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BLANCHE TILDEN: ENGINEERING A RIPPLE EFFECT — JASON SMITH

 

ONE OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE ARTIST IN
SOCIETY IS … TO RECORD FEELINGS WITH [HER]
PARTICULAR MEANS, TO GIVE STRUCTURE AND
REFINEMENT AS WELL AS DIRECTION TO
THE INNER LIFE OF [HER] CONTEMPORARIES.
THE ARTIST UNCONSCIOUSLY DISENTANGLES
THE MOST ESSENTIAL STRANDS OF EXISTENCE
FROM THE CONTORTED AND CHAOTIC
COMPLEXITIES OF ACTUALITY, AND WEAVES
THEM INTO AN EMOTIONAL FABRIC OF
COMPELLING VALIDITY, CHARACTERISTIC
OF [HERSELF] AS WELL AS OF [HER] EPOCH.”

LASZLO MAHOLY-NAGY1

_AC_0362COMPONENTS
FLAMEWORKED, COLDWORKED, WATERJET CUT BOROSILICATE GLASS; OXIDISED STERLING SILVER; LASERCUT AND ANODISED TITANIUM; RUBBBER O-RINGS; SALVAGED GLASS LENS. PHOTOGRAPHER: ANDREW CURTIS

 

 

IN BLANCHE TILDEN’S STUDIO WORKSHOP THERE IS A WHITEBOARD THAT INDEXES THE MANY TASKS REMAINING TOWARDS THE COMPLETION OF ONE OF HER METICULOUSLY CONSTRUCTED PIECES OF JEWELLERY. THE LIST CAN BE A LONG ONE, BUT IS TOUCHINGLY COUNTERPOINTED BY SHORTER LISTS OF THEMATIC PREOCCUPATIONS— ‘CLARITY’, FOR EXAMPLE — AND OCCASIONAL MOTIVATIONAL REMINDERS FOR WHEN THE GOING MIGHT GET TOUGH: ‘ONE LINK AT A TIME’, ‘ONE DAY AT A TIME’. THESE INTRICATE AND INTER-CONNECTED TECHNICAL AND CONCEPTUAL PROCESSES OF PLANNING, DESIGN, INVENTION, PRODUCTION, CONSTRUCTION AND QUALITY CONTROL BRING INTO EXISTENCE JEWELLERY OBJECTS OF EXCEPTIONAL BEAUTY. THIS PUBLICATION ACCOMPANIES AN EXHIBITION THAT SURVEYS TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF A BRILLIANT AND INFLUENTIAL CAREER, FOR WHICH TILDEN HAS BEEN CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED FROM ITS EARLIEST PHASE. TILDEN’S JEWELLERY IS EXTRAORDINARILY IDIOSYNCRATIC AND SURVEYING IT ACROSS DECADES REVEALS AN INTRIGUING RIPPLE EFFECT IN ITS TECHNICAL, CONCEPTUAL AND MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT. IF A RIPPLE EFFECT DESCRIBES THE SPREADING RESULTS OF A CERTAIN EVENT OR ACTION, FOR TILDEN THIS IS AN IMAGE OF PRODUCTIVE CONTINUITY. THIS SURVEY COMMENCES WITH THE INCLUSION OF IMPORTANT STUDENT WORKS TRIANGLE BLACK AND BLUE, 1991 (CAT 1), AND ONE GOLD LINK, 1995 (CAT 3), MADE DURING TILDEN’S UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES AT THE CANBERRA SCHOOL OF ART (NOW ANU SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN). THESE REVEAL TILDEN’S EARLY CAPACITY TO COMBINE MASTERY OF TECHNIQUE WITH AN ENDURING PREOCCUPATION WITH, AND ABIDING RESPECT FOR, THE MATERIAL AND AESTHETIC PROPERTIES OF GLASS AND METAL.

