Jeweller Lynn Kelly's latest exhibition opened in Dunedin this week. She gave Jude Hathaway a fascinating glimpse into its creation.
Back in 2014, beachcombing and exploration of a quiet bay just north of Auckland became a day-to-day pursuit for Dunedin jeweller Lynn Kelly. The spectacular result is a new range of remarkable contemporary jewellery pieces which holds a similar magic to that of a treasure discovered in an old sea chest.
An exhibition of the work, entitled ‘‘Other World'', opened in conjunction with iD Dunedin Fashion Week at the Lure gallery in Lower Stuart St yesterday and continues through to March 26.
The ground-breaking experience eventuated when Kelly was appointed the 2014 Auckland Council regional parks' artist in residence. The award offers an artist, musician or writer the opportunity to spend two months at an Auckland park creating work reflecting local landscape. Kelly is the first jeweller to win the residency.
Given the choice of two parks, she decided on Scandrett Regional Park near Warkworth.
Her time was spent there from mid-October to mid-December.
The only buildings in the bay were the Scandrett homestead and three baches.
‘‘We lived in the Moonlight Bach with a view of Kawau Island. Everything was so different from down here - the birdlife, the surrounding subtropical bush, the towering Norfolk pine and pohutukawa and the weather - including the thunder and lightning storms.''
The environment at Scandrett Bay, along with the car journey from Dunedin through ever-changing landscapes, conveyed the feeling of being in another world; hence the exhibition's title.
‘‘In that two months we gained a real sense of the rhythm of the place; the tides, the time of day the birds came, the different types of shellfish and what came up on the beach when it was stormy.''
Laden with rich inspiration, Kelly also brought home many of her daily beach ‘‘takings''. Her cache included a wide mix from bits of dried seaweed, tangled fishing line and kauri gum, to lichen, pumice and metal.
‘‘It was quite amazing how every day brought different things.''
Helping her make sense of all that the bay offered was her Christchurch-based partner Desmond Dawson, a retired fisherman and lighthouse keeper, who was her companion on the trip and whose knowledge of the sea, in particular, was invaluable.
‘‘We would sit and go through all the things I had collected, then take a photo for future reference. He was a wonderful addition to the trip.''
Another important aspect of the residency for Kelly was learning about the area's history through regular visits to the nearby museums and library and to the Scandrett homestead.
‘‘The homestead was open to visitors and it was advertised when I would be at work there. I'd taken many of my hand tools with me so during those times I would chat to the people who were interested in what I was doing and show them what I was making. It was a relaxed environment and I really enjoyed it.''
Last year, the exciting results of Kelly's Scandrett Bay visit began rolling out in a series of exhibitions held in Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland and Wanaka.
‘‘Because there were months between each exhibition, I was able to complete and add more new pieces to each one,'' she explained.
Her work is intoxicating, reinforcing Kelly's skill at responding cleverly to her surrounds. With subtlety she mixes the natural with the crafted, the found with the made while showing a love of colour and texture. Her interest in all things botanical is also evident.
Brooches feature shells, coral and tiny seed pearls or semi-precious stones settled snugly in thin asymmetrical beds of Sterling silver emulating oyster shells and rock pools. Precious materials are juxtaposed with her everyday beach finds. The jewellery has a tactile edge.
Standout necklaces include a bold circle of faceted pumice pieces. Another features burnished tawapou (Pouteria) seeds from the park's bush, which are interspersed with 18-carat gold and sterling silver shapes that mimic the real thing. A brooch features a metal image of the Scandrett homestead.
The prolific line-up also includes pendants and earrings that take their cue from Kelly's northern experience.
Kelly grew up in Tawa, where her parents settled after immigrating from Northern Ireland.
‘‘I was the actual ‘Lynn of Tawa','' she says with a smile.
She took up jewellery 28 years ago after following a winding career path that saw her complete teacher training in Wellington before realising she did not want to be a teacher.
‘‘I just think I was too young.''
Seeking ‘‘something adventurous'', she headed to Hawkes Bay and was accepted for a job in parks and reserves.
‘‘I was lucky in that the man who I worked alongside was studying for a diploma in horticulture and he made every day exciting by teaching me about the plants.
‘‘This inspired me to complete a certificate in horticulture. I really enjoyed learning about something I was really interested in.''
There followed an overseas trip visiting family throughout the UK, before she returned to New Zealand to take up work establishing the garden surrounds of the then new Wanganui Community College.
‘‘And suddenly all I wanted to do was make jewellery,'' Kelly said.
‘‘I cannot really pinpoint why, but learning that the college was offering a two-year craft design course with a jewellery component included, I enrolled.''
But the jewellery component was dropped and in compensation she spent one day a week working with a local manufacturing jeweller, who taught her all the basic skills of jewellery. There was also two weeks of workshop experience included.
This brought the ingenue south to Dunedin's Fluxus co-operative, run by Kobi Bosshard and the late Georg Beer. It operated not a block away from her present studio.
‘‘It was a very good place to learn how to run a gallery, set up shows, deal with customers, run a business generally and there was also always someone there to give technical advice,'' Kelly, who would go on to become a partner in the business, said.
Fifteen years later she left to take up a position at the Filing Kabinet workshop in Christchurch but returned to Dunedin in 2010 when she was offered shared space in the second-floor workshop at 130 Lower Stuart St above Lure.
‘‘I really enjoy the stimulation of having other jewellers around me.''
Other residencies, all of which have influenced her work, have come Kelly's way.
These include a research grant from Creative New Zealand in 2008 to study the botanical drawings of Sidney Parkinson made during Captain James Cook's first expedition to New Zealand in 1769.
This took her to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Another was a six-week residency in Bannockburn through Creative New Zealand and the Department of Conservation in 2012 which resulted in her prolific ‘‘Central'' exhibition.
Over the years her imaginative creativity has become widely acclaimed.
In 2007 one of her pieces, a spectacular gold necklace, won a gold award and it is housed in the permanent collection in the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt. Gallery.
It comprises hollow tussock stalks interspersed with 18-carat gold tubes. With her work ever evolving and an inherent love of what she does, Kelly has had no reason to ever question her career choice.
‘‘And, you know, on good days being here in the workroom feels like playtime!''
