Blanche Tilden: true by sfa press

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BLANCHE TILDEN TRUE

Blanche Tilden

BLANCHE TILDEN: TRUE

Blanche Tilden

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CONTENTS Fer et Verre 2010 �� 5 Blanche’s glass chain Anne Brennan Carte Blanche 2005–2009 ��15 Moving right along Merryn Gates Cutting edge 2003–2005 ��35 Chain reaction 2000–2003 ��39 A courier came into the shop... Kevin Murray Light moves 1995–2000 ��51 Travelling with the body Sylvia Kleinert Blanche Tilden: Moving Parts Kevin Murray An elegant statement in jewellery Jenny Zimmer Early work 1992–1995 ��65 In the beginning Jane Barney Living work 1995–2010 Simone Le Amon ��74 Biography ��77 Professional history ��79 Studio Haçienda 2005–2008 ��86 Studio Haçienda Merryn Gates General Assembly: A review in parts Merryn Gates

Blanche Tilden

PALAIS NECKLACE (DETAIL) 2010 flameworked glass, oxidised 925 silver 260mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz

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FER ET VERRE

2010 A BODY OF WORK BASED ON RESEARCH INTO IRON AND GLASS BUILDINGS OF THE 19TH CENTURY

Blanche Tilden

BLANCHE’S GLASS CHAIN ANNE BRENNAN

At the end of 1919, the German architect Bruno Taut initiated a year-long correspondence with a group of fellow architects which came to be known as Die Gläserne Kette, or the Glass Chain. The subject of their correspondence was the role of glass in the buildings of the future. For Taut and his colleagues, glass was the quintessential building material for the modern age because of its capacity to hold and disperse light. Indeed, Taut believed that glass buildings had the capacity to spiritually transform the lives of their inhabitants. Part of his correspondence in the Glass Chain letters consisted of a series of fantasies about landscapes transformed by elaborate glass edifices that would link the natural and human worlds in a kind of perfected existential space. The idea of the transparent building was, in the minds of theorists of the time, a compelling symbol of all that a new age might be. The introduction of light to spaces which had in the past been enclosed and dark was an act of literal enlightenment. Light was the physical and spiritual hygiene of the new technological age. At the same time, the glass building was beyond the scope of the technology of the time to build, and existed more in theory than in practice. It is appropriate, then, that Taut’s project should be called the Glass Chain, which seems a wonderful metaphor for the hypothetical. A glass chain appears to be a near impossible object, one which, because of its fragile materials, defies our expectations of what a chain should be: a structure both supple and strong. It is as though this name not only described the mode of Taut’s correspondence—a chain letter—but also a sense of reaching out towards something that was not yet quite possible. Each letter, each fragile ‘link’ in the Glass Chain, described a space of reverie in which, for a brief and tentative moment, the impossible was brought into being through the wills and imaginations of its authors. Blanche Tilden has long traded in the contradictions at the heart of Taut’s metaphor. For fifteen years, her chains of metal 8

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and glass have explored the unlikely connections between the formal and structural languages of the machine and of jewellery. Her earlier work took as a starting point the beautiful chain structures of the industrial world: bicycle chains, chains used in conveyor belts in factories, pulleys. She would either convert industrial chain directly into bracelets, necklaces and rings, or, in her work’s most beguiling iterations, re-fabricate them, using the properties of glass to gesture towards the structural propositions of the chain. The links of one chain were entirely connected by glass rivets; in another, the structure was reversed, so that the links were made of glass and were riveted with metal. To handle these works is to immediately understand the way in which the function of a chain depends absolutely upon the integrity of each one of its units. The sight of those frail glass rivets is enough to make us anxiously imagine the inevitable outcome of the working of metal against glass—to imagine, in effect, the chain’s contingent existence, and the possibility of its always-imminent destruction. Indeed, Tilden’s glass and 9

Blanche Tilden

metal industrial chains could only exist in the realm of the worn object, since their function has shifted: no longer able to drive the parts of a machine, they have become an object which is a kind of hypothetical proposition, kept in existence by a very careful and mindful act of wearing. The wearer always knows that one accidental slip, one moment of clumsiness can bring it all undone, and indeed, Tilden confesses that her work does sometimes return to her for repairs, a fact which she sees as an ongoing part of the life of the work. For the Fer et Verre works, Tilden turns to the prehistory of the modernist glass building for her inspiration. The title of this body of work refers to iron and glass, the materials used in the edifices built for the Great Exhibitions of the nineteenth century, those extraordinary spectacles designed to showcase the political, colonial and industrial achievements of the New World and the great European powers. Their scale, and the requirement that these buildings be temporary and therefore quick to construct and dismantle, often demanded new engineering solutions to bring them into being. A few of these buildings have survived—the Grand Palais, remnant of the Paris Universal Exposition of 1901, for example, and even more famously, the Eiffel Tower, originally built as a gateway to the Paris Exposition of 1889. However, most did not. All that is left to us are their traces in the public record—plans, drawings and photographs—to understand what they must have been like. Their evanescence, their glassy translucency, lends them a mythic, almost chimerical quality. Even in their lifetime their commanding scale and airy, light-filled spaces dedicated to the technological and cultural marvels of the day inspired people to call them palaces or cathedrals, buildings more usually associated with fairy tales or with the spiritual.

previous page SMALL PALAIS NECKLACE 2010 flameworked borosilicate glass, oxidised 925 silver 10mm high x 160mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz

opposite SHORT LOUVRE NECKLACE 2010 flameworked borosilicate glass, oxidised 925 silver 15mm high x 30mm wide x 350mm long Photo: Marcus Scholz Jacqueline Joosen Melbourne, 2010

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WHEN I PUT ON THIS NECKLACE IT GIVES ME GOOSEBUMPS JACQUELINE JOOSEN

Blanche Tilden

The touchstone for Fer et Verre is the legendary Palais des Machines, designed by the great French industrial architect Ferdinand Dutert for the Paris Exhibition of 1889. This building survived barely twenty years, being finally demolished in 1909. However, its historical reputation is secured by its scale—it was the largest iron framed structure ever built, and covered fifteen acres of exhibition space—and its innovative three-hinged arch construction, which provided a skeleton strong and flexible enough to bear the weight of its extensive glazed roof structure. The Palais des Machines was lit by electricity, serviced by an elevator and moving walkways and exhibited the finest mechanical achievements of French industry. Interestingly, given Tilden’s interests, John Stamper describes the way in which the whole building was ‘covered with coloured glass, mosaic work, paintings and ceramic bricks, so that the great metal skeleton became essentially the frame of an enormous jewel box’. In this union of art with technology, the Palais des Machines, like the Paris Exhibition itself, became the vector for France’s political, cultural and technological ambition. A sense of how the Palais des Machines looked survives in Dutert’s finely-rendered plans, and in a beautiful and extensive photographic record. Tilden has drawn on these photographs for Fer et Verre. The images of the Palais in use during the Exhibition are crowded with spectators, exhibits and all of the ornate paraphernalia of late nineteenth century exhibition furniture, but Tilden raises her eyes to the spectacular roof which dominates every image. In these, a sequence of ever-diminishing crossbeams forms a surprisingly delicate tracery that frames regular groupings of glass rectangles, collectively forming a great canopy of glass and light. Some of Tilden’s chains mimic the perspectival eye of the camera. In these, small graduated panes of glass are trapped in webs of oxidised silver wire. They can be seen to refer simultaneously to the way in which, in the photographs, the panels of glass in the Palais’ roof appear to recede, and to the traditional form of a chain or string of beads, in which the GRADED PALAIS NECKLACE (DETAIL) 2010 flameworked borosilicate glass, oxidised 925 silver 20mm high x 300mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz

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Blanche Tilden

PAXTON NECKLACE 2010 flameworked borosilicate glass, oxidised 925 silver 9mm high x 265mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz

