2013 – 'The Nature of Memory' – Jess Dare

2nd – 20th April 2013
Celebration drinks – Saturday 6th April 4-6pm
The artist will be in attendance on the 6th)

The Nature of Memory, an exhibition about memory, using fragile glass plant specimens as a metaphor for the fragility of memory.

“My Grandpa was an incredibly passionate gardener after he died last year, everyone in our family became obsessed with their gardens, it was as if they were returning to the earth to be close to him. In this exhibition I aim to express the ephemeral nature of memory through the fragility of glass and nature itself.

“As a jeweller I work in miniature format and am fascinated with Susan Stewart’s perspective on the miniature, obsession and collection in her book On Longing. I have always been fascinated and even obsessed with the miniature, it’s how I view the world, in small minute details. For me, the miniature draws people into my sense of wonder unlike the gigantic where you thrust your world upon the viewer. I also feel that through this scale of making I am accentuating the sense of wonder and awe for the viewer that I get from the natural world.

“Whenever I see a beautiful flower I feel an overwhelming and instinctive desire to preserve it forever, a natural human reaction to the exquisite things of this world. But flowers are living things too – they bloom and then wither away, a constant reminder of the transience of life itself.

“This collection draws links to the different ways and means through history that people have tried to preserve flowers from illustration, photography, flower pressing, sculpture, and of course the highly realistic collection of glass plant models created by the Blaschka’s for Harvard University between 1887 to 1936.

“The sharpness of memories are rounded off by time, the colours fade and details are lost. With the exception of the Blaschka models in this idea of trying to capture, preserve, study and admire a fleeting moment of a flower in full bloom something is always lost or compromised, the detail, the dimension, the colours. I am fascinated by this human need to hold on and preserve memories and moments in time”. – Jess Dare.