Brisbane based contemporary jeweller and object maker Bianca Mavrick works across a diverse palette of precious and everyday materials. Bianca combines handcrafting with industrial fabrication processes to create bold, unique and playful pieces. Her latest collection of jewellery and lighting objects, Brick Block, is on display in our Ivory Street window from the 18th August to 28th September. Mavrick explores memories through motif, and for Brick Block, she aims to decipher the visual language of local architecture and remnant memories of familiar places into motif form. Recently artisan sat down with Bianca for a Q & A to learn more about her unique craft …
Since graduating from the Queensland College of Art in 2013 your vibrant and unique jewellery pieces have been attracting much success, including an ArtStart grant by the Australia Council. What does the next 12 months have in store for your practice? How will this grant help you to achieve your goals?
Following on from this new body of work Brick Block and installation in the Ivory St window, I’m also working on contemporary jewellery, small objects and larger sculptures for my first solo exhibition at A-CH gallery in November. In December I’m heading to Melbourne to do The Big Design Market. Next year I’ll just keep on going steady, making new production ranges, work to exhibit, and hopefully I’ll head away on an artist residency for a while. ArtStart is a really amazing opportunity to focus on your practice and achieve career goals without being restricted by finances.
Your new range Brick Block currently on display in our Ivory St window has been inspired through memories of familiar places combined with the visual language of local architecture. Would you elaborate further on the process of inspiration and creation which you have employed for Brick Block ?
Brick Block is all about attempting to decipher the visual language of local architecture, and remnant memories of familiar places into motif form. Expressing a memory through a graphic motif has become a central part of my practice. So the motifs are a visual representation of the exploration of these personal, local architectural ‘landmarks’ that I feel have remained unchanged constant signposts while I’ve lived my whole life in Brisbane. It was about analysing the visual language of architecture and transforming it into a graphic motif. When I look at these shapes they definitely spark memories for me of certain places I’ve frequented my whole life around the Brisbane suburbs of West End, Dutton Park and Kangaroo Point. I was thinking a lot of these very concrete Greek and Italian migrant homes I grew up around. I collaborated with my friend, graphic designer Jack Loel to create the motifs, a first because in the past I do this graphic design independently, starting from paper cut collages I make. But Jack and I collaborated because we were already working closely on other graphic design projects for my jewellery (collection look books etc) and we could see our practices aligning and influencing one another!
Could you describe a typical day in your studio?
Everyday is different! I’m always up at 6am and unlocking the studio at 8.30am. I tend to visit suppliers and manufacturers I outsource to in the mornings and then sit down at my bench to work at to do lists of stock production or orders. I have an infinite playlist for the studio and an extensive tea collection, but maybe my day is really just structured around snacks. I like listening to podcasts like This American Life while I work because I’m lonely not being in a shared studio environment anymore. I can talk underwater, at QCA there was always an endless stream of chatter for those around me and while I worked I’d bounce ideas. Now, my jeweller friends come to visit me in the studio and stay on helping with small production jobs while we chat. If things get too stressful or difficult I take a walk around the block to go browse in Folio books and to get a milkshake. I do tend to stay late in the studio, it’s a force of habit from my uni days. I have a fold out banana lounge pool chair I nap on, but mostly at night it is fun to experiment and create new works. Evening drives home sometimes involve a late night Bunnings run for any necessary supplies.
What would you consider to be the main challenges contemporary jewellers face in attempting to establish their own practice?
Oh, I think that is different for everyone. Generally for jewellers graduating out of school there is a degree of difficulty to keep making without the fully equipped studio you become accustomed too. But you find ways to work around that if you are serious about continuing your practice. For me, my challenges have always been about having some semblance of work-life balance and keeping my stress levels down, or at least concealed from others. Balancing the logistical side of running a craft business with the energy needed to create and develop new work can also be a challenge.
Do you have any words of advice for other emerging contemporary jewellers?
From my experiences, I think it is important to figure out the kind of career trajectory you want to aspire to as a contemporary jeweller and artist. Then find a mentor that fits that path to give you the right advice along the way. I think it is so important to stay connected with your peers and collaborate with artists outside of your own discipline. It is also important to know what is going on in the art world beyond the bubble of contemporary jewellery and craft. Just keep consistently making. Find the visual vocabulary of your work, stay consistent and explore and evolve that.
As a part of the Ivory St exhibition Bianca has a selection of her latest “Brick Block” jewellery range available for purchase in the artisan store
