ARTIST STATEMENT

 

'MOVING MOUNTAINS'

Stood before a mountain you are faced with an awe inspiring scene, filled with the feeling of fear and beauty combined. They are older than our measuring of time, full of wisdom and many secrets of the earth, yet are forever in a state of change. Flowing, crumbling and growing beneath our feet as we climb ever higher pushing past the limits we thought we had to see inside ourselves at the very core. You must learn the nature of the landscape and bend to it, seek to conquer a mountain and it will conquer you.

 

Annaliese Foster explores a variety of materials ranging from sterling silver to leaves, creating tactile combinations in her works by utilising their properties to create something new. Taking inspiration from the natural world around her, and immersing herself in harsh landscapes on mountaineering expeditions. Annaliese Foster draws on the ephemeral qualities of paper, leaves and earth to contrast with the stoic frames of metal.

 

From these materiel explorations she has created a range of wearables and sculptures each representing a monumental moment in time on the mountains. Line, form and colour evoke the physical and emotional landscape of the land she journeyed through.

 

PRESS RELEASE 27th February 2014

 

PRESENTING 'MOVING MOUNTAINS' MOVING CONTEMPORARY JEWELLERY FORWARD.

Annaliese Foster, studying at Birmingham's prestigious School of Jewellery has designed and made a collection of sculptures and wearable finely crafted, metalwork mountains, enshrouding hand carved miniature paper landscapes inside. The non-precious materials in her pieces make the work ephemeral like the mountains she has explored thus inspiring this collection, experiencing the unseen delicate side to the frightening beauty of them. She has produced this collection 'Moving Mountains' for her graduate show which will be held at the School of Jewellery from Monday 9th June until Saturday 14th June, with an Industry evening on Tuesday 10th June.

 

Combining her two passions of art and adventure an exciting collision is made that can be seen through the contrasting choice of materials in her work. Drawing on her traditional jewellery making techniques while pushing the realms of what jewellery can be with the inclusion of transient materials used in a sophisticated manner to create something beautiful. "The layers of paper I built up like the layers within the earth bring a closeness to land reminiscent of how I feel on my adventures by the materials ephemeral nature." The collection consists of miniature mountain brooches, earrings and rings that transform the ear and hand into an intricate landscape.

 

In her search for adventure and inspiration she took on the Scottish winter this year after being picked as one of the eight by the Godfrey Jackson Memorial Award to embark on this expedition. With the weather at its fiercest she had to wade through the heaviest snowfall in years, and make decisions upon the risks of avalanches "you don't conquer a mountain, you learn to bend to it; as we cannot move mountains but they can move themselves." With conditions at their worst emotions run high, and it's at these extreme moments that spark her best creations; come and see the beauty, the tension, the strength in the wire structures she creates.

 

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For further information about the contents of this press release or for images please contact Annaliese Foster on:

Email: annaliesefoster@live.co.uk

Website: www.annaliesefoster.com

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