Catherine Martin | Resonance | 2 August - 1 September 2018 | The Scottish Gallery

Catherine Martin RESONANCE

Catherine Martin RESONANCE 2 August – 1 September 2018 www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/catherinemartin

Catherine Martin RESONANCE Look, stranger, at this island now The leaping light for your delight discovers, Stand stable here And silent be, That through the channels of the ear May wander like a river The swaying sound of the sea.

From W H Auden, Look, stranger, at this island now (1936) Catherine Martin’s jewels sing softly with the beauty of her modulated palette of materials.

In this new collection, she explores the use of semi-precious stones, each sensitively chosen to resonate with the gold and platinum alloys selected for their hues and tonal qualities.

The bluish tone of milky cabochon moonstones, shot with touches of radiant fire, reflects the silvery-blue of the braided platinum. Backing the stones allowed her to ‘fix’ their colour while retaining their translucency, bestowing on them an exquisitely enigmatic quality: a subtle ‘leaping light’.

A closer look begins to reveal the complex intricacy of their construction and assemblage.

Each jewel evolves from a making process

requiring days of labour-intensive work and consummate skill. One necklace in this collection, for example, is constructed of thirteen ‘islands’ composed of intricate fragments, each painstakingly constructed, assembled and joined into a harmonious jewel sitting perfectly on the body (Shoal Circle, cat.1).

Catherine uses kumihimo, the traditional Japanese art of silk braiding, which dates back to the 6th century. True to the principle of combining beauty with function, kumihimo braids are used in many different areas of Japanese life and culture from noh theatre to samurai armour. Instead of silk, however, Catherine uses fine precious metals, an innovation that has taken this ancient technique to hitherto

unexplored places. Every piece inspires her with the possibility of new directions. The work demands an exceptional level of focus. Handbraiding fine precious metals is unforgiving, the smallest mistake creating irreversible kinks in the wire. She takes particular care to balance colour, texture and form, rejecting numerous experiments and samples in her quest for perfect visual harmony.

unpublished historical braids dating from the Heian and Kamakura periods (794-1192 and 1192-1573 respectively). Guided by the hereditary head of the School, Mrs Katsuko Dōmyō, she became its first non-Japanese student to graduate from training on all four looms. She returned to Japan some years later with a grant from the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation to research historic kumihimo.

Catherine’s talent has placed her in the top rank of artist jewellers for more than three decades. Her jewels are the physical embodiment of a multi-faceted creative journey whose strands have been woven together as seamlessly as those of her technique. Her artistic career began as a professional musician. She graduated in violin and singing from the Guildhall School of Music, before taking up a postgraduate scholarship to study singing at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. A period working in music theatre, musicals, opera, TV and film took her from Britain to Japan, where an introduction to the prestigious Dōmyō School of Kumihimo fundamentally changed her career trajectory.

Back in Britain, her silk kumihimo braids were acquired by both private and public collections including the Crafts Council and the V&A. Another unexpected change of direction followed in the 1990s when she experimented with adapting these traditional textile techniques to fine metal wires. In 1991, her first fine precious metal kumihimo earrings won first prize in the Student Section of the UK Platinum Award; they were purchased by the V&A four years later.

She developed this innovative work further at the Royal College of Art, graduating with an MPhil in kumihimo in metal in 1994. Over the next few years, her jewellery was swiftly acquired by several of the UK’s most important public collections: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the Goldsmiths’ Company, the National Museums of Scotland and the V&A. Such early recognition is rare in the traditionally cautious world of museum collecting. Later, pieces were also acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Museum of Arts and Design, New York. Her journey had taken her from

Captivated by these intricate braids, Catherine took a four-year-long course learning to master their numerous varieties and techniques on the four types of kumihimo loom. Most unusually, she was given the rare opportunity to concentrate on reproductions of complex,

musician to textile artist and then artist jeweller, all at the highest level.

Music has always remained central to her life.

Her work is ‘fuelled by sounds that are always flowing through my head: the Bach cello suites, the preludes and fugues, late Beethoven string quartets, fragments from Messaien and Arvo Pärt… [These] influenced my thinking from an early age but there is no attempt to illustrate or interpret these sounds. What I make is just an internal response to what I hear.’ Creating kumihimo is a meditative, rhythmic process; the music, playing into the rhythm of the making, is tacitly reflected in the final form. Shoal Circle (cat. 1) was made while listening to Bach’s Goldberg Variations ‘over and over again’.