THE CANBERRA SCHOOL OF ART WAS PRECISELY THE RIGHT TRAINING INSTITUTION FOR TILDEN. THE SCHOOL WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1976, AND UNDER ITS INAUGURAL DIRECTOR, THE GERMAN-BORN PRINTMAKER UDO SELLBACH (1927–2006), WAS MODELLED ON THE BAUHAUS, WITH A SUITE OF DISCIPLINE-BASED WORKSHOPS THAT PROVIDED INTENSIVE TRAINING AND A PRODUCTIVELY HIGH DEGREE OF STUDENT-TEACHER INTERACTION. STUDENTS WERE ENCOURAGED TO THINK OF THEMSELVES AS PRACTITIONERS FROM THE COMMENCE-MENT OF THEIR STUDIES. AS A LEADING JEWELLER INTERNATIONALLY, TILDEN IS AMONG THE MOST DISTINGUISHED OF CANBERRA SCHOOL OF ART’S ALUMNI. THE MULTIDISCIPLINARY NATURE OF TILDEN’S PRACTICE HAS EVOLVED OVER TIME, BUT IT IS CENTRED ON HER UNDERSTANDING OF TRADITIONS AND TRANSITIONS IN JEWELLERY. PREDOMINANT THEMES ARE CIRCULARITY, GEOMETRIC FORM, SCALE, REPETITION AND GRADATION, LIGHTNESS, PRECISION AND MECHANICAL MOVEMENT, AND FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT. THE MAKING AND WEARING OF JEWELLERY ARE CENTRAL TO EXPRESSIONS OF HUMAN IDENTITY—FOR HER AS A MAKER AND FOR THE WEARERS OF HER OBJECTS. EACH OF TILDEN’S WORKS IS MADE TO MOVE AND BE WORN, AND HER JEWELLERY ARCHETYPALLY ENCIRCLES PARTICULAR PARTS OF THE BODY: NECKLACES ARE MADE TO BE WORN AROUND THE NECK AND ON THE CHEST; BRACELETS AND RINGS AROUND THE WRIST AND THE FINGER. SHE BEGAN HER CAREER WORKING SOLELY WITH GLASS, FOCUSSED ON MASTERING A TECHNICALLY DEMANDING MATERIAL. SHE THEN BECAME INTERESTED IN MAKING JEWELLERY, AND BEGAN TO COMBINE GLASS WITH METAL, FOUND OBJECTS AND INDUSTRIAL MATERIALS SUCH AS RUBBER TO EXPLORE, AS SHE SUMMARISED IN A STATEMENT IN 1998: RELATIONS BETWEEN THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE MACHINE, CONSUMPTION AND OBSOLESCENCE, THE MACHINE-MADE AND THE HANDMADE. WHEN DESIGNING MY WORK I LOOK AT MECHANICAL MOVEMENTS FOUND IN EVERYDAY OBJECTS. STEMMING FROM A DESIRE TO UNDERSTAND HOW THINGS WORK, I USE SHAPES INSPIRED BY BICYCLE CHAINS, CONVEYOR BELTS, PULLEYS, CRANKS AND SCISSORS, AND I MAKE MY WORK WITH INDUSTRIAL MATERIALS SUCH AS TITANIUM AND BOROSILICATE GLASS. MY NECKLACES STIMULATE ASSOCIATIONS AND MEMORIES THAT DIFFER FOR EACH WEARER. THEY REMIND US OF THE PHYSICAL YET IMPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP THAT EXISTS BETWEEN THE BODY AND THE MACHINE. THESE ARE INTIMATE OBJECTS OF JEWELLERY, BUILT TO HUMAN SCALE, HANDMADE AND MACHINE INSPIRED. THEY TRAVEL WITH THE BODY.2 MODES OF CONSTRUCTION, THE EVOLUTION OF MANUAL INDUSTRIES AND TECHNOLOGIES, AND THE MATERIALITY AND ENGINEERING OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT ARE ALSO CATALYSTS FOR VARIOUS OF TILDEN’S NECKLACES. THROUGH LIFE EXPERIENCE AND SHEER CURIOSITY, SHE UNDERSTANDS THE PROCESSES OF MAKING WITH METAL AND GLASS, AND THE INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS OF THOSE MATERIALS— FROM THE IMMENSE SCALE OF MANUFACTURING TO THE INTIMATE SCALE OF THE WEARABLE OBJECT. IT IS THIS PARTICULAR UNDERSTANDING AND MASTERY THAT ENABLES TILDEN TO ENRICH THE CONCEPTUAL AND CONTEXTUAL ASPECTS OF HER WORKS, AND TO PAY HOMAGE TO ART-HISTORICAL, ARCHITECTURAL AND ENGINEERING ANCESTORS. THE NECKLACE BRUNEL, 2010 (CAT 38) FOR EXAMPLE, IS TITLED AFTER ONE OF TILDEN’S HEROES, ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL (1806–1859), A BRITISH CIVIL ENGINEER WHO IS REGARDED AS ONE OF THE MOST INGENIOUS DESIGNERS IN ENGINEERING HISTORY. HIS INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO BRIDGE, RAILWAY AND SHIP CONSTRUCTION FUNDAMENTALLY SHAPED THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. THE ELLIPTICAL STRUCTURE AND REFERENCE TO THE INFINITY SYMBOL IN BRUNEL’S ROYAL ALBERT BRIDGE, CONSTRUCTED IN 1857–59 OVER THE RIVER TAMAR NEAR PLYMOUTH, COULD HAVE INSPIRED TILDEN’S REMARKABLE MÖBIUS, 1997 (CAT 7). THE NECKLACES OF TILDEN’S 2010 SERIES FER ET VERRE (IRON AND GLASS) EVOKE THE PRECISION OF DESIGN AND ENGINEERING OF THIS ERA, USING MATERIALS FROM THE BUILT WORLD IN COMBINATION. DUTERT, 2012 (CAT 43), WAS INSPIRED BY THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY FRENCH ARCHITECT FERDINAND DUTERT, WHOSE VAST PAVILION, THE PALAIS DES MACHINES, WAS AN ENGINEERING MARVEL OF IRON, STEEL AND GLASS BUILT FOR THE EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE OF 1889 IN PARIS. TILDEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN FASCINATED BY THE INHERENT BEAUTY OF INDUSTRIALLY PRODUCED AND EVERYDAY OBJECTS, AND IN HER UNIQUE REPURPOSING OF INDUSTRIAL AND SALVAGED MATERIALS SHE PROPOSES RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN, AND REDEFINITIONS OF, VALUE AND MEANING. FOR INSTANCE, TILDEN RESPONDED TO THE OPPORTUNITY PROVIDED BY THIS SURVEY TO MAKE A SECOND VERSION OF A MAJOR 1997 WORK, LONG CONVEYOR, CREATED FOR HER FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION AT GALLERY FUNAKI AND NOW IN THE COLLECTION OF THE TOLEDO MUSEUM OF ART IN OHIO. LONG CONVEYOR II, 2020–21 (CAT 68), IS A FIVE-METRE-LONG VERSION OF TILDEN’S ORIGINAL GLASS, TITANIUM AND SILVER ‘MINIATURE’ CONVEYOR BELT, WHICH HAD BEEN CREATED TO EXPLORE THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE HANDMADE AND THE MACHINE-MADE, REPETITION AND MECHANICAL MOVEMENT. WITH THE PASSAGE OF TIME, THE MEANING OF A LONG CONVEYOR HAS CHANGED AND DEVELOPED.

