How Julie Strawinski’s love of jewellery led her to create an artwork for singer Kate Ceberano
Julie Strawinski has made a name for herself as an artist – she’s even created a piece for Kate Ceberano. Here. she tells how a spotting a ring in a shop window changed everything.
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Multidisciplinary artist and collector, Julie Strawinski, was creating mosaics for The Playford Hotel in 2013 when a spot of window shopping led her down a rabbit hole …
There was this ring and it just, like, winked at me and said, ‘Buy me!’. I was studying part-time at Adelaide College of the Arts – I didn’t have that sort of money – so I put it on lay-by.
It took me a whole year to pay it off but that ring was the start of my jewellery journey.
At the time, I had no idea it was an antique Georgian ring but I started doing a little bit of research.
I was fortunate to meet historian Hayden Peters, from Art of Mourning online, and he told me exactly what the ring was and all about its history.
It’s French, with Bristol blue enamel, which looks almost black but, in the light, it glows a beautiful cobalt blue.
It has rose-cut diamonds in the shape of two forget-me-nots and was designed to twinkle by candlelight.
My Georgian ring changed my life in the sense that it opened doors to another world …
the world of antique jewellery.
Through it, I’ve met people from all over the world and they’ve come to Adelaide.
One of them, Sarah Nehama, an international art historian and antique jewellery collector, who is the author of In Death Lamented, gave a lecture at the David Roche Foundation House Museum.
My ring set me on the path of collecting mourning and sentimental jewellery which, in turn, informed my art practice.
(Asked if some people find mourning jewellery macabre, Julie replies):
Some mourning jewellery has hair, DNA and people think it’s a bit strange.
But it actually celebrates a life lived and is all about love. That’s the way I look at it.
In the past when someone died, they left money in their will to have rings made for family and loved ones as a token of remembrance. Then, when I was in an art history lecture, I saw a photograph of the femme fatale Countess de Castiglione.
She had an oval matboard up against her face, which resembled a Georgian lover’s eye, and that was the key to further discovery.
(The picture was Scherzo di Follia, which translates as Game of Madness)
My oil painting Eye of the Beholder is an homage to Scherzo di Follia, where I am the countess wearing my Georgian ring. It’s all about the gaze.
(Julie then talks about the history of lover’s eye miniature portraits):
The future King George IV was besotted with the widow, Maria Fitzherbert.
Because it was a clandestine, secret love affair, he commissioned artist Richard Cosway to paint a portrait of his eye which he gave to her. Lover’s eye portraits became a short-lived trend and original ones are highly sought after.
Over time, I have been commissioned to paint bejewelled lovers’ eyes including one with a crown for singer Kate Ceberano.
A while ago, I found an antique letterpress block – featuring a ring – used for making Victorian jewellery catalogues.
They are quite rare. I spent many, many hours on the internet, almost until my eyes bled, and have collected over 400 from around the world.
While on that journey I’ve gone on to learn the art of letterpress printing. I managed to get my hands on a divine Edwardian press called The Gem, which ties in beautifully with my jewellery themed letterpress blocks.
The other year, I was chatting to Urrbrae House director and historian Lynette Zeitz and we were talking about (its founders) the Waite family.
I told her about my collection of antique jewellery and interest in lovers’ eyes.After that, I stumbled across an article printed in The Advertiser about Peter and Matilda Waite’s love story and it was all about her ring. Since then I have been creating works for an exhibition, which is in response to that ring, which Peter gave his then fiance Matilda in Scotland. He migrated to Australia where he became one of the wealthiest men in South Australia through agriculture, but she had to wait in Scotland about five years before she joined him.
I’ve been creating images of the Waite family tree combining their portraits and textures from Urrbrae House, including needlepoint and wallpapers designed by Aldam Heaton, who was an interior designer for the Titanic.
The patterns give the portraits depth and another layer of meaning.
The ring Peter gave Matilda is a little posy ring from the Victorian era.
It has emeralds, rubies and little seed pearls depicting three little flowers in a row.
That could symbolise past, present and future, but could also just mean I love you.
Originally published as How Julie Strawinski’s love of jewellery led her to create an artwork for singer Kate Ceberano
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