Choice and risk confront each other at every stage of a piece. Some initial samples for this new work ‘were not right… they were too reflective, not subtle enough’. With infinite patience, she started again, this time with 100% platinum. Resolving the significant technical challenges involved were essential to the realisation of her vision for the piece.

This year, a new type of platinum braid, worked on a different loom, suggested new possibilities of pattern and texture. She has also experimented with cutting and melting 22 carat gold to create the resonance of age within a contemporary context. ‘Tiniest changes in

the alloy or thickness of the wire, pressure and weights make a huge difference to what actually happens.’ Her technical processes are always concept-led. She is driven by the pursuit of the unexplored, which she describes as being like ‘Beethoven string quartets: unknown landscapes… the process is only there to try and get near to what is inside.’

She has also been exploring stone-setting, ‘intrigued by the idea of combining little braided platinum and gold petals in a way in which the stone would appear to grow out from them.’ Technically-demanding, this also required working from the back of a piece rather than the front. The challenges were aesthetic too: in order to integrate the stones with the braids successfully in terms of colour ‘they needed to be equal partners but with an individual quality.’

This ruled out highly-coloured stones or cuts which did not relate sympathetically to the surfaces of the braided elements.

The finished pieces, with their delicate flowing forms and intriguing textures, are a joy to wear and behold. Each jewel is a miniature masterpiece, resonant with the music, passion and soul of a uniquely-talented artist.

DR ELIZABETH GORING Edinburgh, June 2018

Musical Resonance Music has always remained central to my life.

My work is fuelled by sounds that are always flowing through my head: the Bach cello suites, the preludes and fugues, late Beethoven string quartets, fragments from Messaien and Arvo Pärt… [These] influenced my thinking from an early age but there is no attempt to illustrate or interpret these sounds. What I make is just an internal response to what I hear.

Creating kumihimo is a meditative, rhythmic process; The music, playing into the rhythm of the making, is tacitly reflected in the final form.

Shoal Circle was made while listening to Bach’s Goldberg Variations ‘over and over again’.

1/

Shoal Circle, 2018 gold, platinum, L40.5 cms (not to scale)

2/

Petal Pendant, 2017 gold, platinum, moonstone, H4 cms (not to scale)

3/

Petal Earrings, 2017 gold, platinum, moonstones, H2.5 cms (not to scale)

4/

Pendant of Droplets, 2017 gold, platinum, moonstones, H3 cms (not to scale)

Every piece inspires her with the possibility of new directions. The work demands an exceptional level of focus. Hand-braiding fine precious metals is unforgiving, the smallest mistake creating irreversible kinks in the wire. She takes particular care to balance colour, texture and form, rejecting numerous experiments and samples in her quest for perfect visual harmony.

5/

Pendant of Leaves, 2017 gold, platinum, moonstone, H4 cms (not to scale)

6/

Pendant of Ripples, 2018 gold, platinum, moonstone, W3.5 cms (not to scale)

7/

Moon Pendant, 2018 lapis lazuli, gold, platinum, W3.5 cms (not to scale)

8/

Cluster Earrings, 2018 gold, platinum, H2 x W2 cms (not to scale)

9/

Paper earrings, 2018 gold, platinum, H4 cms (not to scale)

10/ Two Leaves Earrings, 2018 gold, platinum, moonstones, H2.5 cms (not to scale)

11/ Wings Earrings, 2018 gold, platinum, moonstones H2.3 cms (not to scale)

12/ Single Leaf Earrings, 2018 gold, platinum, H2.6 cms (not to scale)

13/ Furled Leaf Earrings, 2018 gold, platinum, H2.8 cms (not to scale)

14/ Fish Earrings, 2018 gold, platinum, H1.7 cms (not to scale)

15/ Leaping Fish Earrings, 2018 gold, platinum, H1 cms (not to scale)

CATHERINE MARTIN BORN

London, 1949

EDUCATION 1992-1994 1989-1992 1979-1983 1968-1972

Royal College of Art: M Phil: Kumihimo in Metal Sir John Cass: Metalwork and Jewellery: Extended Studies programme Domyo School of Kumihimo, Tokyo: Diploma in Kumihimo Guildhall School of Music: voice and violin: AGSM (voice)