NEW LAYERS OF MEANING HAVE ATTACHED TO LONG CONVEYOR II IN THE LONG PROCESS OF ITS MAKING THROUGHOUT 2020-21. THE WORK REFLECTS THE HISTORY OF GEELONG AS A MAJOR INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURING CENTRE, AND THE CITY’S VALUING OF CONTEMPORARY DESIGN THROUGH ITS 2017 DESIGNATION AS A UNESCO CITY OF DESIGN. TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES MEANT THAT THE TITANIUM BARS COULD BE LASER CUT RATHER THAN HAND-CUT AS THEY WERE FOR THE 1997 VERSION. EACH GLASS CYLINDER ON THE CONVEYOR, HOWEVER, HAD TO BE INDIVIDUALLY CUT AND FLAMEWORKED, AS DID EACH OF THE SILVER AXLES CONNECT-ING EACH CYLINDER TO THE TITANIUM LINKS. LONG CONVEYOR II IS A WORK BORN OF UTTER DISCIPLINE AND TECHNICAL BRILLIANCE AND LENDS ITSELF TO METAPHOR. THE HUNDREDS OF SMALL GLASS CYLINDERS MADE DURING THE COVID-19 LOCKDOWN OF MELBOURNE OPTIMISTICALLY ECHO THE MILLIONS OF GLASS VIALS OF VACCINE RUNNING OFF LABORATORY CONVEYOR BELTS TO BE SHIPPED AROUND THE WORLD IN 2021. BY HONOURING, ABSTRACTING, AND TRANSLATING THE VISUAL LANGUAGE AND MATERIALS OF ARCHITECTURE, THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND EVERYDAY LIFE INTO JEWELLERY, TILDEN’S WORK EXPLORES TANGIBLE AND SYMBOLIC ASPECTS OF THE MATERIAL CULTURE OF OUR TIME AND PLACE. THE RIPPLE EFFECT THAT DEFINES AND CONTINUES TO ACTIVATE TILDEN’S LABOUR-INTENSIVE PRACTICE IS THAT WORK BEGETS WORK, THROUGH DISCIPLINE AND INSPIRATION. WHAT RIPPLES FROM THE CENTRE OUTWARDS IS TILDEN’S CAPTIVATION WITH THE ESSENCE, FEELING AND MATERIALITY OF GLASS.

