Jewellery Circus

Internationally recognized goldsmith Felieke van der Leest has opened her first Norwegian solo exhibition.

The exhibition Jewellery Circus opened in the ‘magpie nest’ at Permanenten, West Norway Museum of Decorative Art, on Saturday, 29 May 2010.

Originally hailing from the Netherlands, Felieke van der Leest now lives and works in Hardanger, Norway, where she creates toys and humoristic jewellery with plastic animals, precious metals and textiles. Educated as both a pictorial artist and a goldsmith, she has developed a singular expression by enriching jewellery design with textile techniques.

World renown
Van der Leest is represented by galleries in Tokyo, New York and Amsterdam, and her works are coveted and collected by individuals and museums the world over. In 2006 the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art presented the exhibition Jewellery Fables, which included an overview of her artistic practice.

With the uniqueness and humour of the hippopotamus-ring Prima Ballerina Hippo-Lolita and Cowboy Lion Cub’s Necklace, it is easy to understand why van der Leest’s works are popular. But, she warns, ‘you need guts to wear these things, because you will attract attention’.

By: Maria Tripodianos
1-6 2010