A Wild Woods Winter

Top: "Bittern" Bottom: "Human". Images supplied by Inform Contemporary Jewellery.

When it comes to beautiful, interesting pieces of jewellery – especially anything sparkly – I’m the proverbial magpie. If it glitters I’m there! So this new exhibition – A Wild Woods Winter by Auckland-based jeweller, Jane Dodd, at Christchurch’s Inform Contemporary Jewellery - is a ‘Must Visit.’ I particularly like her bird-like forms with semi-precious stones suspended from their ‘beaks’ or ‘claws.’ Jane’s inspiration was the old Gothic form of candelabra called Leuchterweibchen – and if you can pronounce that you deserve a semi-precious stone. These carved sculptural figures (usually maidens or dragons) were attached to antlers and horns, studded with candles and suspended to light the grand halls of the old days. Jane has taken that idea and carved her own antler or horn shapes from fine wood or shell. Animal parts have been carved in wax, cast in gold or silver and attached to the antlers, sometimes with precious and semi-precious stones. The whole effect is magical – ‘very folk-lore/fairy tale;’ Medieval almost. I love it.