|Jessica Turrell
AHRC Research Fellow
The focus of Jessica’s research fellowship 'Innovation in Vitreous Enamel Surfaces in Jewellery' is the use of innovative and experimental enamelling techniques in the production of contemporary jewellery. Methods more usually associated with large-scale, panel enamelling and industrial processes are being adapted for use in three-dimensional wearable forms, therefore removing some of the practical and physical constraints that often restrict the potential of the material. The research project includes a survey of contemporary enamel practice and an investigation of three-dimensional structures as a base for enamel using such processes a electroforming, laser welding, three dimensional printing and rapid prototyping.
The CFPR has recently increased its resources in rapid prototyping for artists and craftspeople and this fellowship bridges the links between enamel, print and the applied arts to enable a coherent strategy for combining digital technologies with the traditional crafts. Jessica exhibits nationally and internationally including Hamburg, Finland and the USA. She has run her own jewellery company and lectures widely. She was co-ordinating editor of Jewellers: The Directory, Association for Contemporary Jewellery 2007.
Jessica trained in jewellery and traditional enamel processes at Central School of Art, London (now Central St Martins). For a number of years her practice primarily involved the creation of jewellery pieces that incorporated traditional enamel techniques. Inspired by the approaches to enamel she encountered during her involvement in a large public art project she has latterly undertaken a sustained period of non-traditional technical research into mark-making in enamel. This, combined with investigations into printmaking techniques for enamel, formed the focus of her recent study at postgraduate level. The more experimental and flexible approaches to the material developed during this time have informed her most recent work in which she seeks to create enamelled jewellery that moves away from traditional practice in order to achieve a more ambiguous and expressive material quality.
The traditional grounding, combined with experience of more experimental working processes will enable a focus upon the potential of new techniques and processes in relation to the constraints and requirements of jewellery production. These constraints are primarily the issues of wearability, functionality, scale and three-dimensional form. Jessica’s fellowship post will be hosted by the Enamel Research Unit within the Centre for Fine Print Research.
The Enamel Research Unit was founded in 1999 and currently employs a senior research fellow. The research undertaken within the unit is both practice-based and theoretical. In 2002 the International Contemporary Vitreous Enamel Archive, a database of contemporary enamel on metal, was created. In 2005 a large enamel kiln was installed to assist its developing profile in undertaking public art projects. No other centre in the UK specializes in enamel.
Jessica's current CV
contact: Jessica.Turrell@uwe.ac.uk