2025

In celebration of Gray Street Workshop’s 40th anniversary, JamFactory presents Beautiful Tensions, a major touring exhibition honouring the momentous legacy and talent of the workshop by showcasing new work by the four current partners: Jess Dare, Lisa Furno, Sue Lorraine and Catherine Truman. Witty, playful and poignant in equal measure, each body of work is distinctive, yet share certain themes and formal concerns.

Established in 1985 by Anne Brennan, Catherine Truman and Sue Lorraine, Gray Street Workshop is one of Australia’s longest running collectively run studios for artists working in the field of contemporary jewellery and object making. The uncompromising commitment of this group of artists to their work and to studio-based practice has enabled Gray Street Workshop to evolve into one of Australia’s most exciting and respected workshops.

Lisa Furno is also driven by environmental concerns, responding to the impact of consumption and the waste it generates through creating masks made of the domestic detritus generated by her family and friends, which she then documents in a series of photographic performances.

This timely exhibition articulates the group’s shared commitment to the value of making and the power of objects to transmit meaning. The way their shared themes are articulated so differently in the exhibition is a cogent expression of how the group works, in their own words, ‘separately together’.

2025

The exhibition will be launched at JamFactory Adelaide before touring to 12 venues nationally across SA, VIC, TAS, NSW and QLD.

The exhibition is accompanied by Beautiful Tensions, a 152-page hard-cover monograph co-published by JamFactory and Wakefield Press. The publication is written by author Anne Brennan, who was also a co-founder of Gray Street Workshop.

2025

In celebration of Gray Street Workshop’s 40th anniversary, JamFactory presents Beautiful Tensions, a major touring exhibition honouring the momentous legacy and talent of the workshop by showcasing new work by the four current partners: Jess Dare, Lisa Furno, Sue Lorraine and Catherine Truman. Witty, playful and poignant in equal measure, each body of work is distinctive, yet share certain themes and formal concerns.

Established in 1985 by Anne Brennan, Catherine Truman and Sue Lorraine, Gray Street Workshop is one of Australia’s longest running collectively run studios for artists working in the field of contemporary jewellery and object making. The uncompromising commitment of this group of artists to their work and to studio-based practice has enabled Gray Street Workshop to evolve into one of Australia’s most exciting and respected workshops.

Lisa Furno is also driven by environmental concerns, responding to the impact of consumption and the waste it generates through creating masks made of the domestic detritus generated by her family and friends, which she then documents in a series of photographic performances.

This timely exhibition articulates the group’s shared commitment to the value of making and the power of objects to transmit meaning. The way their shared themes are articulated so differently in the exhibition is a cogent expression of how the group works, in their own words, ‘separately together’.

The exhibition will be launched at JamFactory Adelaide before touring to 12 venues nationally across SA, VIC, TAS, NSW and QLD.

The exhibition is accompanied by Beautiful Tensions, a 152-page hard-cover monograph co-published by JamFactory and Wakefield Press. The publication is written by author Anne Brennan, who was also a co-founder of Gray Street Workshop.

2022

A collection of contemporary jewellery made from weathered second-hand and deteriorated plastics from my daughter’s cubby house and pool collected from the roadside.

This work continues my enquiry into our level of consumerism, questioning the ethics and impact of indoctrinating young children in a consumer culture at an age, where they cannot understand the impact or legacy of discarded plastics and materials on the planet.

2022

A collection of contemporary jewellery made from weathered second-hand and deteriorated plastics from my daughter’s cubby house and pool collected from the roadside.

This work continues my enquiry into our level of consumerism, questioning the ethics and impact of indoctrinating young children in a consumer culture at an age, where they cannot understand the impact or legacy of discarded plastics and materials on the planet.

2020

Bunnies is a large installation of over 70 rabbit-like objects, made from weathered second-hand and deteriorated plastics from children’s cubby houses, pools and slides collected from the roadside.

Familiarity surrounds these objects as my daughter and her friends played with them for years in our backyard. Over time, the plastic started to break up, crack and disintegrate, with this mass of plastics destined for landfill, an overwhelming realisation and key catalyst for this work.

Bunnies continues my enquiries into our level of consumerism and questions the ethics and impact of indoctrinating young children into this consumer culture at an age when they cannot understand the impact or legacy of discarded plastics and materials on this planet.

2021

‘Bunnies’ is a large installation piece, composed of over sixty handmade rabbit objects, consisting of two pieces, a head and a torso. Each piece is cut and assembled from weathered second-hand and deteriorated plastic cubby houses, pools and slides; after been collected from the side of the road.

The Bunnies installation work intensifies and becomes a life of its own when a small light is directed below the work creating monstrous bunny silhouettes taking over the gallery walls, amplifying the size of the bunnies whilst simultaneously and ironically highlighting and magnifying the monumental underlying problem of plastics within our society.

photography john hemmings

2019

Trash Bag Monster, a project involving a conversation about trash, about our thoughts, worries and feelings about trash. Using second-hand soft plastics that I had collected and distilling the conversations we had, I made individual, bespoke brooches. To be worn over the heart the brooches acknowledged my relationship to the person and the universal problem of trash.

