Rawnsley at Mission Gallery
Brooches: Land Series 2008. silver, gold, oxide, from left: 45 x 50 x 7mm, 35 x 45 x 5mm, 45 x 30 x 6mm (photocredit: Keith Leighton)
After opening at Ruthin Craft Centre last autumn an exhibition of silversmith Pamela Rawnsley’s work continues to tour Wales, stopping off at Swansea’s Mission Gallery until 16 May.
Shape-Shifting is Pamela Rawnsley’s first solo exhibition and showcases a completely new body of work. It was made as a result of a Creative Wales grant which allowed Rawnsley time out from commercial pressures, giving her space to experiment with new forms and move away from her previous jewellery work to purer silversmithing. ‘This new work is a move on in terms of scale for Pamela as it is much more ambitious than what she was doing previously’, says the Mission Gallery’s Amanda Roderick.
Although a small group of Rawnsley’s better-known brooches and necklaces are on show, the bulk of the exhibition consists of a new group of beautifully made silver vessels. They’re much bigger than any she has previously made – the largest is about 30 cm tall – and are inspired by the dramatic landscape around the Brecon Beacons where she lives. Most of them incorporate the same gilding and oxidising techniques Rawnsley uses in her jewellery, with the result that they shimmer and glisten, creating subtle colour changes reminiscent of the changes of light in the landscape outside. Two of them, worked with black gold detailing and called Mad March, have already been bought by the National Museum of Wales.
www.missiongallery.co.uk
