Capturing the diversity of native flora in intricate detail, Regine Schwarzer’s entry in this year’s Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize has received a Highly Commended award.
Regine, a contemporary jeweller and visual arts lecturer at TAFE SA’s Adelaide College of the Arts (AC Arts), created a series of spoons inspired by her daily walks in the Adelaide Hills/Peramangk country where she lives.
Entitled Native Twig Spoons, the collection of six spoons is made from patinated brass with each handle depicting the shape and texture of specially chosen pieces of flora, the detail captured using a lost cast waxing method.
The Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, established in 2002, invites visual artists to create works inspired by the natural environment and recognises the connection between nature, science and art. Shortlisted entries are exhibited at the SA Museum.
Regine says her spoons are “a reminder of the significance, fragility and preciousness of our ecosystem and landscape”.
The artist and teacher, who works from a studio in Bridgewater, has been exploring spoon making since learning the craft during a residency in China in 2017.
While her passion is jewellery, incorporating minerals and rocks, Regine says it’s “quite liberating” to spend time making other objects.
“I learnt spoon making from Kenny (Yong-soo) Son who is an object designer-maker from South Korea, based in Sydney, when I was at the San W Gallery and Studio in Shanghai, China, and I’ve made a few different styles since then including some with gemstones, which were part of an exhibition at the David Roche Foundation House Museum,” she says.
Regine is currently working on a collaborative jewellery project which will be exhibited at the Radiant Pavilion in Melbourne in September.
She is also looking forward to seeing an exhibition of selected pieces of work by some of her students who are completing a Certificate IV in Visual Arts at TAFE SA.
The student exhibition - Histories, Identities, Selves - will be at the Light Square Gallery, AC Arts, 39 Light Square, Adelaide, from 7-19 June.
The Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize exhibition is at the SA Museum until 10 June.