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elements graduate from small to large and then to small again, as the chain loops around the wearer’s neck. In others, the length of the chain is exaggerated. The pleasing succession of links gives play to the structural logic of the chain, which is essentially a sequence of elements repeated. These chains, which consist of a long length of rectangular silver links between which a series of glass and wire webs are slung, refer to the long, expansive vistas of glass which the Palais’ roof presents. At the same time, they unite Tilden’s architectural and jeweller’s interests once again, since, like a chain, the Palais des Machines’ structural logic depended on the aggregation of smaller elements which built together to form a larger whole. In the ninety years since Taut instigated his Glass Chain, we have developed the technologies to build the glass structures that he and his colleagues dreamt of. At the same time, we have well and truly woken up from the utopian dreams of modernism. No-one now believes in the perfectible environments of Taut’s fantasies and new technologies have radically transformed our concept of built spaces in ways that the early modernists could never have imagined. It seems interesting, then, that at this time, when modernism’s dreams of the future have become the stuff of our past, Blanche Tilden should recognise in its most utopian moments an idea which still has the power to enchant us: that of a building made of glass. And yet, hers are not emptily nostalgic objects, respectful as they are of the dreams and achievements of designers of the past. Rather, we might read in them a new idea about our relationship with built spaces. At a time when telecommunications allow us to be both more connected to global communities and yet see those communities as nothing more than an aggregate of individualised selves, her structures reverse the traditional idea of a building as an envelope for bodies. Instead, they propose a relationship in which the body carries her structures with it, a sort of talisman for a contemporary nomadic life in which the webs of glass and silver create small prisms of light, not quite material and resonant with our own dreams of other possible futures. References: John W Stamper ‘The Galerie Des Machines of the 1889 Paris World’s Fair’, Technology and Culture vol 30 No 2 April 1989 pp 330–353 Stuart Durant, Ferdinand Dutert Palais Des Machines, New York: Phaidon 1994 Originally published in Fer et Verre, Canberra Glassworks, 2010

Blanche Tilden

VOID NECKLACE 2006 flameworked borosilicate glass, mild steel, 375 gold 15mm high x 250mm diameter Photo: courtesy National Gallery of Victoria

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CARTE BLANCHE

2005–2009

Blanche Tilden

MOVING RIGHT ALONG MERRYN GATES

I have a favourite necklace. When I wear it the gritty scrunch of the oversized glass links delights me. The unexpectedness of the materials, a combination of precious silver and plain glass, intrigues. It is an early piece by Blanche Tilden. Already she was working with a deliberate palette of materials, and her interest in scale and repetition were in evidence. Already she balanced a gutsy rawness with elegance. Ten years on and it is the wearer’s experience that encourages and sustains Tilden’s practice. As she explains: ‘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.’ Pieces such as the Absorb and Reflect necklaces, developed in 2006 for the Cecily Rigg Award, have become more refined and sophisticated. Perhaps a growing sophistication comes through a deeper understanding of the materials, a higher degree of facility in their manipulation. But to imagine that the progression has been an easy one would be an error. Creativity in any field is a deeply personal process. There are times when self-doubt halts any kind of making, when one must look to the well-spring of inspiration to be able to continue. Such a period preceded the making of this suite of necklaces, and in many ways they are more precious for that. Tilden returned to advice mentor Stephen Proctor gave her when she was his student at the ANU Canberra School of Art: ‘identify what it is you like the most’. A disarmingly simple, but truly wise, dictum. Finding the answer took Tilden back to a childhood delight in collecting and assembling: tasks such as grading plums on the family farm, or gathering shells at the beach.

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ABSORB NECKLACE 2006 acid etched and coldworked glass, 375 gold, nylon coated stainless steel cable 240mm diameter Photo: courtesy National Gallery of Victoria

Blanche Tilden

These activities satisfied an aspect of her character that she now understands as underpinning her art practice. A chance visit to the Museum of Sydney clarified her thinking: ‘I was standing in front of an entomological display of stag beetles. The beetles were displayed in a circle ... the gradation in size was almost imperceptible but the length of the beetles gradually changed from 150mm to 2mm. This display of stag beetles has always stayed with me and would have to be one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen—not because of the individual beauty of each beetle, but more so for the subtlety and elegance of the gradation.’ Tilden’s initial interest in systems such as pulleys, chains and cogs— the mechanics that drove the modern era—have grown into a more abstracted, less literal engagement with repetition and gradation. If these more sophisticated pieces are the result of experience in the workshop, they are also the outcome of a new confidence born of overcoming a period of creative inertia, of self-reflection, of taking risks and moving on. The title of this exhibition, Carte Blanche, is a declaration. It is not the white card of surrender, but permission to choose whatever course of action you want. ‘For me ‘Carte Blanche’ is more than a witty one liner—rather, it is a significant marker, and the summing up of a personal philosophy…since resuming my practice, I have given myself ‘Carte Blanche’—permission to try something else, anything else, to leave behind the tag of ‘the bicycle chain jeweller’, to move out of safe territory, to move on.’ All quotes from Blanche Tilden, unpublished notes for floortalk, Cicely and Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award, at the National Gallery of Victoria, 17 August 2006. Originally published in Carte Blanche catalogue, Sabbia Gallery, 2007

opposite ABSORB NECKLACE 2006 acid etched and cold-worked glass, 375 gold 240mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz Anne Ferran, Sydney, 2010

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I FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS NECKLACE WHEN I SAW IT ON EXHIBITION AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA. MINE IS A GIFT FROM MY PARTNER AND THE EARRINGS WERE COMMISSIONED BY FRIENDS, TO GO WITH IT. NEEDLESS TO SAY I FEEL VERY PRIVILEGED WHEN I WEAR THEM. ANNE FERRAN

Blanche Tilden

CAPSULE EARRINGS 2009 [PRODUCTION] cold-worked glass, 925 silver variable dimensions Photo: Marcus Scholz

opposite DILUTE NECKLACE 2006 cold-worked glass, 925 silver, nylon coated stainless steel cable 260mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz Melissa Davis, Sydney, 2010

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THE WAY IT MOVES AS IT IS WORN IS PROBABLY ITS MOST ENJOYABLE ASPECT FOR ME. I LOVE THE WAY IT CHANGES SHAPE. IT IS LIKE WEARING A LIVING THING. IT IS ALSO GREAT TO SEE THE WAY THE LIGHT PLAYS WITH EACH LUG OF GLASS. YOU GET SOME AMAZING EFFECTS ON YOUR NECK AS YOU WEAR IT. I ALSO LOVE THE WAY IT RESPONDS WELL TO BEING TWISTED AND TURNED BACK INTO SHAPE AFTER EACH WEAR. MELISSA DAVIS

Blanche Tilden

REFLECT NECKLACE 2006 cold-worked and flameworked glass, 925 silver, nylon coated stainless steel cable 240mm diameter Photo: Clare Tilden

opposite ABSORB NECKLACE 2006 acid etched and cold-worked glass, 925 silver 240mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz Sandy Benjamin, Melbourne, 2010

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LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. I WANTED THE NECKLACE FROM THE MOMENT I FIRST SAW THE IMAGE AND THIS IS THE FEELING THAT HAS STAYED WITH ME. THE UNDERSTATEMENT AND THE UNOBTRUSIVENESS OF IT, YET IT IS SO STRONG THAT I CAN WEAR IT AT ALL TIMES AND IT JUST LOOKS AND FEELS RIGHT. SANDY BENJAMIN

Blanche Tilden

CAMOUFLAGE II NECKLACE (DETAIL) 2008 kilnformed and cold-worked Bullseye glass, oxidised 925 silver, nylon coated stainless steel cable 350mm diamete Photo: Marcus Scholz

opposite CAMOUFLAGE NECKLACE (DETAIL) 2008 kilnformed and cold-worked Bullseye glass, oxidised 925 silver, nylon coated stainless steel cable 350mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz

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Blanche Tilden

FRESHLY SQUEEZED NECKLACE 2007 flameworked borosilicate glass, oxidised 925 silver 6mm high x 400mm diameter Photo: Rhiannon Slatter

opposite FOR TY BANDOLIER 2007 acid etched coldworked glass, 925 silver, nylon coated stainless steel cable 1400 x 22x 8mm Photo: Marcus Scholz Ty Buckewitsch, Melbourne, 2010

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I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN INCREDIBLY INTERESTED IN NUMBERS. I STUDY PATTERNS AND SEQUENCES WHEREVER I SEE THEM. I OFTEN COUNT STEPS AS I CLIMB THEM AND I ALSO COUNT WHEN I SWIM — IT CALMS ME. WHEN I SAW BLANCHE’S EARLY WORK IT IMMEDIATELY RESONATED BECAUSE OF THE REPETITION OF ELEMENTS. I HAVE ALSO ALWAYS LOVED SCIENTIFIC GLASS, HOW IT CAN APPEAR SO FRAGILE WHEN IT IS OFTEN QUITE STRONG. MY BANDOLIER HAS EXACTLY 52 BLACK + 7 BLUE + 93 BLACK SEGMENTS. COINCIDENTALLY I SWIM IN STROKES OF SEVEN. TY BUCKEWITSCH

Blanche Tilden

PERPETUAL BANDOLIER (DETAIL) 2007 kilnformed and cold-worked Bullseye glass , oxidised 925 silver, nylon coated stainless steel cable 1470 mm long x 20mm wide x 8mm Photo: Marcus Scholz Collection: Chris Rifkin, Boston, USA

