Alison Shelton Brown is a multi-disciplinary artist making contemporary wearable sculpture to adorn the body, or a space. By distilling an idea and rigorously eliminating the unnecessary, the essence of a form is divined; a simple joy revealed. Her bold statement jewellery is always imbued with a pertinent environmental message. Subtle sculptural objects which invite closer inspection. Alison is based in Devon where she makes wearable sculpture from her leafy garden studio.
‘Working to reduce the environmental impact of artistic creativity’
Exploring how artists can uncover ways to make meaningful work whilst reducing environmental impact, is a question Alison returns to time and time again. Interrogating her own methodologies, all her jewellery is made with sustainability in mind. Reusing materials where possible. Minimising the use of new resources, and working to reduce the environmental impact of artistic creativity. Transforming the commonplace, seeing something extraordinary in the ordinary. We inhabit a world of excess production and overconsumption. Themes of over-fishing, mass extinction of familiar animal species and monoculture crops weave themselves through her work. Simultaneously highlighting the imperative to ‘make do and mend’ wherever possible.
Alison’s wearable art is a piece of guaranteed ingenuity and creative thinking. Which delights in the re-using and re-loving of the broken and overlooked. Thoughtful creativity … made beautiful.
Haptic Creations
Making with meaning is fundamental to Alison, exploring the consequences of the human touch on our world. Drawing on decades of material exploration, she has honed an intuitive and unique practice. Creating delicate yet bold pieces using ceramics and mixed media.
Texture plays a vital role in her making process. The pliability of clay, torn edges, fingerprints, and the ghosts of marks left behind, are subdued only when necessary. An enhancement of these features, never a denial. She works between the lines, inhabiting liminal spaces. Playing with forms for the wall and / or the body produces an intimate experience of sculptural works. Challenging perceived boundaries where sculpture is untouchable, but jewellery is haptic art.
“I love to play with sculpture that can be worn – tactile jewellery which is touched and stroked when hung around the neck – personal portable works of art, handcrafted using both luxurious and recycled materials.”
Alison Shelton Brown
The Natural World
As a flaneuse, her walks on the beach are rewarded with detritus which is brought back to her garden studio on the English south to await its metamorphoses into a new life. A truism of American artist Jenny Holzer resonates greatly with her; ‘All things are delicately interconnected’. There is a circularity in life and in how Alison works. Themes long forgotten suddenly re-emerging, while the threads of tangible mark making, assemblage of multiples and our impact on the natural world continually weave, embed and cast shadows.
She is also inspired by ethnographic collections; amulets and scrimshaw, bamboo fish traps and birds.
Material
One of her primary materials to create with is porcelain. Porcelain has a reputation for being fragile, yet its luxurious qualities are its inherent strength. Appearances can be deceiving! It’s fine smooth clay particles and high kiln temperatures create a stronger ceramic form compared with lower fired earthenware. These unique properties enable thin lightweight components with an underlying process of playfulness and a delicate touch.
Alison creates uniquely textured porcelain elements. Often incorporating mixed media and pieces found whilst out walking, to create colour and surfaces amidst imperfection and the discarded. She loves the malleability this allows; to prod, tear and embed surfaces with the foraged and found. Inviting a reciprocal tactile interaction.
Background
An artist by nature, Alison gained her first ceramics degree from Camberwell School of Art. Returning to higher education in the past few years she graduated from Bath Spa University with a Masters in Ceramics. She currently resides in Devon with her husband, photographer Robin, with whom she is renovating a chapel, creating a vibrant studio space and tending to a flourishing vegetable garden.
Shop Alison’s Art Jewellery here
For more information visit www.alisonsheltonbrown.art or @alisonsheltonbrown
