Art & Design Research Forum Series #3

Title: Place Based Jewellery Making
Chair: Bic Tieu
Date: Thursday 3rd October, 12-2pm
Location: UNSW Paddington Room A101 and on Zoom

Speakers: 
Bic Tieu, UNSW Art & Design
Marcia Swaby, Contemporary Jewellery Artist
Melinda Young, UNSW Art & Design

Place Based Jewellery Making
How can jewellery both activate and communicate relationships with place and associated themes of identity, home and belonging?

This forum investigates how the processes involved in producing contemporary jewellery can both activate and communicate relationships with place and associated themes of identity, home and belongingness in the context of living and working on unceded Aboriginal Country. Introducing four speakers of different cultural backgrounds – each employs jewellery to reveal the intricacies of developing relationships with place, embody personal histories, and reveal diasporic cultures to collectively explore multiple connections with place in Australia. 

Watch videos here

Garland Magazine
Garland Issue 34 THE STREET
1 March 2024

garlandmag.com

Cabramatta: The Nostalgic Poetry of Asian Shops

Bic Tieu casts her childhood memories of a Sydney Indo-Chinese suburb.

To read » https://garlandmag.com/article/cabramatta-the-nostalgic-poetry-of-asian-shops/

The 8th Asian Australian Identities Conference:
Past, Present, Future
3 November 2023
University of Adelaide

The Asian Australian Studies Research Network

The 8th Asian Australian Identities Conference (AAI8) of the Asian Australian Studies Research Network (AASRN) will be held on Friday, 3 November 2023 in partnership with the University of Adelaide. It is part of the OzAsia ‘In other Worlds’ program.

What does it mean to be a creative Asian-Australian in Southwestern Sydney ?

In this paper, I ruminate on the question, What does it mean to be a creative Asian-Australian in Southwestern Sydney? Through my personal narrative as a Southeast Asian-Australian with a contemporary craft and design lens examine these ideas. By analysing the varied transcultural experiences, reveal how the loci of home and place can inform and be a methodical framework for designing a visual language that speaks about identity. There are limited writings that respond to Asian-Australians in Southwestern Sydney and therefore I want to contribute to this dialogue.

To begin, I will reflect on my identity, family migration and contemporary jewellery and object practice as a framework to discuss the influence of place on visual practice. To contextualise this, I refer to Homi Bhabha’s (1994) ‘third space’ theory and diasporic scholars Ien Ang (2001) and Nikos Papastergiadis (2000). Their scholarship on cultural hybridity can help examine the vernacular of place and identity.

Through this context, I use Cabramatta as a case study to show how flows of culture have transformed the area and become a sense of belongingness through the narrative motif of place for many. I explore how the narrative and the motif of place are constructed in my practice to speak about cultural hybridity and what makes my Asian-Australian identity. By reflecting on my own practice, I discuss how place-making has informed the visual design language in my work and view how other Asian-Australian artists negotiate these concepts to investigate what it means to be Asian-Australian through the visual practice of making.

Journal of Jewellery Research
Editorial: Volume 5 - Journal of Jewellery Research
Dr Roberta Bernabei & Professor Jayne Wallace

www.journalofjewelleryresearch.org

Graphics and Contemporary Jewellery Making Process
(Visual/Text Paper)

Abstract
Graphics and Contemporary Jewellery Making Processes is presented as a visual textual paper that aims to show how the integration of graphics can speak about personal narratives of migration and identity in contemporary jewellery processes. This investigation begins by drawing on my personal narratives of living between the Eastern and Western spheres. I highlight the significance of floral symbolism by examining my cultural identity as a Southeast Asian-Australian and the visual culture practiced in the home. This background leads to the application of the peony flower as a graphic to critically engage with concepts of identity and migration. The memory of place, cultures and immigrational route are revealed through these assimilations. Merging graphic design processes to contemporary jewellery craft methods can lead to innovative approaches in design making and meanings.

To read >> JJR_Vol5.pdf

Garland Magazine
Garland Issue 26 OBJECTHOOD
1st March 2022

garlandmag.com

The Box: A Magic Object of Objects

Beginning with the Japanese animation Spirited Away, Bic Tieu traces her fascination for the magic of the box in Japanese craft and discovers how it connects humans and nature.

To read >> https://garlandmag.com/article/the-box-a-magic-object-of-objects/

Australasian Network for Asian Art
www.an4aa.org/rhd-2021

Postgraduate Workshop: Asian Art Research Now
in association with 2021 AAANZ Conference Emerging Scholars Program.
7th December 2021, 9.00 - 12.30 PM.

