Recently, I’ve been in touch with Angie at Fife Contemporary Art and Craft. She’s been letting me know about the fantastic work that they doing with the Marzee Collection. Fine art and craft have always had a contentious relationship, often one snubbing the other, with this in mind, the boundaries do change frequently.
The Marzee Collection has been built up over the last 30 years by Marie-José van den Hout. Its usual home is her gallery in Nijmegen in the Netherlands. This is now in a four-storey former grain store on the banks of the river Waal - a remarkable centre for contemporary jewellery. Galerie Marzee (=Marie-José) offers work for sale but also profiles the most innovative international work through exhibitions and prestigious annual prizes for established jewellers and new graduates. Artist jewellers are also offered opportunities to develop their work through workshops and residencies at the associated Atelier Ravary studio in Belgium.
Work purchased for the collection has come from exhibitions held at Galerie Marzee over the years and from sustained relationships with art colleges excelling in jewellery. Following collecting from colleges at Halle and Munich, Galerie Marzee is currently working for five years with the Royal College of Art in London. Work from Scottish colleges has been featured in the annual Marzee graduate show - there has been a sustained relationship with Edinburgh College of Art.
This small selection from the Marzee Collection represents the first exhibition from the collection in the UK. It will hopefully give a flavour of the variety, inventiveness and quality of a collection that demonstrates that jewellery can be as close to fine art as it is to craft.
www.fcac.co.uk
The Marzee Collection Events
Free Workshops
Design & make a piece of jewellery
Sat 3 October 09, 11am-1pm, for 13-16 year-olds
Sat 10 October 09, 11am-1pm, for 8-12 year-olds
Led by jeweller & teacher Andrea Douglas
The Big Draw Scribble Book
Look out for a scribble book in the Activity Room to add your jewellery doodles to!
