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Su Keates is a jeweller and treasure sculptor with an obsession for the metamorphic form. Her trail of organically inspired jewellery delicately presents the three key stages of nature’s life cycle - from larvae and seed, to chrysalis and sprout, to fully grown organism. Her collection of beautifully handcrafted gems mark time for the keeping.
UK-born and Wellington-based, Su Keates first learnt her art at England’s Kent Institute of Art and Design where she qualified with a Bachelor of Art in Jewellery and Silversmithing in 2000. Fine-tuning her skill working as a jeweller with renowned British jeweller Diana Porter from 2001 to 2002, and continuing to develop her range independently, Su added an Honours level to her degree at The Learning Connexion, Wellington, in 2011, becoming a self-employed artist in 2012.
Su works in a variety of media: from precious metals and stone to wood and bone. While much of her materials are sourced second-hand, layered by unknown histories, modern lines and contrasting textures give her pieces a contemporary edge.
Su works instinctively, drawing upon the natural and organic forms that inspire her to guide her processes and allowing her vision to mould as she progresses. Shaping her pieces sometimes in accordance with, and other times against, the inherent qualities of her materials, she seeks to be deceptive – transforming wood into fluid; enhancing bone with an unexpected sense of depth; giving gold the appearance of silk, ageing new silver and honing bronze to the point of weightlessness.
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