Rail and Vessel no.1

BACKGROUND: The Contemporary Australian Silver and Metalwork Award and Exhibition was first launched in 1988 to commemorate the significant contribution to Australian silversmithing by the noted colonial silversmith Ernest Leviny. This award is a unique biennial exhibition which aims to encourage, foster and promote excellence and innovation in Australian metalwork, as well as cultivate an understanding and appreciation of silversmithing to a wider audience. Award categories include the Arts Centre Melbourne Silver Award, sponsored by the Maxwell and Merle Carroll Fund and Victorian Arts Centre. Current Hollow Ware practice primarily concerns itself with the craft object as a self-contained entity through exhibition practice. Rail and Vessel no.1 explores how the object's specific relationship to a given site can give rise to particular modes of encounter that mark a moment and create a place. The aim is not to didactically influence the participants' views, but to investigate the potential for richness in the domestic context. CONTRIBUTION: Extending the notion of the rail as container, Rail and Vessel no.1 asks how different vessels and containers might be located physically in relation to one another within defined spaces, and how these relationships may influence perceptions of the work. This work explores contexts of an expanded object practice and researches the relationship between art, craft and architecture and adds new knowledge to an understanding of the craft object beyond its traditional autonomous vessel connotation, thus finding new ways to speak of the relationship between object, space and experience. SIGNIFICANCE: Its importance is attested by Rail and Vessel no.1 being included as a finalist and it was then purchased by the National Gallery of Australia (NGA). The NGA has the foremost collection of contemporary jewellery and will sit alongside works by key international artists such as Otto Kunzli, Susan Cohn and Johannes Kuhnen.