Gabbee Stolp
Gabbee Stolp — 'Soft Shelled Collar', Native Oyster, 2024
Gabbee Stolp's Soft Shelled Collar (Native Oyster) explores themes of protection, concealment, and transformation. Crafted from Angasi oyster shells - collected by marine biologists restoring oyster reefs in the estuary where the artist's mother's ashes were scattered - the piece bridges nature's fragility and human intervention. Oyster shells grow slowly, filtering the substances and stories of their waterways. Long synonymous with luxury, they are served on fine dining tables and used to grow shimmering pearls. Yet, after their bounty is consumed, the shells and their histories are discarded. Swaddled in metallic leather, the shells are softened, their natural state is subverted. The leather protects and conceals the shells beneath its tactile surface. Sewing the leather over the shells becomes a gesture of care, binding past and present. Stolp's piece plays with the shells' value and the trickery of the leather's sheen, transforms the humble oyster into an object of preciousness.
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Gabbee Stolp is a visual artist based in lutruwita/Tasmania. Gabbee's practice exists across several mediums with a primary focus on contemporary jewellery, object-making and textiles. Gabbee's work examines material, memory and place, evoking biological and metaphysical themes including grief, loss and human-induced extinction.
Gabbee creates gentle tools with which to reflect on time and change and the way our human lives are invariably connected to the deep history and ecology of the places we live. Gabbee completed a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts) with First Class Honours, at RMIT University. She has exhibited widely in both solo and group exhibitions. Gabbee was a finalist in the The National Contemporary Jewellery Award (2024 and 2022), the Tidal.24 City of Devonport Tasmanian Art Award (2024), and the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize (2023). She is a founding member of State of Flux Workshop, contemporary jewellery studio, in nipaluna/Hobart.
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Trove: Contemporary Jewellery
27 September - 9 November
Jewellery has always played a significant role conveying messages about the relationships between people and the things they value – communicating across cultural, social, personal and political levels. Trove will feature a curated collection of works created by some of Australia's most forward-thinking and renowned artisans working in the field of jewellery. Exploring themes such as identity, culture, and sustainability, this exhibition will showcase works that are both visually striking and conceptually engaging.
Featuring the works of Roseanne Bartley, Liv Boyle, Lorraine Brigdale, Christine Collins, Laila Marie Costa, Laura Deakin, Samantha Dennis, Carly Tarkari Dodd, Anna Davern, Polly Dymond, Kirsten Haydon, Inari Kiuru, Anke Kindle, Sarah Lockey, Sim Luttin, Leslie Matthews, Belinda Newick, Emily O'Brien, Gabbee Stolp, Blanche Tilden, Zoe Veness and Melinda Young
Read more about the exhibition here:
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Material: angasi oyster shells (Ostrea angasi), leather, cotton thread
Dimensions: approx. 88 x 9 x 2.5cm