Ice Storeroom Installation of Jewellery and Silversmithing

Research Background This research is situated in contemporary jewellery and silversmithing. This research was the first project where a jeweller explored and interpreted a personal experience of Antarctica to produce jewellery objects that used photography to depict the landscape. This installation spans the full 30 Meter exhibition space of Craft Victoria and reflects on the breadth of the research in small jewellery and silversmithing objects. Research Significance This research was presented at Craft Victoria, the peak organisation in Victoria which explores the value of craft, "Victoria's largest and oldest arts organisations dedicated to championing aspirational making and ideas driven practice through exhibitions and public programs." The exhibition was selected through a Peer review application process. "In this installation Ice storeroom builds on Haydon's previous work with Antarctica and explores the notion that Antarctica is a repository for environmental and cultural knowledge." Research Contribution This large-scale exhibition evidences and situates the breadth of this research in the Australian craft field. The exhibition received a review in The Age Art section by Penny Webb and Nicholas Forrest in ART Blouin. The exhibition itself is described as "Running along the window wall of the gallery, a schematic timber-rod structure supports the horizontal arrangement of exhibits, but also serves to suggest the confined interior spaces of Scott Base that Haydon knew as a 2004-05 Antarctic Arts Fellow, NZ." This research has considered representing Antarctica in new and innovative ways. "Haydon says she would like to go back to Antarctica. Going back, in the sense of responding to historical figures, events and family history, is what she does so rewardingly in this welcome survey." This considerable solo exhibition contributes to the questioning and discussion around the installation and encounter of jewellery and silversmithing research.