterns of line could demonstrate the changing state of water from storm to stillness.
From there my interest in history and fashion began to enter the mix. I wanted to know if I could manipulate metal through fold forming to transfigure the hard metal into something akin to flowing fabric. Particularly in comparison to how fabric is portrayed in late medieval/ early renaissance paintings where it seems to fold and lie unnaturally.
History and nature then combined in my final collection on SilverHub’s one year course. I have been interested in the history of the Scottish witch trials
for a very long time, and as an archivist, I have had the privilege to work with collections containing sources from this time. I focused on the witch trials which took place on the East Coast of Scotland, between the dates of 1590 (the North Berwick Witch Trials) to the early 1700s (Pittenweem witch hunt). I used inspiration of the fashion at the time in the form of lace and ruffs to create the shape of the pieces and etched the silver with lines to represent the turbulence of the sea and the stunning geological strata of Scotland’s East Coast, which witnessed these tragedies in Scottish history.
The central piece, the collar and ruff, is based on the trial of Lilias Adie, who was tried for witchcraft in Torryburn, Fife in 1704. She died in prison and was buried on the shore between the sea and the land. Lilias Adie is the only known person to be accused of witchcraft with a grave in Scotland. The fabric was hand-dyed using seaweed from the sea and gorse from the shore taken from Pittenweem. The fabric is stitched with lines of strata. The collar is inspired by a ‘witch’s collar’ from Ladybank, dating from the 17th century, which can be seen at the National Museum of Scotland. In this example, the copper has been etched to reflect the turbulence of the sea, and the stitches holding the fabric are traces of geology.
This collection aims to bring together the lines we see in the nature around us and the lines of history that still ripple to this day.
I was born in Kyiv, the beautiful and revolutionary capital in the heart of Ukraine.
I came to Scotland 2 years ago with the beginning of the war. Taking my artistic and designing background through the journey between two countries, between Europe and United Kingdom, I developed this jewellery designs under the influence of psychological aspects of being displaced.
‘Empathy’ as the name of my collection is an answer to such questions as:
How people mentally survive through the darkest times?
How to heal each other?
What is still keeping humans standing strong against evil forces of the world?
Inspired by red neon lights of Cowgate, bar nights with my new friends, with a support of scottish people and ukrainian spirituality, this collection takes us to the point where human-to-human kindness and care becomes the light in the darkness that holds us alive. Empathy is an answer that will always work through times and centuries. No matter what, you can always help someone with understanding and compassion.
Instagram: @irynazelena.jwlry
Photography by Shannon Tofts