Christine Erratt has had a keen interest in Australian silverware since the 1970s. She joined the Silver Society of Australia in the 1990s and has been a regular contributor to the Silver Society's newsletters and journals. Christine has written many articles for other magazines and publications, and the introductory catalogue essay for a contemporary Australian silver exhibition in 2008. She has toured Australia lecturing on the subject of Australian silverware during the era of her interest as well as on Australian Women Silversmiths. She is also a long standing member of the Australiana Society and the National Trust of Australia.
In 2012 she was awarded the Peter Walker Fine Arts Writing Award for her study of Ceremonial Maces of Australian Universities, published in Australiana, the research magazine of the Australiana Society.
This unique reference book is a comprehensive collating of information about the makers and retailers of Australian silverware in the era covering the second half of the twentieth century and the marks they have used to identify their work.
The information in this book enables Australian silverware to be identified by the individual marks. It also gives a history of silversmithing in Australia during the era through its detailed resumés of the makers and retailers.
The author photographed the marks of the makers and retailers and presents graphic, clear images of them. This method of identification is superior to hand-drawn representation and will enable the reader to easily identify marks.
This 208 page hardback book 230mm x 150mm contains
This book celebrates 40 years of Hendrik Forster silversmithing, designing and making in Australia. It spans Hendrik's life story leading up to his decision to follow a career in silversmithing; the influences over his lifetime on his design concepts; and the exacting precision in the execution of his work. Significant commissions and exhibitions are covered both in the text and pictorially among the many colour images. This is a celebration of the achievements of one of Australia's most significant contemporary silversmiths, designers and makers - Hendrik Forster
This 112 page soft cover 190mm x 230mm book.
In her Foreword, Grace Cochrane states:
"Christine Erratt has carefully traced Hendrik Forster's journey across the last four decades, identifying many people and events that have helped shape it along the way. Welded into the narrative are accounts of his core interest in metals and complex sources of ideas, as well as his values regarding art, design and skill. Significant is his response to both his own cultural heritage and that of Australia, addressing in his contemporary context what many migrant predecessors have responded to in theirs. Hendrik continually reassesses his directions, often working alone, while also entering into valuable technical and industrial collaborations. He moves easily between hand skills and semi-industrial processes to make one-off exhibition pieces and large sculptural works, as well as multiples such as settings of tableware. Many of his works are special pieces commissioned by clients, usually for significant occasions or places.
This publication is a valuable resource for those interested in the intersection of skills and ideas across the spectrum of art, crafts and design, as well as being a very welcome record of 40 years of Hendrik Forster's exceptional experience."
Media Release:
"There are a number of processes in silversmithing which are also arduous, physically demanding, and tedious - unless you approach them with the right kind of Zen. Then you can discover such things as the beauty of the polished mark that every hammer blow leaves on an annealed dome of silver or the texture of a newly filed surface.
For over forty years, Hendrik Forster has been putting his Zen philosophy into practice, as evidenced in all of his work: in the pared-down pure lines of beauty, and the perfect harmony of form and function.
Christine Erratt has written an engaging account of Forster's professional life, from the early years of his training and journeymanship in Germany, to his emigration to Australia and the maturity of his skill to become one of this country's master craftsmen.
This is a fascinating account of the evolution of creative talent. Forster's most exquisite pieces are examined in detail: their purpose, design and execution. The text highlights how the skill taken in the creation of a small piece of jewellery is, in essence, the same as that needed to perfect a towering sculpture.
Along the way, it reflects on the people, landscapes and materials that have influenced Forster's work.
To be an artist is to find one's centre of gravity and reflect that state in one's medium. To be a craftsman is to work with head and hand in harmony with the material and its natural laws.
This is a story of what it means to be a master craftsman."