Asian Art Research Now is the inaugural event of the Australasian Network for Asian Art (an4aa), a collegial group of Australian and New Zealand researchers who have come together to strengthen a sense of scholarly community in this field. In keeping with AN4AA’s objective to highlight the vitality and immediacy of Asian art research being undertaken by emerging scholars, Asian Art Research Now showcases the work of recent PhD graduates and current PhD students from the Australian National University and University of Melbourne. As a continuing annual event organised by AN4AA, future editions of the workshop will be expanded to feature the work of emerging scholars from other locations. The day-long workshop will foster an atmosphere of supportive critique and generate greater cross-pollination and conversations across institutional boundaries, as well as those of geography and temporality within the field of Asian art history.

Convened by the Australasian Network for Asian Art (an4aa) in conjunction with Asian Art Research at the University of Melbourne (AAR) and Asia: Innovation and Transformation at Australian National University (AIT) and the 2021 AAANZ Conference Emerging Scholars Program at the University of Sydney. Workshop is supported by a Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) grant,

Postgraduate Speakers:
Michael Bullock
Priyanka Jain
Yi Won Park
Chris Parkinson
Soo-min Shim
Bic Tieu

A summary reflecting the need to document what is happening in the field of Asian Australian art is captured by Genevieve Trail.
Read here >> Asian Art Research Now

I feel very honoured to be part of this dialogue.

On 7th December I presented:

In-Betweenness Through the Making of Objects

Abstract
I am now in the final stages of my PhD candidacy where I have undergone submission and awaiting examination of theses. This presentation will present the research established from my PhD research with a focus on the interdisciplinary intersections and dialogues. My PhD research is an investigation of material culture around contemporary design and craft dialogues in relationship to personal migration and narratives of my Southeast Asia and Australian lineage. I refer to the collection of personal objects as instruments to contextualise my own experiences of living interculturally. Through this process, I discover a framework to develop a visual language which articulates living in-between my Chinese, Vietnamese and Australian cultures.

The shape of the practice-led research unfolds through a range of interdisciplinary investigations informed by; third space theory, object theory and design methodologies. In experimenting with traditional and modern craft processes enable designed material paradigms. The focus of this presentation will look at how the intersection of design methods; graphics, animations, traditional and contemporary metal craft approaches can lead to innovative making and meaning and offer alternate and tangible perspectives of living interculturally.

IOTA21 - Indian Ocean Craft Triennial
Futuring Craft Conference www.indianoceancrafttriennial.com

*Conference Presentation:
Day 2, Saturday 18th September, Curtin University
*Conference Proceedings: Pages 120 - 134

Designing the In-between: Traversing Biography and Place through Objects

Abstract:
This paper examines how biography and the culture of place can inform strategies and processes in the designing and making of object-based works. By place, I refer to concepts of the geographical loci of home and place; in articulating biography, I draw upon my narrative and identity as an Australian of Southeast Asian descent. By examining the hybridised, transcultural experiences of my Chinese and Vietnamese lineage through a collection of objects, I reveal a methodical framework for developing a visual language. As a contemporary craft designer and maker, I want to contribute to this dialogue through a deliberate visual language of an artistic plus craft and design practice through my blended identity and practice.

By reflecting on my identity, familial migration histories and woven connections of a life lived in-between cultural spheres provide a visual and material framework for this ongoing dialogue of a shared experience. Graphical manipulation of tea leaves and floral motifs and their symbolism in the deeply connected histories of trade and exchange as metaphorical evocations associated with the complexities of my familial migration and experience of cultural hybridity become sources for inspiration. Through these analogies, I developed a creative and experimental combination of animation and digital design applications to provide innovative approaches to casting metallurgical processes. Through this visual form and in my creative processes, I hope to illustrate my insights in living at the in-between from the perspective of an Australian of Southeast Asian diaspora.

Book Review
The Politics of Vietnamese Craft: American Diplomacy and Domestication authored by Jennifer Way

View review: The Journal of Modern Craft, Volume 13 Issue 2

Thank you to Dr. Livia Rezende, editor of The Journal of Modern Craft for the opportunity to review an incredible monograph: A rare opportunity to see research written about Vietnam and it’s position from a design and craft angle. The book is insightful and contains purposeful content which ignites, educates and expands ones perspective.

