Dinie Besems (NL)
www.diniebesems.nl

100 earrings in 5 days

13.08. - 19.08.2006

Jewellery can constitute many things, with the spectrum extending from something that's purely decorative to trinkets up to a valuable art object. During the workshop, we will concern ourselves with all the various facets of jewellery design and examine our own attitudes toward the different forms.
Each student will design 100 earrings, 20 pieces per day, from various materials. I've chosen the earring since the wearability of this object - in other words, the weight - is a determining factor. Plus, the issues touched on above are particularly relevant in the case of earrings. Since jewellery always has a connection to the body, we will also address the presentation of the works.

Dinie Besem's work fits in with the tradition of Dutch jewellery design. It is concerned with questioning and articulating the significance of jewellery, the relationship between personal statement and social value. Her works scrutinise the relationship between person and object by investigating the double function of public communication and private significance and by contemplating the junction where the dialogue occurs.

Dinie Besems

Dinie Besems has an unorthodox, conceptual approach to jewellery: 'Even though I never take the jewel itself as my starting point, my ideas always end up on the body, which is often the way it has to be with jewellery.' Her basis is the line, often incorporating a numerical methodology in which shapes can be repeated or enlarged.

Dinie Besems was born in Ooosterhout in 1966 and works as a jewellery designer in Amsterdam. She studied at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Arnhem and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam
Prizes: Amstelveen Art Incentive Prize, 1995; Emmy van Leersum Incentive Prize 1999.
Visiting lectureships and workshops: Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam; Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Arnhem; Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Utrecht; Royal College of Art, London; Fachhochschule Düsseldorf.
Commissions include work for the Municipality of Amstelveen, medal designs for the Gay Games in collaboration with Gonnissen and Widdershoven and a chain of office for the Municipality of Leerdam.
Solo exhibitions: Everything Should Fit, Galerie Ra, Amsterdam, 1995; Kordaat Ferm Nobel Schoon, Museum Aemstelle, Amstelveen, 1996; Connie en Gerda, Galerie Ademloos, The Hague, 1998; Hang een steen om je nek, Galerie Louise Smit, Amsterdam, 2001; Epifyt, Chapel of St Sebastian, Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, 2002; 'HIER' beurs van berlage, Amsterdam, 2004; Epibreren, galerie binnen, Amsterdam, 2005.