N.Cherry
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Morphism
Generating ideas and developing them into works of art in one form or another is the artist’s job, in my case jewellery and objects. It’s my raison d’etre. I love what I do and pursue it with great passion and commitment. Often I am asked how I go about it, what inspires me, how I “get my ideas”, how I get from the starting point to the final piece. Being someone who is seldom lost for words, I am always a bit surprised at how reticent I become on such occasions [...]
Successive collections grow out of each other in an almost organic way; new ideas often arise out of earlier activities. As I selected the work for this exhibition to be part of the Legnica Jewellery Festival SILVER 2010, I was particularly conscious of the creative lineage, the continuous changes taking place over several years, as one idea developed and morphed into another. Hence the title Morphism, a word related to morphosis 9: “form, configuration, the manner or development of an organ or organism”; and from which we get metamorphosis 10: “the action or process of changing form or substance” [...]
Almost all jewellery tells a story in its own way. Jewellery is probably the most compact and portable form of personal art. It can tell a story about the wearer or bearer, about that person’s family or background, about personality. But there is usually some sort of underlying story, often untold, about its own creation, about the influences on the artist who generated the idea, developed it, and finally made it what it is [...].
Some people would write an autobiography or a history: I am making jewellery.
And so, as I present this overview of recent work, I also prepare to return to the studio and begin work on my next collection in which there surely can be no doubt that that further transmutation will take place and, whatever form the new elements take, there will be more stories to be told.
Norman Cherry
Lincoln, May 2010
About the artist:
Norman Cherry of Great Britain, has been presented pieces all over the world his (recently in Alternatives Gallery in Roma). Exhibition in Legnica is a first individual show of his output in Poland. Artists is a Dean of Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design of University of Lincoln. Earlier, for over 12 years, he was Professor and Head of School of Jewellery in Birmingham City University. Visiting Professor in Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. He is a regular speaker at national and international conferences and has undertaken consultancies in several countries, including South Africa, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, and Jordan. Works in public and private collections all over the world, recently one of his medals was purchased by the British Museum for their contemporary collection.