PERPETUAL BANDOLIER 2007 kilnformed and cold-worked Bullseye glass , oxidised 925 silver, nylon coated stainless steel cable 1470 mm long x 20mm wide x 8mm Photo: Marcus Scholz Collection: Chris Rifkin, Boston, USA

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Blanche Tilden

far right YOM HASHOAH MENORAH 2007 borosilicate glass, anodised aluminium, Yahrzeit candles Installation view, New under the sun: Australian contemporary design in Jewish ceremony III, Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne, 2007 Photo: courtesy Jewish Museum of Australia YOM HASHOAH RITUAL SASH 2007 cold-worked glass, 925 silver, stainless steel Photo: Rhiannon Slatter Collection: Corning Museum of Glass, USA These items were made for use during the ritual of remembering the holocaust. The sash is worn during the ceremony, in which the story of the holocaust is retold through the use of liturgy, survivor testimonials and poetry. White glass references the tradition of white as the colour used in important ceremonial objects. Blue glass symbolises hope for the future, with ten blue elements representing my prayer ‘never again’. The experience of transportation is referred to in the sash, respectfully evoking the memory of the train journeys of so many. The ritual of lighting candles to commemorate the memory of family and friends is an existing tradition. Once lit, the candles on the menorah create a contemplative atmosphere during the ceremony, and will continue to burn for 24 hours. The size variations of small, medium and large refer to the memory of children, parents and grandparents. Artist’s statement, New under the sun. Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne, 2007

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Blanche Tilden

U RINGS 2003 [PRODUCTION] flameworked Bullseye glass, titanium variable dimensions Photo: Marcus Scholz

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CUTTING EDGE

2003–2005

Blanche Tilden

The work [above] exhibited in The Cutting Edge at the JamFactory Craft and Design Centre, Adelaide, 2003 ‘plays on the sharpness of glass and the phrase ‘cutting edge’, I’m exploring preconceptions about glass as a material for jewellery and the fine line between danger and seduction,’ says Tilden. In 2003 Blanche Tilden spent five weeks working and collaborating with James Minson, an Australian glass flameworker now based in Seattle, USA. ‘Collaboration is much more than the sum of the parts. Artists push each other into areas they might not otherwise work in, and it is a great opportunity to exchange ideas. True collaboration is about ideas, but you both need the design and technical skills to make it successful,’ says Tilden. Their collaboration, one reviewer noted, ‘negotiated the melding of Tilden’s machine aesthetic with Minson’s organic form and detail.’ From Meredith Hinchliffe, ‘Hard-edged clarity’, Craft Arts International no.61, 2004, pp 50–52

CUTTING EDGE PENDANT SERIES 2003 glass, 925 silver variable dimensions Photo: courtesy JamFactory Gallery, Adelaide DROP PENDANT (second from right) Collection: Art Gallery of South Australia

opposite VARIEGATED NECKLACE (IN COLLABORATION WITH JAMES MINSON) 2003 flameworked glass, oxidised silver 270mm diameter Photo: Johannes Kuhnen

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Blanche Tilden

EVERYWHERE NECKLACE (DETAIL) 2000 cold-worked float glass, 925 silver 260mm diameter Photo: Danielle Thompson

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CHAIN REACTION

2000–2003

Blanche Tilden

I WEAR TWO RINGS, ONE ON EACH THUMB AND THEY REMIND ME THAT I HAVE OPPOSING THUMBS. RICHARD WHITELEY

above MINIATURE RINGS 2000 stainless steel machine chain Photo: Andrew Henley Richard Whiteley, Canberra, 2010

MINIATURE RINGS 2000 [PRODUCTION] stainless steel machine chain variable dimensions Photo: Marcus Scholz

RECYCLED BRACELET 1998 [PRODUCTION] recycled bicycle chain, 925 silver 8mm high x 210mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz

opposite SPEED NECKLACE 2000 flameworked borosilicate glass, titanium, anodised aluminium 240mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz Anna Kirk, Sydney, 2010

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BLANCHE IS AN ALCHEMIST OF EXCEPTIONAL, SPIRITED AND STRIKINGLY BEAUTIFUL INDUSTRIAL WORK, BURSTING WITH PRESENCE & ENERGY. I AM DRAWN TO THIS PIECE AS A POWERFUL AND EDGY SYNTHESIS OF ENGINEERING, ARCHITECTURE, SCULPTURE AND ART. ANNA KIRK

Blanche Tilden

A COURIER CAME INTO THE SHOP… KEVIN MURRAY Into the bicycle shop walks a green haired courier. He swings his striped shoulder bag over and rips open the Velcro cover. A box of rubber tubes—‘sign here please’. The jeweller behind the counter spies a curious ornament around his wrist. It’s a tiny roller chain. ‘Where’s it from?’ ‘It comes out of an old photocopy machine.’ Really. Thus begins a chain reaction. In Chain Reaction, Blanche Tilden leaves her bench in search of jewellery in the wild. Until this point, Tilden has been content to painstakingly translate the bicycle chain into sleek body ornaments. To supplement her wonderfully handmade chains, she begins to investigate the life of chains in both the hard edged worlds of manufacturing and elusive turns of phrase in everyday language. Her interests have transcended the roller chain as a purely formal device and embrace its place in the world. Can the photocopier chain become a jewellery item? Not really. As steel it is made to be lubricated and will thus eventually rust on an acidic human body. Perhaps there are similar chains in circulation that are more durable. A persistent round of phone calls locates a supply of medical machinery, where chains that work equipment for packaging medicines are fabricated in stainless steel. They need to be sterilised in boiling water. Truly. What Tilden displays for us in the gallery are the treasures of her research. Miniature modifies the packaging chain bound with titanium for tender wrists and necks. ‘Cute.’ Value Added transforms bicycle chains into beauty accessories. ‘Sassy.’ Speed dramatises the chains role by breaking the loop with a tail. ‘Deadly’. And Bureaucracy transforms the chain conceptually from a mechanical device to a metaphorical apparatus. 324 plates, each drilled, hand cut, filed polished and anodised, branch off one another to give semblance to the decision making rituals of government. Wouldn’t we like to see the Lord Mayor wear one of these as the official chain of office? ‘Super.’ So what is going on here? Are we being offered a kind of fancy dress, in which we can sport the conceit of transforming ordinary objects into precious jewels? Is Chain Reaction a political statement about the need to conserve our resources by recasting remnants of industry into new uses? 44

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OVERSIZE NECKLACE 2000 flameworked borosilicate glass, anodised aluminium 260mm diameter Photo: Danielle Thompson

These may seem heavy-handed questions. They have little to say about the sensory pleasures of Tilden’s jewellery. These enquiries don’t touch on the perfect finishes in her links, or the way they have been beautifully proportioned for wear. The questions don’t relate to the wonderful play of pooling a necklace chain into your palm, listening to the pretty tinkle of Pyrex. Yet even on the level of pleasures, Tilden’s pieces touch on experiences that go beyond jewellery. We are networked beings who enjoy the flow of information through our veins. We are the sprockets and information is our chain. We quickly pass on the email virus warning. We enjoy receiving and spreading ‘the goss’. We look for a familiar face in the crowd. We feed the ticket barriers in train stations. We like things that go beep. Of course, it is easy to be critical of these pleasures—they can appear as forces of blind conformity that tie us to the latest bandwagon. Yet this would deny our intrinsic nature as members of a collective being. Better to celebrate the tribe, than draw across the curtains of romanticism. Better to join the chorus, than mumble dissent. Better to make applause, than sit on both hands. Yet neat as this may be, there is one work of Tilden’s that doesn’t seem to conform to the trend. Stiff Link deliberately undermines 45

Blanche Tilden

the virtue of chains as frictionless translators of energy. Tilden incorporates grit into one of the links so that it might take a stable form. In a subtler way, she reminds us that the body is not a bicycle frame—it has flesh as well as bones. Resistance can actually be productive in holding a shape on the body. Sometimes we just don’t fit in. ’Bugger.’ These are some of the mysteries in Tilden’s jewellery. She gives metal the capacity to flow. She elaborates the chain as a device for understanding ourselves. And, classically, she ornaments function. Originally published in Chain Reaction, Gallery Funaki, 2000

opposite NIGHTRIDER NECKLACE 2002 flameworked borosilicate glass, anodised aluminium 260mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz Robyn McKenzie, Canberra, 2010

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BIKE CHAIN FOR BEST. ROBYN MCKENZIE

