On Friday, January 14 at 18:00 exhibitions THREE STORIES and TRACES IN TIME will open on A-Gallery WINDOWS.
THREE STORIES
Aino Kapsta, Keesi Kapsta, Henry Mardisalu
THREE STORIES is about three generations of a family and their take on jewellery. The three artists’ three different stories are tightly interwoven and influential to each other.
The main asset and inspiration of the Kapsta family is the esteemed Estonian jewellery artist Aino Kapsta, who’s work experience starts way back in the Soviet times. In the past couple of years Kapsta has mostly been working in filigree. Kapsta’s delicate and detailed filigree jewelry has won the hearts of many jewelry admirers. During her 60 years in art jewellery, Aino Kapsta’s work has travelled to London, Italy, Berlin, Moscow and Japan. This exhibition is the 12th time for Aino Kapsta to be showing in A-Gallery.
Aino Kapsta’s daughter Keesi Kapsta initially studied graphic design, but was also drawn to jewellery. Although having learned a lot from her mother, Keesi has developed her own independent form of free expression through the smelting technique.
The link between them is the third generation artist Henry Mardisalu, who works in the preparation of materials. According to him, the path of metal art was paved for him by the environment he was born into. His main favorite is the production of gold and silver chains. All the chains used in the jewellery of the Kapsta family are handmade by Henry. In recent years, he has also been fascinated by the sophistication of filigree techniques, which he has learned largely from his grandmother Aino Kapsta.
TRACES IN TIME
Helen Clara Hemsley, Therese Mørch
Therese and Helen’s collaborative project is called TRACES IN TIME. There is a display of exploration and the concept of the everyday in both of their works.
In essence, the title refers to both their artistic practices, and a shared fascination with documenting events in their lives – the things that matter to them, the seemingly mundane, and the big and small challenges they face as creators and in their private lives – through the medium of contemporary jewellery. The individual pieces work together and tell a united story – works that allow the viewer to investigate and form their own opinions, and contemplate their own lives and situations.
The title TRACES IN TIME thus refers to a visual documentation of our lives and practices. Whether it’s about building up pieces with materials and objects collected over a period of over 30 years, constructing a kind of timeline of a life well lived. Or pieces depicting a growing family, representing tactile and metaphorical encounters, and gently allowing sensory perception in a materialised sense of belonging.
With Helen’s work there is an odd sense of familiarity, but at the same time a perplexing feeling of not being completely sure why the objects or materials are so important, what they symbolise or where they come from. And then there is a feeling of sadness, and an almost desperate need to make things better again. All this happens over a long period of time, bearing witness to the joys and pain of teenage struggles, parents and parenthood, marriage, divorce and a constant desire to make, build and share.
With Therese’s work there is also a feeling of familiarity and the passing of time, and a beautiful fragility that draws the viewer in. Common to her series TRACES & TOUCHED is the sense of touch and tactility used as generators for creating contact. This may lead senses onto paths of proximity, intimacy, physicality, sentiment, totems, object relations and attachment. All are fragments of Therese’s on-going research in jewellery, which is often embodied in repetitive sculpt work, corporeal representation with reference to ritual and spiritual prayer jewellery.
“We both work with themes that appeal to human nature and experience, and are endlessly fascinated by the material intimacy and tactility of the works, which arouse curiosity and attention”.
Helen Clara Hemsley is originally from South Africa, but currently lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark. Helen studied at Oxford Brookes University and the Institute for Precious Metals in Copenhagen and she holds a BA in Fine Art from the Glasgow School of Art. Her work has been exhibited, among other countries, in Denmark, China, Portugal, Australia, Germany and the US.
https://www.helenclarahemsley.dk.
Therese Mørch is from Denmark and studied in London. She now lives and works in Copenhagen. Therese graduated from Cass School of art & Design and in Royal College of Art, both in London. Her work has been exhibited in Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, France, Germany and in the UK.
https://theresemorch.com/blogs/news
The exhibition is funded by the Danish Cultural Institute in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