REAL, MATERIAL, ETHEREAL: THE 2ND ANNUAL DESIGN RESEARCH CONFERENCE
Monash University, 3-4 October 2019
Narratives in the Exhibition of Design: Materials, Processes and Contemporary Challenges

Joint Conference Presentation
(co authors: Katherine Moline, Alia Parker, Bic Tieu, Carly Vickers, Harriet Watts)

https://www.monash.edu/design-research-conference

LIGATURE JOURNAL THINKING DESIGN Issue 7 Place (Mind)
ARTICLE: PLACING PROCESS
(co authors: Alia Parker, Carly Vickers and Harriet Watts)

https://www.ligaturejournal.com/issues/ligature-journal-issue-seven-place-mind/

THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DESIGN HISTORY & DESIGN STUDIES (ICDHS 2016 TAIPEI)
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, 26-28 October 2016

Presented a Conference Paper - Joint Author Zoe Veness.
Poetic Dimensions: Jewellery Conversations about Design Process

Abstract
The decision by the authors, two Australian contemporary designers, to collaborate in a joint exhibition initiates a process of retrospective reflection as a preliminary strategy to identify common interests and to establish conceptual and theoretical frameworks. Underpinning their project is a mutual understanding and passion for contemporary jewellery forged by many years of academic study and teaching experience in the area of jewellery design at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney. This paper signals the first collaborative venture between the two designers who have witnessed the gradual evolution of each other’s distinctive design language over many years.

As a means to extrapolate potential frameworks for the exhibition and to highlight the impact of transnational influences in the context of contemporary design practice, two case studies are presented that include personal accounts by the authors of key research experiences in the Netherlands and Japan. Through these design conversations the authors hope new and serendipitous avenues unfold.

MAKING an International Conference on Materiality and Knowledge

Presented a conference paper at the MAKING Conference in September 2012. Title of paper is called "Maki-e the Sprinkling of a Magical History: Making in the new world".

Abstract

Maki-e the Sprinkling of a Magical History: Making in the new world

Japanese lacquer encompasses a combination of the dexterity of the hand, the imagination to tell a story and a maximum perspective on materiality. For the last few years my interest in Japanese lacquer and Maki-e has been the core for the development of the jewellery and objects formed in my practice. The application of lacquer in my studio practice has intrigued further pursuit in both the hand skills development and material diligence. Maki-e is a decorative Japanese lacquering technique that is comprised of a painted surface detailed with gold or silver powders. It is one of the many techniques that fall under the umbrella of Japanese lacquer. Lacquer is a material language with a history expanding over 6000 years across the Asian continent. It is a unique paint that requires the science and knowledge of material, hand dexterity, and patience. In early 2009, I arranged for a cultural visa to undertake a professional two year residency with lacquer master Kitamura Tatsuo of Kitamura Kobo in Japan. Firstly this paper will discuss the traditions of studio lacquer techniques studied at the professional craftsman level, from an insight of a maker of contemporary wearable objects. Secondly it will address how this ancient craft has influenced the personal studio work for new translation. Finally, it will discuss the role of the maker, working alongside traditional techniques and processes outside its natural realm. Challenging what the medium’s potential possibilities are in different environmental circumstances and landscapes and thus engaging the old for new interpretation and revitalisation. 

I was invited to contribute an essay to The Journal of the Asian Arts Society of Australia - TAASA Review in their Asian Women Artists edition.

Volume 24, No.4, p.18-19, 2015.
A Shimmering Practice: Japanese Lacquer Art

Cross Pollination

An exhibition curated by Dr Katherine Moline and Wendy Parker. Curatorial Assistant Alison Groves. In association with RED OBJECTS.

The works I developed and made in Japan were exhibited in this group exhibition. For more information about this project, a catalogue can be downloaded, please visit: http://www.redobjects.unsw.edu.au/system/assets/275/original/Cross-Pollination_Catalogue_web.pdf

JMGA Conference: Inside Out - Jewellery and Object Making Explored in our Region Today
University of South Australia
25-27 January 2008

Conference Paper Presentation
Locating Lacquer as a Medium for Contemporary Jewellery and Objects

Abstract
The luscious objects found in the utilitarian arts of the Far East reveals a highly craft arts that has been practiced for over five thousand years. Lacquer discriminates itself from other arts forms through its characteristic style, appeal and beauty. The surface and form of lacquerware attracts interest, particularly in the techniques and various applications of lacquer. The technical production of lacquer requires a creative vision, arduous hand skills and specialised knowledge. This paper will address the influence of a traditional craft, lacquer, to contemporary jewellery object making in the techno era.