Blanche Tilden

ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S THE POETRY OF BEAUTIFUL JEWELLERY MADE OUT OF INDUSTRIAL CHAIN THAT SUITS ME. DEB JONES

above STAINLESS NECKLACE 2000 stainless steel machine chain, anodised titanium 150mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz Deb Jones, Adelaide, 2010

STAINLESS BRACELET 2002 (DETAIL) stainless steel machine chain, anodised titanium variable dimensions Photo: Marcus Scholz

STAINLESS BRACELET 2002 stainless steel machine chain,anodised titanium variable dimensions Photo: Marcus Scholz

opposite GRADED BIKE CHAIN NECKLACE 2000 flameworked borosilicate glass, titanium 18mm high x 280mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz Collection: National Gallery of Victoria; National Gallery of Australia

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Blanche Tilden

BUREAUCRACY NECKLACE 2000 (DETAIL) flameworked borosilicate glass, anodised aluminium 320mm diameter Photo: Danielle Thompson

opposite BUREAUCRACY NECKLACE 2000 flameworked borosilicate glass, anodised aluminium 320mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz Susan Taylor, Canberra, 2010

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I LOVE BLANCHE’S PRECISE CRAFTING OF EACH ELEMENT OF HER PIECES WHICH IS EXEMPLIFIED IN ‘BUREAUCRACY’, A DENSE MECHANICAL CHAIN THAT IS COMPOSED OF MANY METAL PIECES CUT BY HAND. WHEN I LOOK AT THIS PIECE I THINK OF THE PAINSTAKING WORK OF THE MAKER THAT BROUGHT IT INTO BEING, AND I CAN FEEL THE TENSION IN ALL THE PIECES OF METAL WORKING WITH AND AGAINST EACH OTHER, JUST AS IN A REAL BUREAUCRACY. SUSAN TAYLOR

Blanche Tilden

DOUBLE CONVEYOR PENDANT 1998 [PRODUCTION] flameworked borosilicate glass, anodised aluminium, anodised titanium, 925 silver, stainless steel cable variable dimensions Photo: Marcus Scholz

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LIGHT MOVES

1995–2000

Blanche Tilden

TRAVELLING WITH THE BODY SYLVIA KLEINERT III From cycle chain to street cred, from industrial pistons and plastic prototypes to pristine Pyrex. Such are the transpositions and transformations effected by Blanche Tilden’s mechanical jewels. Energised by the alluring world of machines, she offers us a means of touring the future, presenting the self through the reality of industrial technologies. Today it may seem as if these mechanical means of mass production, once revolutionary, once reviled, are themselves rendered obsolete, seemingly engulfed in a flood of new information technologies. Or is it the case that the city witnesses new forms of production: we ride the streets wearing ‘abstract machines that function’ as representations of individual and collective identity? 1 II Driving this production is a desire to understand how mechanical movements work: how they transfer energy to power. From the first bicycle chain studded with a single glass rivet submitted to the 1995 Cohn Award for Street Jewellery, the work has evolved into an exploration of the machine’s endless, tireless systems of production. The jewellery exhibited is the outcome of a year’s internship with Workshop 3000, a selection of 13 from a hundred experimental models produced as part of the problem-solving process of design. Complementarity characterises the combination of mechanics and material: the rollers, scissors, pivots and pincers of industry are translated into hot glass rivets and titanium. As art for the travelling body, Blanche Tilden’s jewellery is at once, enticing in its resilience, fragile in its translucency. III In the opinion of the artist, the most extravagant work in the exhibition is a 4.7 meter chain: in my opinion, this work is emblematic of the politics of technology which inform her production. After all, in di Sica’s Bicycle Thieves, modernity’s machines of mass production represent the key to survival. 1. Felix Guattari, Questionaire 17, Zone 1/ 2 : The Contemporary City (eds.) Michel Feher and Sanford Kwinter, (New York: Urzone Inc 1986?), p 458 Originally published in Lightmoves catalogue, Gallery Funaki, 1997

opposite LONG BIKE CHAIN NECKLACE 1997 flame worked borosilicate glass, titanium 320mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz Anna Waldmann, Sydney, 2010

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I WORE THE NECKLACE AT THE VENICE BIENNALE - IT GLITTERED, SHIFTED IN THE SUN AND MIRRORED THE WATER IN THE CANALS AND THE DUSTY LEAVES IN THE GIARDINI. ANNA WALDMANN

Blanche Tilden

AN ELEGANT STATEMENT IN JEWELLERY JENNY ZIMMER Blanche Tilden’s metal and glass jewellery must be the most elegant new jewellery statement seen this year. It is laid out, perfectly flat, on the narrow shelf surrounding the tiny Gallery Funaki. Its glass components glisten in a low key kind of way, while its mechanical structures are perfectly aligned into long narrow strips or magnificent springing curves. Made mainly of titanium and thin, strong, colourless Pyrex, each piece is surprisingly light to hold, or wear, and subtly bends to the body’s movement. This work is absolutely original in concept. Tilden takes as her point of departure the mechanics of simple objects with moving parts—things like bicycle chains, scissors, pistons, pulleys, gears, cranks, levers and conveyor belts. She refines these movements to their extreme essentials and then recreates them in her chosen materials. The bicycle chain format, for instance, is mimicked in grey titanium metal with glass rivets that bejewel its seamless continuity with regularly spaced light points. A four-metre chain made of tiny, glass components held together by metal pins and spacers, extends along the entire length of the gallery. Each glass element is handmade with utmost precision, out of heat and shock-resistant Pyrex tubing. The chain resembles a continuous conveyor belt carrying miniature glass jars. Completely modern, and redolent with echoes of an industrial/ mechanical age now passing into a dark and greasy history, this jewellery inspires nostalgia for elegant, well crafted hand work that has a beauty all its own. This is contemporary craft at its very best. Originally published in The Age, 25 April 1997

opposite LONG CONVEYOR 1997 flameworked borosilicate glass, titanium, 925 silver. 4700mm long x 22mm wide x 12mm high installation view Light Moves, Gallery Funaki, Melbourne. Photo: Greg Harris

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insert scan from tranasparency M-F 07

Blanche Tilden

LONG CONVEYOR (DETAIL) 1997 flameworked borosilicate glass, titanium, 925 silver 4700mm long x 22mm wide x 12mm high Photo: Penelope Clay, courtesy of Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Collection: Toledo Museum of Art, USA

opposite LONG BIKE CHAIN NECKLACE 1997 flameworked borosilicate glass, titanium 320mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz Naomi Cass with N端tka Melbourne, 2010

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FIRST ATTRACTED BY THE MEETING OF MATTE GUNMETAL GREY AND LIGHT FILLED GLASS, ON CLOSER INSPECTION I WAS DRAWN TO ITS UNLIKELY ANIMATION AND ITS PASSING REFERENCE TO A LONG STRING OF PEARLS. ONLY WHEN I RETURNED HOME AND MY TEENAGE DAUGHTERS EXCLAIMED, ‘SHIT MUM, YOU’RE WEARING A BIKE CHAIN’, DID I CONSIDER THIS REFERENCE. BOTH NECKLACE AND WORRY BEADS, AFTER MANY YEARS I STILL ANTICIPATE THE COMFORTING LINKS IN MY HAND WHEN I PLACE IT OVER MY HEAD. COLD WHEN FIRST WORN, THE NECKLACE WARMS TO BODY TEMPERATURE WITH WEAR. BUT MOST UNLIKELY OF ALL THE PLEASURES OF THIS SENSUOUS CHAIN, IS THE PERCUSSIVE SONG IT MAKES WHEN I WALK AND THE TITANIUM CHIMES WITH THE PYREX AS IT BOUNCES ON MY CHEST. NAOMI CASS

Blanche Tilden

SHORT PULLEY NECKLACE (DETAIL) 1997 flameworked borosilicate glass, 925 silver 260mm diameter Photo: Isamu Sawa

opposite MOBIUS NECKLACE 1997 flameworked borosilicate glass, titanium, anodised aluminium 280mm diameter Photo: Isamu Sawa Collection: National Gallery of Australia; Queensland Art Gallery

