JOANNA HARRIS-MACNEIL
My work is deeply personal; it allows me to weave together the threads of my life experience and to have a voice that can be heard both in the present and into the future. I strive to create highly functional, hand fabricated pieces and I aim to make a connection with the wearer that is intended to last, perhaps for generations.
I use traditional gold and silver smithing techniques coupled with Enamel and Australian gemstones. My work is frequently set within the strong background palette of oxidised sterling silver.
I do not view my work as simply an item of jewellery, each piece is the final stage of a lengthy and satisfying process. For me this process begins with a response to a stimulus; a memory, an event, a random thought, or an image. The piece is sketched, sometimes many times, and then drawn to scale. Often I make a wearable mock-up of the piece and wear it, testing for functionality, balance and visual effect. Fabrication is immersive, intense and time consuming, particularly as I am always striving for clean lines and unworked surfaces. In the final stages of construction I set my own stones and oxidise the metal surface.
My work is not stagnant, it changes and develops in response to my experience of the world around me.