Contemporary jewellery and object practice in the modern age combines several processes not necessarily traditional craft. There is a new emergence in studio practice revealing a designing and production process that is usually associated with a number of alliance including digital and industrial. This contribution is evident in precision in graphic to the applications of laser technology to create a new vitalisation in surface designs. Thus making this media, the technological and manufacturing processes create opportunities in developing new approaches in jewellery and object design. The assimilation of new processes combined with existing tools and techniques further reinterprets traditional concepts in making.

The article will be presented in context to two case studies; a) traditional Vietnamese lacquer and b) traditional Japanese lacquering and metal techniques. Each case study will explore traditional lacquering techniques and its assimilation to worked techno inspired processes in creating the jewellery and objects. It will address examples of East and South-East Asian lacquer techniques and its synthesis to machine processes for surface inspired outcomes. Further the paper will examine the approach of the resulting works from this research. A percentage of the paper will discuss the methodology to the studio approach to give insight to how the progress integrates seamlessly. Thus comparatively engaging on the old and the new. 

The University of New South Wales - The College of Fine Arts
Master of Design (Honours), 2007
Traditional Vietnamese Lacquering and its Application to Contemporary Jewellery and Small Scale Body Related Objects.

​Abstract
The lustre and luminous qualities inherent in lacquer objects speak of a revered historic technology chronicled by remarkable achievements. Sophisticated lacquer objects from East Asia and Vietnam are products of the integrated histories, technologies, and cultural expressions of these territories. The application of lacquer as a decorative medium originally developed in China. Through exchange and trade, the material was transmitted to neighbouring countries where each region explored the material and developed distinctive styles and techniques. Although lacquer from East Asia and Vietnam share similar material nature, the cultural attributes of lacquer, its aesthetics, design, form, and symbolism provide for marked distinctions across the zone. Vietnamese lacquer contributes surface techniques and motifs to the lacquer repertoire. The aim of this research is to investigate the materiality and processes of Vietnamese lacquer as a surface ornamentation integral to the design and making of objects.

The published material is dominated by descriptions of the aesthetics achievements of lacquer objects with little coverage of the technology, techniques, and practices employed. There is a scarcity of contemporary research on Vietnamese lacquering processes written in the English language. This research was fuelled by a research field trip to Vietnam during 2004 working with Vietnamese lacquer artists on traditional lacquering techniques. During a residency at Hue the lacquer working processes were observed, documented, and techniques sampled. This traineeship incorporated the preparation of traditional tools, of the substrate, and the application of lacquer painting techniques. Preparatory samples and templates were made in Australia for later experimentation in Vietnam. These samples were treated with lacquer and illustrate the possible exploration of Vietnamese lacquering techniques in a contemporary context.

The research is a material investigation of traditional Vietnamese lacquering processes applied to jewellery and object making. The studio practice aims to reinterpret the traditional material language of lacquer by allying it with contemporary methods and techniques. This synthesis combining traditional art methods and digital technology is expressed as a series of objects inspired by floral motifs. The seasonal floral images are significant, evoking concepts of creation and renewal. The interpretation of these graphic floral images provides a contemporary representation, aesthetic, and cultural reading for the material, maker, and motif.

Australia Council for the Arts: Emerging New Work Grant
Japan Metal and Lacquer Investigations

​Project Summary
In 2007 I was awarded the Australia Council Emerging New Work Grant to travel to Japan to undertake a residency documenting some traditional Japanese metal and lacquer techniques. The aim was to create various surfaces through the investigation of traditional Japanese lacquer and metal techniques applied to a series of contemporary jewellery and objects.

This project is an investigation into developing traditional techniques of Japanese lacquer and metal crafts and applying it to contemporary jewellery and objects. The interest in researching the applications of lacquer is a result in an authored dissertation titled 'Traditional Processes of Vietnamese Lacquer and their Applications to Contemporary Jewellery and Small Scale Body Related Objects' coupled with an exhibition at Kudos Gallery in May 2006. Lacquer is a lustrous paint from a tree resin indigenous to the Asian continent. My interest in Japanese arts is the reason to examine lacquer from this region.

For this project I intend to research and record Japanese lacquering processes, techniques and traditional metal crafts, and the outcomes of the application of the methodology to a series of jewellery objects inspired by floral motifs of East Asia. I am interested in this medium to explore surface techniques in my practice. The project's realisation will involve travel to Japan to visit lacquer artist's studio, lacquer craft and design centres and galleries and possibly university institutions. This opportunity will allow for workshop and technical studio development. The visit will also provide opportunities to purchase lacquer and specialised tools which are not available in Australia. Extensive preliminary research on the project, and contacts inititated will be established to ensure a successful research trip prior to going to Japan. With the documentation of the techniques, this will be applied and developed to a series of jewellery and ojects projects back home in Australia. The resulting research and work will aim for publications and exhibitions.

