I work with fine silver. Its softness is a crucial quality needed for the main technique I developed throughout 25 years of jewellery-making: weaving. With unexpected characteristics- no weave is the same.

The weaving process itself feels very much like a search, intrinsically born of the state I am in. A good state would be one through which I allow the weaving to flow and grow ‘inevitably ‘… Into unique wearable art pieces that will never be repeated, as they reflect that specific moment, each moment manifesting itself, treasured in its uniqueness, revealing itself to my wonder of the here and now.

Not that there is little effort involved: my hands are ‘like contortionists dancing ‘, someone with a poet’s heart told me once while watching me work.

The wearable quality of the pieces I design and make is of utmost importance to me- rather than seeing this as a limitation, I welcome it as the universe that helps give shape to my body of work.

People often say things like, ‘I never take them off, ‘ and I take that as the greatest compliment! Showing them off pales to insignificance; the real kick is in the pieces becoming part of one’s history.

Someone once described my contemporary jewellery series as ‘rootsy but urban, classy but understated.’

If that’s so, it might be because I was brought up between the city and the country. With growing up in Brazil: a country often described as ‘a land of contrasts, a place of extremes.’

Another commentator said my woven pieces made from ‘interlaced silver and gold ribbon reminded them of the social fabric of Rio de Janeiro State: a place where strands of wealth and poverty, ethics and violence, culture and corruption are constantly intertwining. ‘

The middle is a place of constant friction: where the challenge is. And, through the creating and making process I strive to reach, even if momentarily, a place of balance.

I wish to inspire and evoke wholesome thoughts and emotions as to bring kindness and beauty into the world. This is my highest aspiration.

“I love your intertwined work. There’s something very poetic about it. Each piece is unique… random and yet, consistent. ” Sean Taylor, writer

I am a member of CRAFTed: Crafts Council of Ireland’s Education Panel which aims for the development and delivery of training programmes relating to the Visual Arts curriculum at primary level.

I am a proud member of the Cork Art and Design group and of Visual Artists Ireland, registered with the Crafts Council of Ireland and the London Assay Office, and am thankful for the support of the New Irish Art Project and for the assistance of the Cork City Enterprise Board Ltd.

You can see lots of images and read more info on my website www.gurgel-segrillo.com

Commissions are welcome: please contact one of the contemporary jewellery representing galleries. Alternatively, contact me and I will be happy to assist you. ~ Patricia Gurgel-Segrillo

>> NEVER ever will patron’s email addresses be passed on to third parties or used in any way other than replaying to direct inquiries <<

>> LEGIT blog comments (as well as LINKS) will be approved <<

I have a website www.gurgel-segrillo.com since 2004 and use Facebook for several years now but didn’t want to plug my work as a contemporary jewellery designer-maker much as I felt uncomfortable since mine was a personal profile. But as I work with jewellery full-time (and love it!) it was unavoidable not to talk about it every once in a while – consequently got several much-appreciated commissions… (BTW Nooo Farmville or the like for me, thanks, only app I use is Spare-a-Click.)

But then last year I decided to created an ‘artist’ page: Gurgel-Segrillo and being it a page, not a profile, it’s quite different (no pokes :0) and since then I’ve been consistently getting wonderful feedback, which I appreciate immensely. I do not sell much from my workshop, mostly through my representing galleries -  it is so encouraging to read people’s feedback, comments and ideas.

Of course, as anything else it involves work- one must keep the page ‘alive’ in order to attract and keep interest.

I can also ‘Like’ other pages to connect with other makers, with galleries, museums etc and get their news via the newsfeed- that’s how I’ve found, to name one great source of info about contemporary jewellery:  kit and caboodle. Last but not least, I’ve been getting a steady flow of  commissions via Facebook, too.

FB orders are different in that I have interaction with the person commissioning work, even more than through my website. Needless to say, the love and care I pour into making the pieces is the same no matter how the order comes in… I am hugely grateful to be able to make my living through something I adore!

Because I mainly sell through galleries, I have no contact with the customer. To the question why not opening an outlet of some kind: ‘oh, no, selling is another art’ has been my unwavering answer. I highly admire, respect and value the work that the galleries do. It is lovely, though, to get more direct feedback and it is something that could be certainly improved in the artist-gallery relationship, I believe. Just the simple comments on my Facebook page do feed me with much encouragement.

