ELLIPTIC 

SHINING LANDSCAPES by Alex O’Connor

_STORY STATEMENT

Galerie Artempo introduces this work by Alex O’connor, from West Cornwall, Uk. Alex is an acclaimed British artist and has developed a series of work focusing on capturing moments within the landscape of her surrounds, this echo of nature is achieved through natural hand finishing applications and organic sculptural forms. Elliptic Series was inspired by the unique geological formations and elongated shadows of a tiny cove in west Cornwall, Porth Nanven. The works feature an exquisite hand applied softly scoured surface to the Sterling silver.

‘‘I design silverware that is unadorned yet subtly tactile, celebrating the material while evoking ephemeral sensations through the metal.’’

_Alex O’Connor

Alex O’Connor came to silversmithing from a background in Fine Art and Sculpture. Accordingly, her silverware merges an inherent understanding of form, composition, balance and surface with the specific disciplines of contemporary craft. Her recent collections are created through a process that begins with walking in the Cornish landscape and moves into drawing and model making. The resulting pieces bring together ideas of both our external and internal landscape. The world is a beautiful place, filled with wonders, but also cacophonous, baffling, chaotic and overwhelming for me. I convert these sensations into silverware and wearable sculptures that are suffused with harmony, composure, poise and serenity. In 2019 Alex has exhibited at Collect and will be at Handmade Oxford and the Goldsmiths’ Fair, Week Two.

‘‘Each piece, with its inherent suggestion of containment, seeks to hold meaning, memory or a sense of place’’

_Crafts Council