SUZANNE POTTER
For details of available works and how to buy, please contact Evie at the gallery.
Exhibiting in FORMATIONS Exhibition June/July 2021
L I F E & B R A N C H L I N E S COLLECTIONS: 2014 – 2021 (ongoing)
Suzanne has been designing and making contemporary collections of aesthetically beautiful jewellery for 30 years. She graduated from the RCA in 1991 with an MA in GSMJ. Prior to this she gained a 1st, BA (Hons) in Metal & Jewellery, Bucks College, 1988. Her jewellery practice oscillates between creating elegant pared back botanical collections for everyday wear, to striking graphic sculptural art jewellery, which look equally at home adorning a wall, as on the body.
With maturity, her recent collections explore an introspective and emotive narrative – the subject of twinness – she is a solo twin. Subconscious and intuitive design processes (explored over many years) reveal notions of duality, pairing, opposites, symmetry / asymmetry, division and connection. Being one of two, she is reflective of her place and history, pondering the possibilities of similarity to her lost twin. Through her work, she explores the use of flat 2d planes with 3d forms – both utilise similar geometries, which echo each other harmoniously. By arranging and rearranging geometric forms – voids, solids and graphic linear devices – then adding sensorial blocks of colour, Suzanne creates visually balanced, contemplative objects, which are both minimal, yet strikingly decorative.
Each piece has its own story. The viewer / wearer will identify thematic references to the parallel worlds of botany and biology – cell / seed (growth), womb / pod (sanctuary), umbilical / branch (connection). Emotional responses to her environs and life experience are conveyed through her work. Growing up in a family whose professions are split between art and science, it’s inevitable that Suzanne would be influenced by a fundamental perception of the two. Botanical forms and colours found in her garden, in conjunction with profound feelings of connection and identity, give depth to Suzanne’s pieces. Nature nurtures her.
Mixed materials are utilised for their inherent properties – wood enables the making of larger scale objects, which are painted and rubbed back to reveal decorative layered effects. Colour is used symbolically – reds, in particular, for their visceral connotations, whilst monochrome shades represent an ethereal context. Oxidised silver, reconstituted coral parts and colour laminates add detail and further describe those forms found in nature, which hold special meaning for the artist.
Seeing beauty and design potential in often-overlooked corners of the natural world, Suzanne has a creative eye for material combinations in her jewellery. Cut branches from her garden are as precious as traditional high status materials – even more so, as no two are the same, and once cut, they’re gone. The twigs in these pieces are from Philadelphus shrubs. After being stripped of their outer bark and allowed to dry out, they are painted and the surface rubbed back to create visual texture. Suzanne then attaches coloured laminate end caps to punctuate and define their form.
Branches and forked twigs hold their own meaning – familial siblings, a path or passage, outretched limbs, and question Y / why? Such multi faceted meanings fascinate the artist – she sees two sides to objects – dependant on their 2 or 3d status. On a similar basis, she uses linear devices to permanently link her objects together – umbilical ties – joined forever.
Clean lines and balanced aesthetics being hallmarks of her work, Suzanne deftly employs traditional, handmade jewellery-making techniques. Piercing, forming, construction / fabrication techniques and soldering all ably demonstrate her skills as a maker with a finely balanced eye for detail.
Suzanne’s works are symbols for life and kinship. They are quiet contemplative, emotive, pieces, designed to add strands of visual interest and material meaning for the wearer and for the viewer.
Suzanne has exhibited and sold her work in many UK galleries and craft fairs over the years – including Electrum, Contemporary Applied Arts, Chelsea Crafts Fair and Origin. Her work features in several publications, which include The Art of Jewellery Design (Liz Olver) and 500 Earrings (Martha Le Van). Several of her RCA graduate show pieces are held in the RCA Collection. Various private clients also treasure her work.
Various images of Suzanne’s jewellery have been published in books, demonstrating her flare for design. 2013: The Art of Soldering for Jewellery Makers, Wing Mun Devenney. 2007: 500 Earrings, Martha Le Van. 2003, Jewellery Unlimited. 2001: The Art of Jewellery Design, Elizabeth Olver.
Born
1964 Leicester
Education
1991
MA (RCA) Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork & Jewellery
Royal College of Art, London
1985 – 88
BA (Hons) First Class. 3D Design, Metalwork & Jewellery
Buckinghamshire College, High Wycombe
1984 – 85
Foundation Course, Art & Design
Banbury College of Art & Design
Awards
2003
shortlisted, Janet Fitch Jewellery Award. Chelsea Crafts Fair
2001
Photostore Index Selected Makers. Crafts Council
1994
Setting Up Grant. Crafts Council
Setting Up Loan. Prince’s Trust