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Blanche Tilden

BLANCHE TILDEN: MOVING PARTS KEVIN MURRAY Tilden is jeweller laureate for the information society. Her métier is linking. Like the grass lawns that spread through our suburbs, communication networks reproduce themselves through exponential connections. The buzzwords of our time— convergence, leverage and roll-out—all celebrate the gains in power made through strategic links. Most of these links are abstract. They take the form of tediously worded contracts, or invisible code. In placing a bicycle chain in a gallery, Blanche Tilden gives this process a material reality. If you look a little closely, however, you will see that Tilden has made a subtle change to the linking device. Rather than steel rivet, bolts made of glass hold the chain together. Tilden’s bicycle chains are thus only for display, and definitely not roadworthy. But Tilden’s chains should not be viewed in isolation. They are wedded to the context, whether the body or the installation. So what do we see here? On the wall is a collection of Tilden’s exquisite handicraft. Chains in a variety of assortments offer themselves to the touch. They are a joy to handle—the links cascading into the palm like mercury. But we are prevented from touching them by a series of real bicycle chains, strung up as a security chord. The chains are in different conditions, from silver, black and rusted. The installation recreates the very move that distinguishes Tilden’s brilliant young career. She has craftily transformed an item of practical utility into an expressive medium. Of course, there is the history of the readymade. Duchamp’s veneration of the bicycle wheel figures greatly in the heroic days of conceptual art.

opposite CONVEYOR NECKLACE 1997 flameworked borosilicate glass, titanium, anodised aluminium 280mm diameter Photo: Isamu Sawa Collection: National Gallery of Victoria

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Blanche Tilden

But Tilden’s work is more than a readymade. Her intervention is anything but passive: the skilled craftsmanship of their assembly is a homage to the machine itself. While tuned to the networked society, Tilden’s chains are also at odds with the silicon age. Today’s ‘smart’ machines proudly proclaim ‘no moving parts’, as a guarantee of their reliability. Of course, the loss is sensual. Well-tuned machines grant confidence in the world. The velvety ‘click’ of a Leica camera joined the rank of sensual delights such as honeyed sauterne or Alhambra tiles. Today, things work well and look bad. Far from nostalgic, these mechanical pleasures anticipate a postdigital era. Already, there have been startling advances in wind-up technologies, where inventions such as the ‘tensator clockwork generator’ mean that mobile devices such as phones, radios and mine detectors can be powered by hand. Far from over, the machine age may be only just beginning. Yet while technological leaps are made in all directions, the humble bicycle remains settled in its current state of evolution. It is already perfectly efficient for its purpose. A computer chip would make no difference to its functioning. This self-sufficiency makes it entirely suitable as a subject of metal craft, which projects a life into the object that is independent of taste. To give this expression requires great balance and discipline—Tilden’s hallmark. Originally published in The Real Thing, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, 1999

SCISSOR NECKLACE 1997 flameworked borosilicate glass, titanium 250mm diameter Photo: Penelope Clay, courtesy of Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Collection: Powerhouse Museum, Sydney

opposite SHORT SCISSOR NECKLACE 1998 flameworked borosilicate glass, titanium 240mm diameter RECYCLED BRACELET 1998 Steel bicycle chain 205mm long x 8mm high Photo: Marcus Scholz Barbara McConchie, Canberra, 2010

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I LOVE THE SCISSOR NECKLACE HEAPS! BLANCHE GAVE THIS TO ME AS A GIFT AND IT WAS AN AMAZING OBJECT TO RECEIVE, IT WAS THE RESULT OF A GREAT DEAL OF HARD WORK AND I KNEW WHEN I SAW IT THAT BLANCHE WOULD GO ON TO BE ONE OF THE BEST AUSTRALIAN JEWELLERY DESIGNERS. WHENEVER I WEAR IT PEOPLE NEVER FAIL TO ADMIRE IT, TOUCH IT, OGLE IT, LUST AFTER IT AND EVERYONE WANTS TO KNOW WHO MADE IT. IT IS WITHOUT DOUBT THE MOST ORIGINAL PIECE I OWN. I LOVE IT HEAPS. BARBARA MCCONCHIE

Blanche Tilden

NECKLACE COMPONENTS 1995 borosilicate glass, anodised aluminium, mild steel, silicone rubber, 925 silver Photo: Johannes Kuhnen

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EARLY WORK

1991–1995 STUDYING AT THE ANU CANBERRA SCHOOL OF ART

Blanche Tilden

U LOCK NECKLACE 1992 flameworked borosilicate glass, anodised aluminium, mild steel 240mm diameter Photo: Johannes Kuhnen Collection: Saxe Glass Collection, SF, USA

opposite PARALLEL NECKLACE 1995 flameworked borosilicate glass, titanium 260mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz Ann Jakle, Canberra, 2010

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I LOVE THE VISUAL EASE OF THIS SIMPLE CHAIN OF GLASS AND TITANIUM LINKED LIKE BREATH TO THE BODY, GENTLY SITTING AROUND MY NECK. AND I LOVE HOW IT MAKES ME FEEL WHEN I AM WEARING IT AND THE STIRRING IMPACT IT CREATES UPON OTHERS WHO ADMIRE IT. IN FACT, I’M WEARING IT NOW. ANN JAKLE

Blanche Tilden

IN THE BEGINNING JANE BARNEY

These days, Blanche lashes, binds, cuts, crimps, dips and wraps with great finesse to create wonderfully articulated and much desired bodyworks. But things weren’t always this way. As a student in the ANU School of Art glass workshop, Blanche eschewed the fast satisfaction of hot blown glass and the solid allure of cast glass. Instead, in severe sixties black-rimmed glasses, the mad scientist of the lampworking room heated and bent and cajoled brittle and stubborn pieces of glass into small components for jewellery. This was repetitive, shoulder-locking work, a numbers game that she still plays today...‘I have to make 93 glass components and each one takes 17 minutes on average so, if you factor in toilet and tea-breaks, sleeps and breakages, I should have all components made by Friday, then 3 days each for construction and I need 8 works for the show so I think it’s all on track provided I don’t stop for 11 days.’ Even in the beginning, Blanche could imagine the whole. But she had a particular problem that was causing her deep disquiet: how to deal with the join. In search of a suitable join, she wore a track between the ANU School of Art Glass Workshop and the Gold and Silversmithing Workshop, whereupon she found Johannes Kuhnen who had more than a thing or two to say about joins and clasps and whether or not Blanche rightfully belonged in the Gold and Silversmithing Workshop, where she finally settled to do a postgraduate degree. This was followed closely by an internship with Melbournebased jeweller Susan Cohn during which Blanche further refined her ideas and techniques. She also learnt first-hand the level of physical and emotional commitment that it would take to succeed as an artist. It was wonderful to be there when the ideas were germinating. It was also sometimes tough watching Blanche struggle with the sheer problem of making work that she felt was good enough.

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Over the years of watching Blanche’s work evolve, I confess that I have always been drawn first to the join. The early joins were workable but today’s connections are far more sophisticated. In some cases they are invisible, in others they are subtle, or a feature, or there just isn’t one. Whatever Blanche chooses really— and this is the key to just how far this stop motion animator of the jewellery world has come.

BLACK AND WHITE NECKLACE 1991 AND BLACK AND BLUE NECKLACE (DETAIL) 1991 cast and cold-worked glass, silicone rubber, 925 silver each 260mm diameter Photo: Johannes Kuhnen

Blanche Tilden

GRADED VERTEBRAE NECKLACE 1995 flameworked borosilicate glass, 925 silver 240mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz

opposite UNIVERSAL NECKLACE 1995 flameworked borosilicate glass, stainless steel 260mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz Gretel & Mischa Harrison Canberra, 2010

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I LOVE THIS PIECE BECAUSE……… I LOVE THE SOFT CLINKS IT MAKES WHEN I MOVE, I LOVE THIS SOUND, I LOVE THE WEIGHT AROUND MY NECK, I LOVE TO TOUCH THE SMOOTH TEXTURE OF THE GLASS AGAINST THE TOUGHNESS OF THE STEEL, MY CHILDREN LOVE TO PLAY WITH THE PIECE EVERY TIME WHEN I WEAR IT EVEN AS THEY GET OLDER, EVERYONE IS DRAWN TO THE PIECE AND WANT TO TOUCH IT, THIS IS WHAT MAKES ME FEEL WHEN I WEAR IT! GRETEL HARRISON

Blanche Tilden

ONE GOLD LINK NECKLACE 1995 borosilicate glass, gold plated 925 silver Photo: Johannes Kuhnen

opposite VERTEBRAE NECKLACE 1995 flameworked and sandblasted borosilicate glass, 925 silver 260mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz Merryn Gates, Canberra, 2010

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THE PLEASURE I GET FROM THIS BEAUTIFUL NECKLACE STARTS WHEN I TAKE IT OUT OF THE DRAWER. THERE IS A LOVELY WEIGHT TO IT, AND THE GLASS MAKES A GORGEOUS CRUNCHY SOUND. THE GLASS IS COOL AROUND MY NECK AND I HEAR IT ALL THE TIME I AM WEARING IT. MERRYN GATES

