The Patina of Age - Tenille Evans explores the colour yellow for 10 girls. 10 colours.

The colour yellow is the patina of age.

It is the colour of sickness, jaundice and degeneration. Yellow is the colour that our skin, teeth and nails turn when we grow old. Yellow is a stain. It is the colour of our bones as we decay. It is also the mark of age on the domestic objects we keep. Books, fabric, clothing and paper all turn yellow as they deteriorate. There is some beauty and comfort to be found in the realisation that our treasured household objects and furnishings all yellow in the same way our bodies do. The inevitability of each of us, as individuals, changing and decaying in the same way is a universal truth. Recognition and acceptance of this certainty gives us the ability to unite.

Existing comfortably with our mortality and impermanence links us to, but at the same time lifts us out of, the everyday domestic spaces we inhabit.

Using this concept as a starting point, I have experimented with various domestic materials, eventually exploring the aesthetic effect that can be achieved by folding antique book paper. I enjoyed the consistent yet unique way each piece was formed. It is a representation of the inevitable and continual process of generation and decay, something that occurs over and over again, in similar yet distinct patterns.

10 girls. 10 colours. - two weeks to go!

10 girls. 10 colours. is on very soon! Please make sure you put our opening night - Tuesday the 18th of October, as well as all of our other great events in your diary now!

10 girls. 10 colours. dates announced!!

We have some exciting news to share about our 2011 exhibition....

We have now officially confirmed the date and location of the exhibition and are pleased to announce that 10 girls. 10 colours. will be showing at Salerno Gallery from the 19th of October until the 6th of November 2011.

Our opening night will be on Tuesday the 18th of October, so make sure you save the date! We will also be running 'meet the artist' events each Saturday that the exhibition is open.

Salerno Gallery is located in the vibrant inner city suburb of Glebe at 70 Glebe Point Road. It is an amazing space that will really showcase our work to the highest standard. We are so excited to be exhibiting there!

Exhibition Update: Busy Busy Bench Bees

Our ten little benches are buzzing with activity!

Hopefully you've been catching our regular artist profiles here every Wednesday. We have been talking about our work, our inspiration, the materials we use and where we come from in terms of our creativity and art practice.

In a few weeks we'll start showing you some images of our 10 Girls 10 Colours work in progress. There are definitely some exciting things going on already. At our last meeting we continued a discussion into the wonderfully diverse concepts that we are all exploring. If the results are as inspired as the ideas, 10 Girls 10 Colours is going to be amazing!

Although we haven't announced the official date and the gallery for the show yet (but are very close to doing so!) and opening night is quite a few months away, there are some very good reasons for us to be working so hard on our pieces already.

Firstly, we have a photo shoot planned for the first week in May. That's only a couple of weeks away! The photography studio has been booked and that means we have to show up with something awesome to take pictures of. A macro lens is NOT kind to unfinished solder joins or dodgy polishing. Trust me! We need to photograph our work so we can use it in our promotional material, on our website and for any editorial exposure we get.

Another reason we are so busy at our benches right now is because of stress-enforced time management! In the weeks leading up to the exhibition, we will have SO much other work to do for the show. None of us want to be trying desperately to file an edge straight with all of the other deadlines looming. And Murphy's Law of jewellery making says that if you leave it to the last minute, it will inevitably fall apart. Literally. Your piece will melt under a hot flame right before your very eyes. Devastating.

But thankfully, this won't happen because we are all working hard and are well into our making processes (*gulp*).

In addition to the updates you'll be seeing here, you can also learn more about and follow us individually. Many of us are posting updates, sneak previews and insights into our making practice on our individual websites and blogs. Click on our names to follow the links and find out more.

• a mi kim


• andrea iglesias


• bernadette trainor


• carol faulkner


• danielle butters


• jo piper


• majella beck


• nikki majajas


• radka passianova


• tenille evans

Check back next week for some pictures of our next meeting and a few thoughts about marketing an exhibition.

Money money money! Exhibition Update Part 2

It may surprise you, or not, that being an independent artist doesn't pay much. Well, at least in the beginning. When you are starting out as a designer/maker, the rewards are few and far between. It is hard work that usually requires a supportive 'bread and butter' income. If you are lucky you may be otherwise employed in the arts, design or teaching industry, like a number of the tenmoregirls members. But more often than not, you have to make a few sacrifices, working in a job you don't love, to support your passion. At least for awhile.