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 2018 Resonance: solo show, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 2018 Nexus: Kirkcaldy Galleries, Scotland: Ruthin Craft Centre, Wales 2018 Collect: with the Goldsmiths’ Company, Saatchi Gallery, London 2016 Out of this World: The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 2015 A Sense of Jewellery: Goldsmiths’ Centre, London 2014 Collect: with Contemporary Applied Arts: Saatchi Gallery, London 2011 Collect: with Tyger Glyn Gallery: Saatchi Gallery, London 2009 Creation II: Goldsmiths’ Company, Goldsmiths’ Hall, London 2007 Collect: with The Scottish Gallery, V&A, London 2006 In this World Out of this World: The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 2004 Collect: with Contemporary Applied Arts, V&A, London 2004 L’Or: Bijoux d’Europe. Cagnes-sur-Mer, touring France 2004 Metamorphose in Metal: solo show at Nana Hellwege Gallery, Hamburg 2002 SOFA: Chicago with the Crafts Council, USA 2001 Contrasts: solo show, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh 2001 Wabi Sabi, Contemporary Applied Arts, London 2000 SOFA: Chicago with the Crafts Council, USA 2000 Treasures of the Millennium, Goldsmiths’ Company, London 1998 British Gold/Italian Gold: The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh and Padua, Italy 1998 Jewellery Moves: National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh 1998 British Gold/Italian Gold: The Scottish Gallery and Padua, Italy 1998 SOFA with Helen Drutt Gallery USA 1998 Brooching it Diplomatically: Helen Drutt Gallery, Philadelphia, USA 1998 Fifty Pieces of Gold: Contemporary Applied Arts, London 1996 Threads of Gold: solo exhibition, Crafts Council at the V&A, London

1995 1993 1989 1986

British Jewellers Landesmuseum, Mainz, Germany Showcase, Platinum Awards exhibition, Goldsmiths’ Hall Interlacing: American Crafts Council, New York Kumihimo: Tradition: Techniques: Innovation: Crafts Council touring exhibition

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Crafts Council, London Ipswich Museum Museum of Fine Art, Boston, USA Museum of Art and Design, New York, USA

National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh The Goldsmiths’ Company, London Victoria & Albert Museum, London West Midlands Arts

SELECTED AWARDS 2008 Association of Contemporary Jewellery Award 1995 Crafts Council Setting Up Grant 1993 Darwin Scholarship, Royal College of Art 1993-98 Goldsmiths’ Craft Council and Design Awards 1992 Special Award Goldsmiths’ Company 1992 British Jewellers Association Award 1991 First prize UK Platinum Award 1986 Great Britain-Sasakawa Foundation: travelling research award, Japan 1972-73 Hungarian government post graduate scholarship: vocal studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest 1971 Hesse award: Aldeburgh Festival: assigned to Imogen Holst SELECTED PUBLICATIONS 2011 Collect: Contemporary Jewellery: Joanna Hardy: Thames and Hudson 2008 Jewels and Jewellery: Clare Phillips: V&A publications 2007 The Earrings Book: Yvonne Kulagowski 2001 Goldsmiths Review 1998 Exquisite: The World of Japanese Kumihimo braiding: Kodansha 1996 Textile Techniques in Metal: Arlene Fisch: Lark Books 1996 Crafts Magazine 1991 Kumihimo: Catherine Martin: Lark Books, 1991 1986 Kumihimo: Catherine Martin: Old Hall Press 1984 Crafts Magazine

Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition CATHERINE MARTIN RESONANCE 2 August – 1 September 2018 Exhibition can be viewed online at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/catherinemartin ISBN 978-1-910267-82-0 Designed by Kenneth Gray Photography and studio portrait by James Champion with the exception of cat. 3 by Richard Valencia Printed by J Thomson Colour Printers, Glasgow All rights reserved. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in any form by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permission of the copyright holders and of the publishers.

Catherine Martin would like to thank the following: I would like to thank my teachers. Coming from a textile background this work would not have been possible without their generosity.

Especially from Ralph Hollingdale and Jacqueline Mina who gave unstintingly of their expertise, experience and imagination in suggesting how my braiding skills could be transformed using metal wire to make wearable jewellery.

My thanks also go to Dorle Patzold (MA RCA) for her immense skill in helping to realise many pieces over many years. They also go to Elizabeth Goring for writing such a sensitive and insightful piece for this catalogue.

I have to thank The Scottish Gallery, with their enthusiastic supporters and collectors.

Cover: Shoal Circle, 2018, gold, platinum, L40.5 cms (cat. 1) Inside covers: Shoal Circle, 2018, gold, platinum, L40.5 cms (detail) (cat. 1)