Output details

Contributor to ‘Masters and Proteges’, Contemporary British Jewellery, curated by Prof. Norman Cherry

Hinchliffe McCutcheon is an exponent of experimental British jewellery. Her aim is to offer a challenge to normative expectations of the nature of jewellery and introduce into the field new materials, and ways of working them. Her concepts are developed from observations of form and line taken from the environment. The practical and technical realisation of the work is an important part of the process as ideas and details emerge through the act of making. She exploits concealed spaces within the pieces to invite curiosity and incorporates materials that engage the wearer, transforming the ’object’ to a ’jewel’. She has a belief in the power of jewellery as ‘communication’ - as objects that convey the artist’s personal voice which is strengthened and changed through the identity of the wearer.

This exhibition was devised to show and promote the research of nine established jewellery artists currently practising in Britain, along with some of their former students. The “Masters” were selected because they are both key exponents of jewellery art and educators. The purpose of the exhibition was to reveal to a Japanese audience the diversity of philosophies, cultural backgrounds, visual and technical applications within UK jewellery design. The work provided a wide-ranging picture of UK jewellers and their “protégés”. Hinchliffe McCutcheon selected her protégé in acknowledgement of her experimentation with similar technical and material means.

Associated publication: School of Jewellery, Birmingham B1 3PA 2008. 136 pages. Language English and Japanese. Title, ‘Masters and Proteges’, ISBN 978-1-904839-27-9