Sue Plumb Triplets pendant
Greywake pebbles from Hokitika, New Zealand, Sterling silver and pearls
5 x 6 x 1.5 cm
Gallery Shop
1 – 31 May 2025
Sue Plumb presents a collection of unique silver rings, earrings and pendants in the Gallery Shop throughout May. Using a combination of hand-forged silver and traditional Japanese Mitsuro Hikime wax casting, Sue incorporates gemstones, pearls and organic materials to create the work for her exhibition Shapeshifting.
shapeshifting [noun] undergoing a transformation in state, form, or appearance
Sue has always been inspired by botanical form and natural materials. Her work aims to preserve simplicity of design, organic line and form. Above all she strives for beauty, because just as in the natural world, beauty brings us joy. She works predominantly in silver and believes in the integrity of the handmade and the importance of the emotional connection between object and user.
Although Sue spent her early childhood in Australia, she went to art college in England where she was introduced to jewellery making. She then pursued her new passion, first at a Gold and Silversmithing School in Holland, and then at RMIT upon her return.
Sue is drawn to the philosophy and aesthetic of the Arts & Crafts movement of the late 19th century and its reaction against a decline in standards associated due to industrial manufacturing and mass production. After a long career in Art and Design education, she now lives in Victoria’s high country and has returned to her creative ‘roots’ with renewed enthusiasm.
Sue says that: “we think of ourselves as concrete entities and yet we move through life in transient form, a series of mutable manifestations in one lifetime, within and without. From infancy through adulthood, our reality is in a state of flux, like molten metal in a crucible. In this exhibition I explore these transitions of state as a metaphor for our lived experience. As personal adornment and worn on the body, jewellery is both intimate and functional, it must offer the wearer comfort, but also pleasure and delight. It is time that forges a bond between artifact and person.”
All works in the Gallery Shop are available for purchase from Benalla Art Gallery, or by contacting the Gallery: T 03 5760 2619 or gallery@benalla.vic.gov.au