Putting on an amazingly professional, awesome, successful exhibition isn't cheap. And as we have already established, us tenmoregirls artists aren't rich! So how do we do it? Thankfully, there are also people who are as passionate about what we do as we are. Our funds can come from a variety of sources.

Firstly, we apply for grants. The National Association for the Visual Arts, or NAVA, have a number of grants available for individual artists and groups like ours to help with the costs associated with putting on an exhibition. The Australia Council delivers over $160 million dollars every year to artists and groups from all disciplines to help with projects like ours. These organisations, supported financially by both the government and private sector, see value for the community in art and artists projects. The help of grant systems like these ensure that Australian art and cultural groups remain thriving.

We also talk to our industry and community about helping us through sponsorship. Sponsorship could be a one-off financial contribution, or it could be in-kind, through the supply of free or discounted goods and services. Sponsorship from passionate businesses that value emerging artists and new design is SO important. A good sponsorship partnership is multifaceted and mutually beneficial. We offer businesses a really unique opportunity to promote their product in their target market. It is not simply a donation, everyone gets something from the partnership! The businesses that sponsor us are passionate about emerging designers, the design community and particularly, the future of our contemporary jewellery industry. Which brings me to the big announcement....

tenmoregirls have confirmed their first sponsor for our 2011 exhibition, 10 girls. 10 Colours!

Peekays Findings! Peekays sponsored our Girls Around The World show in 2010 and are returning to support us again for 10 girls. 10 Colours. We are so pleased to have them on board again. Peekays Findings are an Australian owned company supplying the jewellery industry with beautiful high quality products. For a jeweller, getting the details right is so important and in our production work, good quality findings make all the difference. Visit their website www.peekays.com.au to find out more about them.

As the exhibition planning goes forward, we will hopefully be welcoming more amazing sponsors on board and hearing good news about the grants we have applied for this year. We will make sure to keep you updated. Every little bit of help we receive is very much appreciated. If you think you can assist in some way with 10 Girls. 10 colours. through in-kind or financial sponsorship, publicity, advertising, display materials or any other creative way...then send an email to sponsortenmoregirls@gmail.com and we'll be in touch with a sponsorship package!

Exhibition Update Part 1

Being an successful artist or designer these days means you have to be truly multidisciplinary. Unfortunately, we can't get away with just sitting at our benches all day making pretty things. Although some of us would certainly like to! We have to get involved, stay connected and pool our numerous other skills and resources to get our work out there. This is one of the reasons why we are committed to coming together and exhibiting as a group every year. The process of putting together a contemporary jewellery exhibition is fun, difficult at times and fascinating. So this year, we thought we'd share a little bit of it!

This is the first of our regular weekly Friday posts about our exhibition ideas, planning and coordination. Our 2011 exhibition, 10 Girls. 10 Colours. is really starting to take form. We have had several group meetings so far and have finalised a few very important things.

• The name, obviously. But not so obviously, we had to decide on the specifics. How is it written? 10girls10colours? tengirls tencolours? Ten Girls. Ten Colours? 10 GIRLS 10 COLOURS? It may seem silly, but these details are VERY important. Not to mention, we are jewellers. Which means the details are everything!
• The location. The gallery application process has been completed. When it is (hopefully - fingers crossed) approved, we will be able to share this very exciting information. Once you've booked a gallery, thats it, there's no turning back!
• The branding. Our event, like a business, label or artist, needs a brand. We need a cohesive look, feel and overall aesthetic that will help us to express to YOU what we are all about. The things that build our exhibition's brand are the logo and flyer, the typography we use, the way we talk about ourselves in press releases, the types of contact points we have on the internet..... basically, everything that connects us with our audience. You!
• A really fun part of this aspect is the flyer. Which we have also finalised! We voted on a really awesome design and look forward to sharing it with you in the next few months.

So as you can see, to put on a successful show we need to be more than just jewellery and object designers. We need to be graphic designers, web designers, marketers, social media managers, writers, PR experts, builders, photographers and overall, multitaskers!

Make sure you check back here every Friday for more exhibition news and updates. We'll also share resources and tips that we pick up along the way.