Digital technology and contemporary methods has been articulated in my work for the last 3 years. The body of work for this project will be a synthesis of traditional Japanese techniques with methods of digital and laser processes. The project will explore the various surfaces and surface patterns on the objects created from these combined investigations of different techniques. This new work aims to provide a contemporary representation and cross cultural reading from the exploration of these techniques. Furthermore develop an awareness into this ancient medium, lacquer.

International Design Congress: New Design Paradigms - Design Culture Digital Creativity
National Yunlin University of Science and Technology Taiwan, 1-4 November 2005

Presented a Conference Paper:
The Intersection between Lacquer and Laser Technology in Contemporary Jewellery Design​
(joint author Wendy Parker)

The age of digital technology have allowed jewellery and object designers to assimilate industrial working production processes into a studio base practice. This combination offers the craft practitioner new solutions particularly in working with mediums in new ways. It provides the user the opportunity to tailor and transfer technological ideas into a craft base methodology. These results arising from the tailoring and transferring of ideas and industrial processes offers the efficiencies of the new age. Furthermore it contributes to new tools and techniques. This form of practice is reflective of the technological influences in jewellery and object design making today.

Increasing numbers of jewellery and object design practitioners are collaborating with industries, making it an integral part of their problem solving in the design making process. This intersection endorses the notion of craft in the context of the computer and machine age technology. It is an emergence which represents a new dialogue where new technologies and traditional craft skills are employed in jewellery and object design production. These liaisons between the practitioner and industry have provided new ways of thinking and making for the practitioner.

As a contemporary jeweller, my practice and work is about redefining the material language of Vietnamese lacquer and its application on contemporary wearables and objects. It is about reinterpreting the applications of a traditional medium along side new technologies. The visual motif, the chrysanthemum is used in my work as an iconic interpreter. This floral symbol is common throughout the art histories and it is articulated across many decorative art surfaces, particularly in Asia. The visual style and surface ornamentation of the chrysanthemum on an object conveys information about the material, maker, and motif. Its aesthetics is a manifestation of the current technologies of that time. My interpretation of the chrysanthemum comprises of traditional and modern technologies for new visual translation. Taking on traditional forms of lacquering and fusing it with surface imagery, rendered by laser technology, a new style and exterior of visual language is developed.

The use of digital technology has assimilated in my design and making progress. This synthesis, positions crafts current status in an ever increasing changing context. I am one example from this convergence.

JMGA Conference: Inherited Futures - Technologies to Trap Ideas
RMIT University
13-15 February 2004

Conference Paper Presentation
Beneath the Chrysanthemum Petal: The Assimilation of Laser Technology and Hand Crafts

Abstract
James Thrilling writes, ‘played out on the global stage, the history of ornament is a many-faceted drama of creation and renewal, remembering and forgetting.’ My work encompasses these notions, and in a sense looks at polarities of methods (handcraft versus machine technology) to signal a revolution in surface technique design.

The chrysanthemum is one of many recognisable floral art forms articulated on decorative art surfaces in East Asia. The surface ornamentation of these regional artefacts creates a language distinguished by the material, maker, and motif. The elaborate detail and expression inherent in these media, is a lost ritual of the past. The floral motifs used in East Asian arts reveal a system representative of meanings associated with non-pictorial idea or nuances. My jewellery is an amalgamation of these ideas. The embodiment of imagery, style, and form in my work is a collaboration of the visual style and representation of floral motifs, whilst using modern technologies for new translation in creative production.

Technology has assimilated itself into my creative output. The photocopier, scanner, computer, and laser engraver are employed as part of my jewellery practice. The images used in my jewellery design are derived directly from the ornamentation of lacquer ware dating as far as five thousand years back. They are photocopied, scanned, and manipulated using a graphics program. Applying graphic design/manipulation allows the visual to be interpreted in a contemporary context, yet the essences of these images are still maintained through the style of the pictorial language. The surface takes on a laser rendered style which is achievable through a computer laser engraver. I combine these components with silver smithing techniques to draw on work which reflects historically on a culture of lacquer in pursuit of contemporary jewellery wear. The laser engraver has become the most distinctive tool, crucial in my field of jewellery practice.