Blanche Tilden

LIVING WORK 1995—2010 SIMONE LE AMON Commissions are a significant part of Blanche Tilden’s practice. Put simply, there are more people wanting Blanche’s work than are available. While exhibitions are the catalyst for developing new concepts and production techniques, every original serves as a model for exclusive versions on request. Through a process of customization—including sizing, the addition of colour and precious metals and stamping of numerals and letters to embed personalised messages—Blanche’s original designs take on a second life. Blanche refined these methods in her time at Workshop 3000 (1995–98) during a mentorship with Susan Cohn, who is a master of imbuing jewellery with layers of meaning. Blanche Tilden’s jewellery is ‘alive’—metal, glass and fire combine with the artist’s life experience to produce works of distinct character and vitality. News of Blanche’s unique mastery has travelled far. The flow of purchases and commissions from collectors and galleries from around the globe has positioned Blanche as one of Australia’s leading practitioners in her field. Embedded within the glass links and chains is a quality maintained to both maker and recognized by the commissioner—a special blend of authenticity, rarity and meaning, which gives way to moments of connectivity and enduring pleasure. To commission and wear a Blanche Tilden necklace is to experience a rare instance of happiness amongst material things. For Blanche, commissions are based on trust. The role of the jeweller is to listen in confidence to a client’s thoughts and feelings about a person or an occasion for which the commission is intended. Blanche’s personal typology of glass and metal components are the language through which her client’s sentiments are translated. Her skill in expressing our desires through material and form is what makes Blanche’s jewellery so irresistible. Generated by one person’s desire, commissions tend to begin and end with expectations. The client’s emotional and monetary investment in the commissioning process is a powerful reminder of this. Be it for a wedding anniversary, birthday or significant life event Blanche produces a work which is evidence of her commitment to her craft and to the client. To own and wear jewellery of such substance is a luxury, but it is certainly not out of one’s reach. Commissioned pieces require time and more often people want things right away. Commissions are a dynamic process, and the 76

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client receives both an artefact and an experience from Blanche. I suggest this is why Blanche has many clients who commission new works regularly. Over the course of the project the client can participate in the bespoke nature of the commission and, like an excitable child, wait for it to materialize. In February 2010 my partner approached Blanche to make a necklace for my birthday. A technologist, he is intrigued by Blancheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s use of binary elements and how loosely articulated yet precisely engineered her necklaces are. On receiving my extra long Parallel necklace my partner pointed out that stamped into the titanium links were a series of 0â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and 1â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. He was particularly delighted by how he and Blanche had collaborated to inscribe a hidden personal message. I adore the idea that only my partner and I know what the message says and that the process brought him so much joy. Curiously, Blanche stamped all eighty numerals and she tells me that she never asked him for the translation, insisting that this would add to the intrigue of my necklace. I agree; however I know that a jeweller never forgets her handiwork.

LONG PARALLEL NECKLACE 2010 flameworked borosilicate glass, titanium 320mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz Simone Le Amon Melbourne 2010

Blanche Tilden

HANDMADE NECKLACE COMPONENT titanium with Blanche Tilden hallmark

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BIOGRAPHY

FOR AN UP-TO-DATE BIOGRAPHY VISIT WWW.BLANCHETILDEN.COM.AU

Blanche Tilden

BIOGRAPHY

1968 Born Michelle Blanche Tilden, Kiama, NSW (120km south of Sydney) Mother [Marie] was a Primary School Teacher at Stella Maris Primary School, Shellharbour, NSW Father [Bernie] was a qualified Metallurgist and Technical Production Manager, for BHP Steel Works, Port Kembla, NSW Blanche is the eldest of five children: Jeannie, Daniel, Clare, Anna. In 1973 the family moved to a small farm at Couridjah, NSW (90 km South West of Sydney). The farm was an orcharding operation and provided respite for ageing racehorses.

Michelle Blanche Tilden aged 12 months, 1969 Photo: Noelle Pomery

1974–80 Attended St Anthony’s Primary School, Picton, NSW 1981–86 Attended Chevalier College, Bowral, NSW 1985 The Tilden family relocated to Goulburn, NSW 1988 Moved to Sydney to commence studies at Sydney College of the Arts, Balmain majoring in Glass (head of Studio Maureen Cahill) 1990 Transferred to the Australian National University Canberra School of Art and commenced studies in Glass under Klaus Moje and Elizabeth McClure, and Gold and Silversmithing with Johannes Kuhnen. 1991–95 Worked extensively with mentor and master flameworker, Peter Minson at the Canberra School of Art, and at his studio in Binalong, NSW. 1995 Completed a Graduate Diploma, Gold and Silversmithing, Canberra School of Art.

Marcus Scholz and Blanche Tilden on their wedding day, 28 January 2006 Photo: Clare Tilden

Michelle Blanche Tilden (second from right) aged 10, with siblings (from left) Jeannie, Clare, Anna, Daniel, 1978 Photo: Noelle Pomery

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PROFESSIONAL HISTORY

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2010 Fer et Verre, Canberra Glassworks, Canberra Graduating ANU Bachelor of Arts with mum Marie Tilden, 1993 Photo: Bernie Tilden

2007 Carte Blanche, Sabbia Gallery, Sydney 2003 Cutting Edge, JamFactory Contemporary Craft and Design, Adelaide 2001 Chain Reaction, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra 2000 Chain Reaction,Gallery Funaki, Melbourne 1997 Light Moves, Gallery Funaki, Melbourne

TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS

Limited Edition General Assembly brooch for Ausglass conference, Canberra Glassworks, 2008 Photo: Marcus Scholz

Blanche Tilden and Phoebe Porter, Studio Haçienda: 2009 General Assembly — Open Studio 09, Boyd School Studios, Melbourne, 2009 State of Design Festival 2008 General Assembly — Open House 08, Canberra Glassworks, 2008 Ausglass Conference 2007 General Assembly — Canberra, Workshop Bilk, Queanbeyan 2007 General Assembly — Melbourne in Solutions for Better Living, Craft Victoria, Melbourne,

Installation view Wearable Work, Blanche Tilden and James Minson, Craft ACT, Canberra, 2003

2006 Est. 2005, Craft ACT, Canberra Blanche Tilden and James Minson: 2003 Wearable Work, Craft ACT, Canberra; Vetri International Glass, Seattle USA

Blanche Tilden

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2010 Glass Jewellery: An International Passion for Design, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Kentucky, USA Le Verre dans tous ses Eclats, Gallerie Noel Guyomarc’h, Montreal, Canada 2009 Contemporary Wearables 09, Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery Collectors Cabinet, Metalab, Sydney 2008 Hot Glass 2008, Arts Commission of Greater Toledo, USA National Contemporary Jewellery Award , Griffith Regional Art Gallery

Work in progress, Studio Hacienda 2007 Photo: Marcus Scholz

SOFA Chicago 2008, Elliot Brown Gallery, USA In Essence — The Legacy of Stephen Procter, Sabbia Gallery, Sydney Designersblock London 08, London Design Festival, Covent Garden, UK Tom Malone Glass Prize — finalist, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth 2007 Contemporary Wearables 07, Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery 50 Brooches, Craft Queensland, Brisbane New Under the Sun — Australian Contemporary Design in Jewish Ceremony, Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne Smartworks — Design and the Handmade, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney 30th Alice Craft Award, Territory Craft, Alice Springs

Entrance to Studio Hacienda 2005–2008 Photo: Rhiannan Slatter

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2006 City of Hobart Art Prize 2006 — finalist, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart Cecily and Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Tom Malone Glass Prize — finalist, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth Worn — Contemporary Glass Jewellery, Sabbia Gallery, Sydney 2005 Inspire! Design across Time, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney 10 — 2005, Gallery Funaki, Melbourne Seeds of Light, 20 Years ANU Glass Workshop, Canberra School of Art Gallery 2003 Foundations of Gold, Daimaru Gallery, Osaka, Japan 2002 Less is More — Less is a Bore, Brisbane City Galley Aurion Goldfields OZGold Award 2002, Quadrivium, Sydney and touring Australia Blanche Tilden and Makiko Mitsunari Power, 2001, 375gold, computer chip, motherboard and anodised aluminium, Foundations of Gold, 2001

Rings, Gallery Funaki, Melbourne 2001 Strung Out — International Glass Jewellery, Bullseye Gallery, Portland, Oregon USA Foundations of Gold, RMIT Gallery and SE Asia City of Perth Craft Prize — finalist, Craft West, Perth Metal Elements IV, Quadrivium, Sydney 2000 31 @ 20 Graduates ANU Gold and Silversmithing, Goldschmeidehaus, Hanau, Germany Schmuck 2000, Handwerkskammer fur Munchen und Oberyern, Munich, Germany

Blanche Tilden

1999 Contemporary Australian Craft, Powerhouse Museum and Object Gallery, Sydney and Japan The Real Thing, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra 1998 Overseas — New Jewellery from Australia, Gallerie Ra, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Gallerie Beeld en Aambeeld, Enschede, the Netherlands

Spiral of recycled bike chain, The Real Thing, CCAS, 1999 Photo: Katy O’Rourke

Undercurrents, Ueno no Mori Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Itami City Craft Center, Itami, Japan Past Tense / Future Perfect, Craft West, Perth 1997 Precious — Contemporary Jewellery, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne 1993 Directions — Glass Jewellery, Craft ACT, Canberra and touring STUDIOS 2005–2008 Established Studio Haçienda in Abbotsford, Victoria with Phoebe Porter 2009 She has occupied Studio 9 at Boyd School Studios, Southbank since February 2009. The Boyd School Studios is a pilot program where empty City of Melbourne council buildings are used to provide subsidised studio spaces for artists.

