Contemporary British Silversmiths: Rachael Colley exploring making and materials
Listen to artist Rachael Colley as she explores making and materials through socially based and experimental practice as part of the Contemporary British Silversmiths’ 25-year anniversary Silver Symposium in 2021.
Contemporary British Silversmiths: Rachael Colley exploring making and materials.
Rachael thinks through materials and produces cutlery, jewellery and sculpture which are explored in experimental dining events, exhibitions, installations and visual art projects. Based in Sheffield, the UK’s steel city, she creates ambiguous eating implements which challenge our collective connections with food and communicate aspects of her lived experience as a sufferer of autoimmune disease Systemic Sclerosis.
In this talk she discusses how through the elevation of food waste as a luxury material, her jewellery questions traditional notions of preciousness and value highlighting broad societal issues surrounding consumption, encouraging reflection on the waste we generate.
Who is the speaker?
A Sheffield based artist, Rachael Colley produces cutlery, jewellery and sculpture which are explored in experimental dining events, exhibitions, installations and visual art projects. Rachael’s lived experience, as a sufferer of the autoimmune disease Systemic Sclerosis, is reflected through her work. Rachael received a Goldsmiths’ Centre Career Catalyst Grant in 2021. Through the grant she trained and received mentoring from Master craftspeople from across Sheffield, helping her to develop her metalworking skills and create an ambitious new range of flatware and tableware.
Where was this talk first held?
Contemporary British Silversmiths (CBS) was launched in 1996 by a core group of makers determined to give a voice to a new generation of silversmiths, rich in diverse talents with a wealth of exciting new ideas. Encouraging innovative thinking and re-affirming a shared commitment to excellence in design and workmanship have been our flagship values.
Presented at De Montford University and supported generously through the Goldsmiths’ Centre, the CBS Silver Symposium hosted in September 2021 highlighted the work of its members and looked behind the scenes at some of the people that have made the association what it is today.