2021 Catalogue Archive

Melbourne-based metalsmith, Marian Hosking looks to Australia’s native plants and translates them into her jewelry. Atop her Banksia Vessel she has recreated petals from the banksia wildflower. When held in the right light, the spiky relief of the petals cast intriguing shadows, which Hosking often employs intentionally. This lid can also be worn alone as a brooch. She developed a love for the Australian landscape while exploring with her mother, who was a nature conservationist.  Throughout her career, she has constantly collected botanical specimens and photographs to inspire her work. Hosking does not aim for naturalistic realism. Rather, she focuses on a specific aspect of a given plant and reinterprets it into jewelry.  “Place and identity underpin my work,” she says, “and I enjoy finding ways to allude to especially familiar plants in less familiar ways.” Using various casting, drilling, and saw piercing techniques, Hosking works primarily in silver, liking the material especially for its luster. She takes great pride in her craft, having spent over 40 years honing her skills and designs. After completing her undergraduate studies in gold and silversmithing in 1969, she studied in Pforzheim, Germany and worked under Reinhold Reiling. She earned her Master of Arts from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1996 and her PhD from Monash University in Melbourne in 2009, where she served as the Head of the Department of Metal and Jewelry. Hosking is a major figure in the Australian contemporary craft movement. In 2007, she was named one of the Australian Centre for Craft and Design’s “Living Treasures: Masters of Australian Craft,” and she received the Cicely & Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award in 2012. Hosking has pieces in renowned public collections such as the National Gallery of Australia.