General Assembly, in Solutions for better living, Craft Victoria, Melbourne, 2007

AWARDS 2008 Studio Haçienda — General Assembly, State of Design/Premier’s Design Award 2008 Collectors Choice, 38th Annual Glass Art Society Conference, Portland, Oregon 2003 International Student Scholarship, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Washington, USA 2002 Inaugural Stephen Procter Fellowship, Australian National University

Lampworking during Shane Ferro workshop, Pilchuck International Glass School, Washington, USA, 2003

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GRANTS 2010 New Work — Established, Australia Council for the Arts 2008 Arts Development — Creation, Arts Victoria

Kyoto, Japan 2003 Photo: Makiko Mitsunari

2007 Skills and Development, Australia Council for the Arts 2006 Arts Grant (with Phoebe Porter), City of Melbourne 2003 Travel Grant, Osaka, Japan, Asialink, University of Melbourne 2002 Arts and Professional Development, Arts Victoria 2002 New Work — Established, Australia Council for the Arts

With Robert Foster, Bourke Street, Melbourne, 1997 Photo: Gretel Harrison

2000 New Work — Emerging, Australia Council for the Arts 1995 Traineeship with Susan Cohn, Workshop 3000, Melbourne, Australia Council for the Arts 1994 Grant for Studio Equipment, ACT Arts and Special Events

TEACHING EXPERIENCE 2010 Studio Assistant placement, Jacqueline Joosen, Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE Jewellery 2009 Visiting Artist, Canberra School of Art Glass Workshop 2008 Visiting Artist, Jewellery Design workshop, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga 2008 Intensive flameworking tuition, Meghan O’Rourke, JamFactory Associate, Adelaide 2007 Practical training placement, Deitrun Nixdorf, Pforzheim University, Pforzheim, Germany 2006 Summer School Sessional Lecturer, Canberra School of Art Glass Workshop 2005 Mentor, Australia Council emerging artist 85

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mentorship, for Phoebe Porter 2003 Artist-in-Residence, Canberra School of Art Glass Workshop 2002 Sessional Lecturer, Monash University Glass Workshop 2002 Sessional Lecturer, RMIT University Gold and Silversmithing Workshop 1998 Sessional Lecturer, Glass Workshop, Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney University

COLLECTIONS Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia Canberra Museum and Art Gallery, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York, USA National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria Powerhouse Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney, New South Wales Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland Territory Craft, Alice Springs, Northern Territory Toledo Art Museum, Toledo, Ohio ,USA Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales National Art Glass Collection, Wagga Wagga Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales Private collections in Australia and overseas

BIBLIOGRAPHY Viviane Stappmanns (ed.), The Melbourne Design Guide, Alphabet Press, 2009 Cicely & Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award, National Gallery of Victoria, 2006 Talentbรถrse Handwerk, Sonderschau der Internationalen Handwerksmesse, Munich 1993 Penelope Aitken, (ed.), Foundations of Gold, 86

Blanche Tilden flameworking at her bench Photo: Rhiannon Slatter

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Asialink and RMIT Gallery, 2001 Schmuck, Internationalen Handwerksmesse, Munich, 2000 Past tense, future perfect, Craftwest, Perth, 1998 Smart works: design and the handmade, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, 2007 Donald Williams, Studio design at work, McGraw-Hill, 2006 Blanche Tilden, ‘Carte Blanche’, Lino no.16, 2006/07, pp 16–18 Dan Klein, ‘Stephen Procter’s legacy’, Craft Arts International no. 73 ‘Artists and objects’, New Glass Review no.29, The Corning Museum of Glass, 2008, p 57 Melanie Joosten, ‘Studio Haçienda’, Artichoke no. 26, pp 82–83, 2008 Premier’s Design Awards, 2008: Designing the future of Victoria, Victorian Government Department of Innovation Industry and Regional Development, 2008 ‘The Top 100 Issue’, The Age (Melbourne) magazine, Issue #51, January 2009 Contemporary Australian Craft, Powerhouse Museum, 1999 Goldfields Ozgold Award 2002, Curtin University, Perth, 2002 Bandhu Scott Dunham, Contemporary Lampworking, Salusa Glassworks, Prescott, Arizona, USA, 1997 Glass Art Society Directory and Resource Guide, GAS, Seattle USA, 2008 Carissa Kowalski Dougherty (ed.), Jewelry Design Chain production jewellery in packaging Photo: Rhiannon Slatter

DAAB, Fusion Publishing, NY, 2008 Helen Whitty, Accessories and adornment, Powerhouse Museum and Macmillan, 2000 Bandhu S Dunham, Formed of fire, Salusa Glassworks, Prescott, Arizona, USA 2002 Tom Malone Prize 2006, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth 1998 Japan Jewellery Art Competition: Undercurrents, Japan Jewellery Designers Association Inc. Tokyo, Japan, 1998

Blanche Tilden

STUDIO HAÇIENDA 2005–2008 BLANCHE TILDEN AND PHOEBE PORTER ESTABLISHED STUDIO HAÇIENDA IN ABBOTSFORD MELBOURNE

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STUDIO HAÇIENDA MERRYN GATES

Phoebe Porter and Blanche Tilden share more than a studio space. Since Porter did a mentorship with Tilden a strong simpatico has developed between the two jewellers. They both speak about an emotional connection, and a similar philosophical approach to their work. Neither are interested in making jewellery just for the sake of it. Both want what they make to mean something to the wearer, and are curious about what attracts people to their work. Tilden trained in both glass and gold and silversmithing at the Australian National University School of Art, Canberra. She quickly established a reputation for making jewellery based on repeated elements, often in the form of chains. Tilden maintains that, then as now, her ‘inspiration comes from the industrial age and it’s associated mass production techniques … the industrial landscape and apparatus that characterized this era.’1 However, the elements have become less overtly mechanical, more abstracted from the original function of pulley, cog or link. Porter is a graduate of the same art school where both trained under Johannes Kuhnen. There is an unspoken common approach to how they work and solve problems that they feel comes from this initial training with one of Australia’s leading gold and silversmithing practitioners and teachers. After graduation, as well as developing her practice in jewellery, Porter spent some time working for Thylacine, a museum display company that required skill and resourcefulness in making specialist fittings. The experience fed into her aptitude for tools and processes, such as those she has developed for her series of folding brooches, rings and neckpieces. A growing interest in classification and working with multiples suits the way she ‘combines industrial methods with traditional techniques’, she says2. Tilden’s earlier mentorship with Susan Cohn taught her, she acknowledges, ‘how to make jewellery mean something to me: how to see what was out there and to make things happen.’ Tilden passed this on to Porter, more by example than in any formal sense: in conversation, observations and asides, and in the small details that are shared when you are in daily contact with someone. The studio came hot on the heels of the mentorship and was a natural progression for both makers. How it came about is revealing of more than circumstance alone. The studio was founded in a sequence of serendipitous events. On the building there was a leftover sign ‘Hacienda’. This meant something to both Porter and Tilden: it was the name of the Manchester 89