If you are considering Facebook as a tool to reach a potential audience for your art, whatever art it is just be certain you are creating a Page, and not a Profile. Pages have stats and several other features pertinent to a more ‘business’ or ‘institution’ use. And do remember to reciprocate the ‘Likes’ you get from other pages:

~  Kindness, like a boomerang, always returns.  ~

Note: Spare a Click ‘is a community of volunteers that click together to help sponsor children around the world. It’s powered by Care2 and Children International.’ It is a Facebook app with a great cause. http://apps.facebook.com/spareaclick/

Being a designer-maker of contemporary jewellery working full-time for over two decades, I’ve seen over the years more and more consignment arrangements and fewer outlets actually buying work outright.

This of course poses a whole new set of potential advantages but I believe mostly challenges for the maker as we have to invest the time and material upfront and ‘wait’ for the sales, so the risk lays heavily on us. Plus the extra time that keeping track of the work involves, as opposed to doing a straight sale. I don’t think that people who go for making art are keen on bookkeeping practices, right? Well, I learned I must be as strict on this part of the job as I am with quality-control.

I must admit I’ve enjoyed the flexibility of choosing myself which pieces I send to the gallery, when on a Sale Or Return basis. BUT, must stress here again that keeping track of stock can be a lot of work! Not to mention the risks involved. After 25 years it did happen to me- a gallery recently refused to pay for pieces not sold or returned.

This prompted me to read everything I could find about the subject and was very sad to learn that this unfortunately happens rather often. I read in forums things like “Be prepared to lose a few pieces – you can’t see how people are treating your stuff.” I find this unacceptable. Don’t you?

Not wishing at all to place all gallery owners in the same bag (a Brazilian expression- I think it works in English, too, hum?) I have wonderful and long relationships with the galleries which represent me, and do put myself in their shoes and imagine the pressure all the costs of running a gallery imposes… it was a one-off thing. It was a brand new gallery and maybe I took a chance I shouldn’t have, but saying this: nothing justifies trying to get away with not paying the artist.

Well, one positive thing I’d like to share is that there’s help out there… Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts in the US, and here for us in the EU there’s the European Small Claims Court, with a cost of 15euro and a subsequent European Order for Payment should set things right.

Visual Artists Ireland: “we have seen an increase in the number of complaints that we are receiving about artists not being paid for works sold, or artists unable to get their works returned to them from dealers and ‘gallerists’. With this increase we have taken advice on the matter and have found that one option open to artists is to report this as a crime.”

We say in Brazil: ‘conselho só se dá a quem pede’ / ‘advice should only be offered to someone who asks’ but I’ll dare give a word of advice, as I suspect that, even though this is a more prevalent problem than it is openly discussed, most makers unfortunately do shy away from this subject: other artists/crafts people out there- please be cautious! to Collect (payment) On Delivery should be diligently sough after if unsure of the gallery’s reputation!

2011 was very good and much due to the huge support I received:

Cork Art & Design

(with special hugs to Mairead McCorley and Claire Graham)

Designworks Studio, Cork City

(to the always friendly Tuula Harrington, Nicole Schuster and Gabi Kmitaite)

For the long-lasting and consistent support from my representing galleries:

Cecilia Colman Gallery
67 St John’s Wood High Street, London NW 8 7NL, UK

Designworks Studio
Cornmarket Street, Cork City, Ireland

Buckenham Galleries
81 High Street, Southwold, Suffolk IP18 6DS, UK

Sarah Wiseman Gallery
40/41 South Parade, Summertown, Oxford OX2 7JL, UK

Gallery Meno Niša
J.Basanaviciaus str. 1/13, LT-01118 Vilnius, Lithuania

The Smokehouse Gallery
St Ellas Place, Eyemouth TD14 5HP, UK

The Biscuit Factory
Stoddart Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 1AN, UK. tel: 01912 611 103

Mažoji Galerija
Latviu 19A, Vilnius, Lithuania

The Leitrim Design House
The Dock Arts Centre, St. George’s Terrace Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim, Ireland

To the brilliant Lewis Glucksman Gallery Craft Fair and Catherine McEntee and to Jade: the most lovely helper ever :-)

HUGE thank you for all at the Metal Branch of The Artists Association, Lithuania, who welcomed me in Vilnius for the METALOfonas First International Biennale of the Art in Metal and were so kind and open to exchanging ideas. Special thanks to Elena Sakalauskaite, Laima Kėrienė, Kornelija Gerikaitė, Eimantas Ludavičius, Šarūnė Vaitkutė, Dainius Narkus and Jurgita Erminaitė-Šimkuvienė.