EACH KEY SERIES IN HER OEUVRE — LIGHT MOVES, CHAIN REACTION, CUTTING EDGE, CARTE BLANCHE, FER ET VERRE, WEARABLE CITIES, CLEAR CUT AND THE 2021 RIPPLE EFFECT — PRESENTS ITSELF AS A DISTINCT RIPPLE IN A FLUID, EXPANDING BODY OF WORK, THROUGH WHICH TILDEN MAKES TANGIBLE, EMOTIONAL AND CONCEPTUAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN HERSELF AS MAKER AND THE WEARERS AND VIEWERS OF HER JEWELLERY: IT IS THE RESPONSE OF THE WEARER THAT MAKES MY JEWELLERY SUCCEED FOR ME. THE CONNECTION THAT CAN DEVELOP ONCE THE NECKLACE BECOMES PRECIOUS TO SOMEONE ELSE, ONCE IT BECOMES PART OF THEIR PERSONA, THEIR LIFE, THEIR EXPERIENCE, IS THE ASPECT OF MY PRACTICE THAT I VALUE THE MOST.3

JASON SMITH IS DIRECTOR
& CEO OF GEELONG GALLERY

 

NOTES

1 LASZLO MAHOLY-NAGY, ‘THE ARTIST IN SOCIETY’, IN HANS M WINGLER (ED.), THE BAUHAUS: WEIMER, DESSAU, BERLIN, CHICAGO, THE MIT PRESS, MASSACHUSETTS, 1978, P.203.

2 BLANCHE TILDEN, ARTIST’S STATEMENT. SEE: COLLECTION.MAAS.MUSEUM/OBJECT/9068.

3 MERRYN GATES, ‘MOVING RIGHT ALONG’, IN MERRYN GATES (ED.), BLANCHE TILDEN: TRUE, 4TH ED., SFA PRESS, CANBERRA, 2018, P.54.

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