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nightclub that gave birth to bands such as Joy Division, designed by Peter Saville, who defined industrial chic for a generation and had the knack of marrying life and art. They adopted the name as their own, and added Saville’s ‘hazard’ stripe to their studio. The signature piece for Studio Haçienda continued the theme. Porter recalls ‘Blanche noticed someone wearing a ‘work safety’ black and yellow wristband, typical of the current street fashion of wearing a band to show an affiliation with a cause’. Tilden followed it up and secured the leftover stock. They added a simple stamped aluminium tag to the souvenir bracelet. It was to be a celebration of their new venture and a gift to friends and colleagues. Quite incidentally it became a powerful piece of guerilla marketing. (see photo page 86) In the studio each continues their own individual practice. However, constant dialogue helps clarify directions and solutions for both in an environment of trust and respect. As Tilden struggled with the ‘bike chain’ label associated with her earlier work, Porter reflected Tilden’s own advice back to her. Tilden found a way forward by finding that the appeal of the chain came from a deeper proclivity to grade, an inclination to collect that she enjoyed even as a child. Repetition is ‘in my brain’, she says. Porter’s aptitude for sorting and classifying finds resonance in Tilden’s way of making sense of the world. There will naturally be a cross-fertilisation of skills and a sharing of expertise in particular materials and techniques. For example, Tilden’s experience has broadened Porter’s understanding of serial production, while Porter’s computer 90

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aided drawing skills have introduced Tilden to the benefits of electron wire cutting. And a collaborative project, General Assembly, is underway. The concept exemplifies their common ground: working in multiples, exploring the individual impulse to select, combine and adorn, alertness to the ubiquitous street styles that pulse through a city. It will be a project that involves people in a lively, intelligent conversation though the object. That’s Studio Haçienda. Originally published in Smart works: design and the handmade, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, 2007

opposite and below BLANCHE TILDEN AND PHOEBE PORTER, STUDIO HAÇIENDA 2007 Photo: Rhiannon Slatter

Blanche Tilden

GENERAL ASSEMBLY: A REVIEW IN PARTS MERRYN GATES

The idea ‘General Assembly (Canberra)’ is the second collaborative project by Studio Haçienda. The reference is to industrial processes—the factory assembly line–not high school timetables. ‘General Assembly’ is not only a collaboration between Phoebe Porter and Blanche Tilden, who established their Melbourne workshop in 2005, it is also a collaboration between them and the audience It follows an initial ‘General Assembly’ which was part of the Craft Victoria exhibition Solutions for Better Living (8 March—7 April 2007, curator Kate Rhodes (Phoebe Porter, Blanche Tilden and Susan Cohn at the exhibition opening below). Together Porter and Tilden developed shapes and textures redolent of Canberra (as they had for Melbourne). They went back to Marion Mahoney Griffin’s beautiful watercolour drawings that were submitted for Walter Burley Griffin’s entry in the competition to design Australia’s new capital city. They adopted the ubiquitous roundabouts that drive people crazy when they first come to live here. They abstracted the structure of the carillon, the bell tower that stands sentinel over the lake. All strong memories of a city in which both artists had spent many years (both studied at the Canberra School of Art, ANU). The intention was to compile a set of component parts that could be assembled into a brooch in a variety of ways: an engineering and design challenge in itself. Assembled not by them, but by audience members. The prototype Prototypes were made from a raft of initial computer drawings. The prototypes

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were all hand-cut and finished. It is at this stage that things such as scale can be adjusted; what looks right on a computer drawing might not sit well on a person’s lapel or chest. The choice of a brooch, perhaps the least genderspecific piece of jewellery they feel, must be able to be worn comfortably on a suit, jacket, dress, t-shirt, or scarf. The component parts Once the prototype had been tested, the component parts were electron wire cut in multiples for a finite edition, but each piece required hand-finishing and anodising. In the talk Tilden showed a chart she used to track what pieces had been finished: an exercise in time-management, the sheer quantity of parts and the myriad permutations possible underlined the extensive choice in the eventual selection. The audience immediately started to do the mathematics. Tilden added, to confirm our thoughts, that as yet no combination had been repeated. The palette of colours and finishes (matt or polished) add an extra layer of complexity. One’s selection could be multi-coloured, multi-dimensional, monotone or even minimal. Single or multiple pressed glass components could be inserted. One piece I saw used only one component with a contrasting rivet. Since Studio Haçienda was established, graphic designer Ty Bukewitsch has been an integral part of their identity. He designed a fold-out brochure (the step-by-step instructions) for the Craft Victoria session, and for Workshop Bilk. For ‘General Assembly (Canberra)’ he also designed signage based on Marion Mahoney Griffin’s plans: simple, graphic and effective, and all in the brand colours of Studio Haçienda: hazard yellow and black.

GENERAL ASSEMB LY — MELBOURNE BROOCHES 2007 flameworked borosilicate glass, anodised aluminium, stainless steel variable dimensions Photo: Rhiannon Slatter Collection: Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery

Blanche Tilden

The choice I think this is where the project is really interesting. As consumers we are so used to making our choice from finished objects. If I analyse the process I go though, and this is what Porter and Tilden wanted to promote, I often take a bit of a gamble with the actual design if I know I like the artist’s work. In other words, I trust the designer to take me to new places with their choices. I found myself thinking about symmetry or asymmetry, simplicity or complication, depth of colour, relationships of colour and finish. These are the building blocks of design: thoughtfulness about each decision, each choice. These objects are different because we have entered into a game with Porter and Tilden. It is a generous game that allows us into their world. The assembly One selected with a step-by-step guide to the assembly of the component parts, using a neat black tray, like a designer cafeteria lunch. This part of the process could take quite awhile, and I noted some people going through the process only to start again from scratch. When the final decision had been made, the tray was taken over to a workbench, where Porter and Tilden sat in readiness to assemble the brooch. Each piece was stamped with the Studio Haçienda mark and given a unique number. The archive Each numbered piece is recorded, so Studio Haçienda has a record of who put together which pieces. To this end, they and the graphic designer, developed the form that doubles as an easy reckoner for the cost of the final piece, in much the same way as one shops at Ikea ( the different size plates are costed, as are the rivets and glass parts ( A+B+B+C= X). Originally published in Craft Culture, Craft Victoria’s online reviews, 2007

GENERAL ASSEMB LY — CANBERRA BROOCHES 2007 flameworked borosilicate glass, anodised aluminium, stainless steel variable dimensions Photo: Johannes Kuhnen Collection: Canberra Museum and Gallery

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Blanche Tilden

BLANCHE TILDEN: TRUE SFA PRESS PUBLICATION 2010 ISBN 978-0-9808233-1-8 © SFA Press, the artist, the authors and the photographers. All rights reserved. Apart from fair dealing permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means electronic, mechanical, or otherwise without prior permission of the publisher. About the authors: Anne Brennan is Head of Art Theory at the ANU School of Art, Canberra Syliva Kleinert is an art historian and writer Jenny Zimmer an arts publisher and critic Merryn Gates is an independent art curator, writer, consultant and publisher Kevin Murray is an independent art writer, theorist and curator Jane Barney worked in the arts sector for twelve years and now manages cultural programs in the public service Simone Le Amon is an artist-designer and writer ALL PHOTOGRAPHS ARE © THE ARTIST. ALL PHOTOGRAPHS ARE COURTESY THE ARTIST UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. Permission to reprint the essays herein has been granted by the authors and galleries involved. EDITOR: MERRYN GATES DESIGN: COUCH CREATIVE PRINT: BLUE STAR PRINT Blue Star Print is a Forest Stewardship Council, Chain of Custody certified company. All processes are controlled via their Environment Management System that is certified to ISO 14001. The SFA Press policy is to use papers that are made from wood that is grown in sustainable forests. FONT: GOTHAM PAPER: 150gsm Harvest/300 gsm XXX EDITION: 250

Published by SFA Press PO Box 5037 Lyneham ACT Australia 2602 p+61 (0)2 6248 6050 www.merryngates.com SFA Press was established to publish monographs on Australian contemporary artists. Our aim is to improve access to information about the many fine established artists working across the country.

front cover GRADED PALAIS NECKLACE (DETAIL) 2010 flameworked borosilicate glass, oxidised 925 silver 20mm high x 300mm diameter Photo: Marcus Scholz

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BLANCHE TILDEN TRUE Undoubtedly the innovative glass and metal jewellery of Blanche Tilden is the result of virtuosic handling of materials. Her preference for this combination— full of optimism as it is— gives the objects an extraordinary potential to hold meaning. Each body of work is not only a search for technical solutions, but an exploration of the social, cultural and environmental context of the work and its ongoing life as personal adornment. As the comments by owners of her work testify, they strike a deep and resonant emotional chord with the wearer. True counterpoints their words alongside several essays written for her shows by leading cultural commentators who have championed her work over the years. The work of Blanche Tilden is in major collections in Australia and the USA. She is based in the Boyd School Studios, Melbourne.