FERROcity was co-curated by Bottomley and Turrell and exhibited the praxis of twenty-two contemporary jewellery artists. Each answered a call at the end of 2018 to respond to one common element, iron and for works to be shown within the mineral collections of the Bavaria state Mineralogische Staatssammlung, München, during International Jewellery Week, 2019.
Professor Stephen Bottomley FERROcity presentation, International Jewellery College Association Conference Beijing Biennale, China 2019
Exhibitors
Birmingham School of Jewellery:
- Stephen Bottomley (UK) (Co-curator)
- Dauvit Alexander (UK)
- Jivan Astfalck (UK/DE)
- Jeremy Hobbins (UK)
- Bridie Lander (UK/AU)
- Anna Lorenz (UK/DE)
- Sarah O’Hana (UK)
- Drew Markou (UK)
- Toni Mayner (UK)
- Jo Pond (UK)
- Rebecca Steiner (UK)
Invited artists
- Elizabeth Turrell (UK) (Co-curator)
- Marianne Anderson (UK)
- Tim Carson (UK)
- Rachael Colley (UK)
- Bettina Dittlmann (DE)
- Christine Graf (DE)
- Kirsten Haydon (NZ/AU)
- Michael Jank (DE)
- Joohee Han (SK)
- Simone Nolden (UK/DE)
- Jo Pudelko (UK/CA)
Presenting contemporary jewellery and objects alongside gemmological scientific samples and microscope photographs gave a context to explore iron’s influence on the world around us as a catalyst and fundamental element of life.
The exhibition returned to Birmingham’s School of Jewellery, April 2019, where the concept originated as an international exhibition involving staff across all specialist areas (Jewellery, Silversmithing, Horology and Gemmology).
The show was invited to Shanghai (Nov/Dec 2019) after Beijing’s International Jewellery Biennale, (Oct 2019), where it was one of three exhibitions each with their own purpose-built pavilion accommodating large public audiences but the only one curated by Western scholars. Bottomley delivered a paper based on a review by US gallerist Mike Holmes, published in the ‘Journal for Jewellery Research, Volume 3, 2020 at the International Jewellery College Association Conference (19.10.19).
