Maria is a dynamo of inspiration. She invited AWH into her home studio and we didn’t know where to look, walls acting as sketchbooks, shelves filled with completed works and materials stacked up, ready for the next project. A true sensory overload. All arranged with such care and curation, as if in her own little museum. She took us through several of her series – pincushion ladies, floral figurines, a jigsaw with a singular 25 carat gold piece . Her craftwork is outstanding, but it is her enthusiastic recounting of how she comes to each project that really excited us.
Maria does not restrict herself to particular materials and likes to move fluidly from research, to collaboration, to making. Although a lot of her work is in gold, silver and diamonds, she is far from a conventional jeweller. Having worked in the jewellery trade for 8 years she decided to study at Middlesex University with Caroline Broadhurst, and then went onto the RCA where she really spread her wings. Collaboration and dialogue with people, either as inspiration or in sharing a project, is central to her practice.
One of Maria’s works that we were particularly drawn to was her series “Metal Detecting Finds”. Starting its life on eBay, Maria sources and purchases metal detect findings, some of which claim to be Roman in origin. Using the remains of the fossilised jewellery often looking at the negative space created from the missing stone, Maria makes moulds using the lost wax casting process and casts them in 18 carat gold. Worn on their own or with their ancient counterparts, creating a conversation between the original form and the new piece, these sculptural rings bring the past cleverly into the present. Maria says of her method:
“I collect objects that have suffered a loss; the loss of their owner or the loss of their function triggers a desire within me to complete them, to reassess their function and to fill their empty space with precious metals”
This idea of a conversation between the used, worn, history-laden object, which some may think is the seemingly non-functional part of the piece is in fact it’s defining feature, and essential to Maria’s pieces as a whole. The newly crafted jewel co – exists with its more learned counterpart. Anyone lucky enough to own a piece is given the choice of keeping these two halves together – wearing the jewellery and returning it back to it’s muse.
By the end of our visit we learn that Maria is a sorcerer of objects – converting discarded or abandoned objects into collectable jewellery. Her work stands out by recording the idiosyncratic characteristics of found objects by careful investigation of the person she is making for, or about and sensitive research into the object itself and the materials she uses.
You can see Maria’s work at the Marsden Woo Gallery and by appointment at her studio.