School of Design Silversmithing & Jewellery
Tina Avery
Vessels for a Journey
This series of seven pieces seeks to interpret some of the essentials of human development in vessel form. They are containers that can be taken with you as you navigate life and become a person.
As we grow up we need to be seen by others to know that we are real. We want to be heard so that we learn to trust our own voice. We yearn to be held – to have the comfort of an embrace – to feel complete. It’s good to have an attachment to a particular place; to know where you’re from. We wish to be celebrated for who we are and to know we are thought about in our absence. In this way we can be content, bring joy to ourselves and others, and be resilient when faced with a challenge.
Metal is a material whose shape can be changed whilst maintaining its integrity and essence, just as a person’s character is moulded by their formative relationships. These vessels are predominantly made in silver to highlight the value of the nurturing acts they represent.
Vessel illustrated: ‘You Are From Here’
Image by Shannon Tofts
You Are Heard
With this piece I wanted to investigate being heard. The cups echo those a child might make for a string telephone; asking you to stop and listen to them in a playful manner.
Materials: sterling silver, acrylic cord
Size (mm): large cup 75 high x 70 dia top x 50 dia base; small cup 58 high x 50 dia top x 35 dia base
Project Links
You Bring Joy
An oval bowl that invites you in. A sculpture of wires flows in and out over the side – it cannot be contained – just as joy spills out of us and will not be confined.
Materials: bowl: Britannia silver; wires: sterling silver
Size (mm): 130 long x 80 wide x 110mm high including wire sculpture
Project Links
South Square Trust
‘SILVERSMITHING SCHOLARSHIPS
Support for Students in their final year at selected UK universities
Each year we award a significant scholarship to up to four final year graduate students specialising in silver.
The Trustees ask the course leaders at universities offering silversmithing courses to send in nominations for the Award for review; only one from each college is selected. The awards started in September 2018.’
I am immensely grateful to the South Square Trust for my bursary for precious metals for my final year collection. I enabled me to work in silver at a large scale which has been invaluable experience.
