Australian Design Centre (formerly Object: Australian Centre for Craft and Design), Gadigal (Sydney)

11 November 2006 - 7 January 2007

In April 2006 I visited Scotland to undertake an artist residency with the Jewellery and Silversmithing Department at Edinburgh College of Art. During this time I was fortunate to witness Edinburgh's transition from Winter to Spring with pink blossoms emerging all over the trees in front of the neighbouring church. One morning after a night of rain I awoke to find a carpet of pink petals at the church's entrance. For days streams of pink floated around the street, piling up in gutters and settling in between the cobblestones.

I photographed the pink petals against the grey cobblestones and instantly recognised the image's visual appeal. This inspired me to photograph the cobblestones of Old Town. I noticed different ways they were arranged, variations of grey surfaces, contrasts between dull grey stone and shiny silver and brass markings and in many cases a harmony of opposites with solid rectangular spaces illuminated by hazy outlines of colour - yellow road paint, pink and white petals, grass and weeds. The photographs not only documented my walks around Edinburgh but reinforced my interests in systems of order, repetition, colour and pattern.

The initial idea to use paper and metal in my work was to explore tensions between materials of opposing qualities and to question the notion of preciousness often associated with material value in commercial forms of jewellery. Over time though my motivations changed as my desire to search for new solutions for integrating paper and metal intensified.

Prior to the residency my work consisted of two-dimensional patterns that explored proportion, repetition and colour. During my time in Edinburgh I focused on creating three dimensional forms by looping, knotting and wrapping long strands of tightly concertina folded paper strips. These experiments resulted in a series of 18 test pieces that were the starting point for new work.

Photos by Zoë Veness