Dani Maugeri

Dani Maugeri is a ceramacist and jeweller living and working in Melbourne. In 2001 she launched her label 'Dani M Designs' and has since released 8 collections. Her work is stocked at Alice Euphemia and Craft Victoria and Dani recently held an exhibition at Craft Victoria's enCOUNTER window which entitled Fix Up Look Sharp, consisting of her latest range of porcelain crystal shards.

What do you expect for two bucks!, 2010, ceramic, silver findings

If the work had a title it would be “what do you expect for two bucks!”

Whilst I wish to give the consumer a nice surprise when they open their egg and be delighted by the bounty of jewels they find…I simply can’t afford to.

So, what costs me next to nothing? Scraps!

Each egg will have a collection of porcelain off cuts and scraps that I have carefully chosen to glaze and fire. The new owner will find a piece of silk cord and maybe a brooch backing that they can use to assemble the scraps into an individual item of jewellery.

www.danimdesigns.swappler.com

Deirdre Hoban

Deirdre Hoban studied Metals and Jewellery at Monash University, completing her Honours Degree in 2008. She has exhibited and curated an exhibition at the Abbotsford Convent and been a finalist in the Victorian Ceramic Art Award.

Although she works in different materials, nearly everything that Deirdre makes is based on straight lines and triangles, it may seem limiting to work within these constraints but so far the possibilities have been endless.

Colourful Bucket, 2009, cotton rope, porcelain, spray paint, photographic paper (jewellery dimensions vary)

The concept for Insert Coin Here reminded me of the lucky dip at school fetes, I would always blow heaps of my cash there and was rarely disappointed.

So I looked through my studio for the odds and ends that I never managed to work into finished pieces, that have been waiting for their time to shine. I combined them with some special rope, which I have been holding on to for longer than I can remember, and worked these materials into magical new works, which I trust will not disappoint.

www.deirdre.com.au

Leah Jackson

Leah Jackson is a ceramacist. Recent exhibitions in 2009 include Step out of Character Become Yourself, a collaborative work with Rob McHaffie at Darren Knight Gallery, Bottled at PAN Gallery (curated by Kim Brockett & Anita Cummins) and her first solo show Adytum at TCB art inc in Melbourne.

U Do Voodoo, 2010, ceramic, thread

For years I have been giving and receiving small tokens wrapped up with a promise of safety, love and fortune. For my birthday last year my partner gave me a necklace stating its wear would promote me to the status of ‘powerful woman’, but even as a teenager my friends and I would purchase small crystals from the local shop ‘Crystalised’, smoke them with incense, cleanse them with full-moonlight, then give them to the nearest and dearest with similar promises. Despite my common sense lifestyle of today, many of these sacred stones, embedded with a meaning higher than the objects themselves, are still with me.

These ten pieces for Insert Coin Here lay somewhere between ancient ritualistic charms, and a Westfield shopping center – a modern day voodoo to assist in coping with the false promises and the busy metropolitan world around us. Gone are the earthy tones of old magic past, we now require a shallow, saccharine palette to connect with our flat screen CMYK vision. Let these simple physical objects be elevated to a paranormal realm by believing in their ability to quick fix a personal fragility, to fill a void, to improve and enhance oneself.

Simon Zoric

Simon Zoric is a recent Fine Arts graduate from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). His first solo show, I Know You Despise Me For Not Being Stronger, took place in 2009 at the Centre for Contemporary Photography in Melbourne. Simon has been part of numerous group exhibitions including We Don't Need Another Hero (2010, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne), Texticles (2009, TCB, Melbourne) and Tender Buttons (2009, Kings ARI, Melbourne).

Bad(ges), 2010, porcelain, badge pin

Simon Zoric has placed ten porcelain badges inside the gumball capsules. Mimicking the fortune cookie, each one contains a different message or statement from the artist. Using awkward humour and a personal semi confessional tone, the badges act as a direct message from the artist to the recipient. The functionality of the badge places the recipient in the potentially awkward position of having to choose whether or not to take part in the work by wearing the badge.

www.thezoric.blogspot.com