For the incredibly helpful resources of Visual Artists Ireland, Crafts Council of Ireland, the London Assay Office, New Irish Art Project and Cork City Arts.

I am HUGELY appreciative of the support from all my Facebook followers!

I am honored and thankful for the assistance and mentor-ship provided by

Cork City Enterprise Board Ltd.

To my fantastic mentor Méabh Ring

THANK YOU!

P Gurgel-Segrillo

Here’s an Arts Business Institute article with my and other fellow artists’ inspiring New Year’s resolutions:

New Year’s Resolutions for Artists

HAPY NEW YEAR!

Gurgel-Segrillo’s woven series in fine silver and 18ct gold at

ONE GRAM OF GOLD Exhibition

at Galerija MENO NIŠA

Alongside participants from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ireland, Poland, Belarus, Finland

‘Exhibits in “One Gram of Gold” will contain as much gold as there is talent and artistic inventiveness in the works of the artists. ‘

December 13, 2011 – January 10, 2012

Gallery Meno Niša,

J. Basanaviciaus Street 1 / 13, Vilnius, Lithuania

I work with fine silver. Its softness is a crucial quality needed for the main technique I developed throughout 25 years of jewellery-making: weaving. With unexpected characteristics- no weave is the same.

The weaving process itself feels very much like a search, intrinsically born of the state I am in. A good state would be one through which I allow the weaving to flow and grow ‘inevitably ‘… Into unique wearable art pieces that will never be repeated, as they reflect that specific moment, each moment manifesting itself, treasured in its uniqueness, revealing itself to my wonder of the here and now.

My contemporary jewellery series in fine silver and 18ct gold

NOW in Cork City

just around the corner, or river bend, from where I live: at this fantastic gallery/studio… YES a gallery with a fully working jewellery workshop on site! lovely to see!

plus a cozy, friendly atmosphere to go with it  :-)

designworks studio – patricia-gurgel-segrillo

Designworks, Cornmarket Street, Cork City, Ireland
T. +353 (0)21 4279420

For more information please visit:

www.gurgel-segrillo.com

contemporary jewellery > info

comfort
The wearable quality of the pieces I design and make is of utmost importance to me- rather than seeing this as a limitation, I welcome it as the universe that helps give shape to my body of work.

materials
I work with fine silver, or as it is also called silver 999. I do not use the more common type, sterling, which is of a lower silver content: 925 parts to 1000. Pure silver is softer, a crucial quality for the main making technique I use: weaving. But weaving with unexpected characteristics I developed through many years.

• the 1% left in fine silver, or silver 999, consists of naturally occurring impurities, nothing is added.
• fine silver needs a lot of neglect to tarnish- if kept clean and out of contact with air while stored, i.e. wrapped in a cloth, will not tarnish.
• most people who believe they are allergic to silver in fact are allergic to other metals mixed in to make sterling, or silver 925. Nickel is the usual culprit. I’ve never known someone to have a reaction from wearing fine silver jewellery. This affirmation is based on 25 years of experience and positive feedback from customers.
• I also make pieces in fine silver and 18ct gold as I think yellow 18ct gold gives good contrast with silver. I do not use any lower gold, as it is too hard to weave. I can also use red 18ct. I’ve made pieces on commission in red and yellow gold woven together and they looked stunning.

My Cork City workshop  and art studio is now accepting commissions for contemporary jewellery in fine silver and gold ~ to arrange a visit, please contact:

p@gurgel-segrillo.com

m: +353 (0) 861099084

for more info please visit:

www.gurgel-segrillo.com