Jane Sanbrook
Jewellery Designer (Cleveland, QLD)

Jane Sanbrook designs and makes handcrafted contemporary jewellery from silver, beads, stone and found objects. Her craft and design practice as a jeweller is an evolving process. She has applied to it life experiences, coupled to a developing visual vocabulary that has gained fluency with time.

Her earrings are mostly created in Sterling Silver. The ear is the ideal site for  freedom of movement, and earrings make a strong personal statement about identity, individuality, the interest in adornment and fashion on the part of the wearer.

Jane completed her studies in Bachelor of Arts (Crafts/3D Design) at West Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT) in 1985. In 2007 she completed a Graduate Diploma of Education at Queensland University of Technology.

Jane has exhibited her work in Australia and overseas. She has won various competitions and awards and sells through retail outlets and gallery shops.

Jane welcomes any inquiries regarding her work and jewellery can be made upon request or ordered from the website.

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Artist Statement:
The structural forms for some of my designs are based on a simple flow of geometric shapes in line and form. I have found my inspiration in my children's drawings and work to encapsulate the fluidity, the freedom and the open interpretation of life as seen through the eyes of the young.

Contrast, juxtaposition and intersection are concerns that are interpreted both seriously and playfully in my work. A pair of earrings that is not perfectly matched, for example, provides a challenge to me as the designer and is a source of curiosity and intrigue to the viewer.

My practice as a jewellery designer/maker is influenced by abstract form and the use of colour, line and space in the work of artists Klimt (1862-1918), Kandinsky (1866-1944) and Miro (1893-1983). Similarly jewellers such as Hermann Junger and Ray Norman have ignited my passion to create.

The Stinger and Ray earrings are a reflection of a sense of place in Queensland. Stingers are an ever-present danger for those who live in the tropics, as are Sting Rays in Moreton Bay. The contrast of their ethereal beauty and danger fascinates me and draws me to tame them in the form of a worn object.

My sub-tropical Queensland environment is reflected in my work through time spent on the water sailing and swimming. Glistening light, fluid movement and reflection are the intrinsic qualities I want to convey, while forms are influenced by palms, water, waves, sand, sea creatures, tendrils and sails.

The assemblage of several different parts to each earring creates the movement: joining and separating as the wearer moves. They convey the movement of the water and the dual symbolism of peace and tranquillity of the tropics. Through this use of symbols and forms that are lightweight and reflective I aim to impart a simple, and at times, refreshingly whimsical quality.