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Friday, February 11, 2011

I believe in low lights and trick mirrors.


In the last few weeks I have met a whole bunch of exciting, inspiring, interesting and fresh new people. I've hung out with some of my favorite people on the planet in Auckland, I've had some of the best conversations I've had in years, and I'm starting to feel a little less unsettled. One might even say I feel a bit more balanced (how long this will last is anybodies guess).

On two separate occasions, in two different countries, and with two people I had never met, the topic of my 365 Brooch Project came up. I tend to feel a bit embarrassed about this subject, mostly because I never finished it and because after about 100 brooches, it was beginning to get on my nerves. Of course I had these romantic notions of the end result up on a gallery wall, a catalogue and world wide fame and fortune, but the real fact of the matter was, it started out purely as an exercise in making, making anything, with anything, and not really giving a damn about what it was that I was making.

I still get the guilts that I never finished it, and perhaps even more now after these two recent conversations, that took place in two different countries, and with two people I had never met.

Conversation ONE took place in the car on the way to the Airport in Auckland, NZ (Jasmine and I had just spent a few days hanging out with the Jewellery Geeks and attending the opening of Touch Pause Engage). The topic of my 365 Project was broached (sorry), I squirmed in back seat of the car. The comments were positive, they loved the way I used different materials, and the excitement of coming back to the blog every so often and seeing a whole bunch of new and interesting brooches to peruse through, that they were inspired by the project.

Conversation TWO took place in my office at work, with an artist who had just opened her show in gallery 2 (go and see it, it's freaking GREAT). She mentioned that she always enjoyed looking at project (cue guilty squirming) and seeing the what materials I would use and even suggested that once she was back in Japan, that she would send me some crazy materials to see what I would do with them.

All these comments have had me thinking. Should I start again? I had always thought this project was just for me, but it appears that it connected with more people than I could have ever imagined.

While I ponder these thoughts, below are some images of work that I made last year, some of it just for kicks and others for shows.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers - Z









4 comments:

Isabella Golightly said...

No, don't start again, just keep going. I loved it too. I've got some stuff you'd like (you have no idea what kind of crap I've got tucked away, but I'm sure you'd love it all (isn't that what everybody says to makers of found objects?)... hehe... hope all is well!

Anonymous said...

This about it this way Zoe - if you were a cricketer you would be on a score of 100+ NOT OUT (you weren't bowled, you weren't stumped, nor caught in the slips ... you're NOT OUT) ... that's a pretty fabulous achievement yes?!

Perhaps you could rename the 365+ project to TEST100+ (and forget about feeling guilty!) ... and to further extend the analogy, if I may be so bold as to suggest, you could even run a quick 20/20 (twenty pieces in twenty days or weeks) in the future when the urge takes you again?

It's super that your project connected with many people ... what I liked most was the sponteneity and humour you brought to making ... but it can get tough when the inspiration goes walkabout and it becomes more of a chore ...

So my thoughts are to go with the muse, with the whims, and make as the feeling takes you, and make because you love it!

K

B said...

Me can make box?

Laura Bradshaw-Heap said...

HI,
here is another person you have never met inspired by the 365 project!.... I love the concept, but completely relate to the guilt of having stalled,
my 100 ring project started in July paused at about 5....

maybe all of us who have started these exciting, hard, but rewarding projects, should club together and spur each other on?!!!!

(ps, thanks for adding my still teeny blog to your inspiration section!)
Laura

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