2016

This body of work is made from ‘used’ citrus bags that have been sourced through a callout on social media. I have received donations by mail and in person by friends, family and strangers. I like this way of collecting materials as it creates a sense of community and awareness to the work.

I chose to use citrus bags as my material because they as an object were initially designed to hold a single purpose and then discarded. I wanted to take this familiar everyday object and transform it into a ‘precious’ object with function and form.

Through making I have gained intimate knowledge of this versatile and delicate material. I have learnt the range and limitations in which I can manipulate the materials to investigate new forms. Finally establishing a strong relationship with the material, attaining knowledge that has enabled me to read the materials and create the forms I wanted.

This body of work has transformed everyday discarded materials into delicate new forms. When worn these pieces are light and scratchy conveying a constant reminder of their previous forms.

2014

My approach to my work has developed into one that is intuitively led through experimentation and exploration with materials, colours and composition. Now, I find it beneficial to develop pieces without preconception of end result and enjoy the journey of the processes.

My process is entirely handmade and is both influenced and motivated by the cause and effect of consumerism, sustainability and recycling. I choose to source used and second-hand materials along with found objects picked up off the street.

Having previously worked with the aid of a heat gun to manipulate and morph these materials, this time I experimented with a toaster oven and plastic beaded necklaces collected from the local op-shop.

2014

A body of work created from my 2014 residency at Manakau Institute of Technology, Faculty of Creative Arts Jewellery Department in Auckland, New Zealand

All materials used were collected locally from op-shops, donated by friends and picked up of the street.

2014

‘Wear’ was an interactive exhibition that enabled th audience to touch, try on and wear the work.

Made with the aid of a conventional toaster oven by melting and morphing everyday objects into new forms.

The materials used for this project were collected from the streets of New Zealand and purchased secondhand from local op-shops. The main tool was a toaster oven, a ten dollar score on a lunchtime outing.

This work was developed over one month at my residency at New Zealand’s Manakau Institute of Technology, Faculty of Creative Arts Jewellery Department, Auckland, in 2014.

Exhibited at Fresh Gallery Otara, New Zealand

2013

A collection of discarded plastic toys, electrical parts, off cuts, box strapping and knick-knacks; were subjected to experiments with a heat gun, shrink wrap and a hand-saw in creating this collection of jewellery.

The materials gathered for my work were all pre-loved and recycled, collected from friends, op-shops, hard rubbish and the streets of Adelaide. They were then transformed into this array of wearable works or art, brooches and neckpieces. 

2011

While spending several months in South East Asia marveling at the everyday resourcefulness of the locals with recycling, reusing and improvising with available and limited materials. I was inspired to start collecting discarded plastic toys, utencils, beads, clips and flowers throughout Burma, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand; which then developed into this body of work.

2011

A series of ten limited edition neck pieces made out of my mum’s going away dress that coincided with the year of their 40th wedding anniversary.

A going away dress is a semi formal dress, worn by a bride when leaving the reception for her honeymoon.

2010

The Lucky Dip series was developed while traveling through South East Asia.

While I marvelled at the everyday resourcefulness of the locals with recycling, reusing and improvising with available and limited materials. I picked up a pair of scissors, a hole punch and a roll of packing tape from the local markets. Fitting neatly into a small bag these are the limited tools and materials I would use daily to develop the Lucky Dip series over the upcoming year.

photography by emma furno

2006-2021

The Royalty Series is a collection that is reflective in its contradiction and intricately detailed, expensive pieces that depict wealth and status. I wanted to take a playful, lighthearted approach towards this collection, while still enabling myself to create a functional, wearable series of work. The pieces are hand drawn, scanned and transferred onto aluminum using a dye sublimation process. These are then individually hand cut and assembled. A simplistic, mass produced series combined with a playful whim.

photography by emma furno

2006-2021

The Royalty Series is a collection that is reflective in its contradiction and intricately detailed, expensive pieces that depict wealth and status. I wanted to take a playful, lighthearted approach towards this collection, while still enabling myself to create a functional, wearable series of work. The pieces are hand drawn, scanned and transferred onto aluminum using a dye sublimation process. These are then individually hand cut and assembled. A simplistic, mass produced series combined with a playful whim

photography by emma furno

2009

The madonna series is originally sand cast from my nonna’s gold mary pendant, which she wore most of her life. Sterling silver casts of casts were made to slowly deteriorate the initial preciousness of the original gold piece. The intrinsic preciousness lies not in the materials or casting qualities, but in the piece’s emotional value.

2009

Alter Ego was an interactive installation created from over a hundred and fifty second hand figurines collected from op-shops, friends and flea markets throughout Sydney. 

The collection was displayed on the gallery wall,  where the viewer was invited to select a figurine they feel connected with their ‘alter ego’. Upon retrieving the piece from the wall, they were required to draw the piece they had chosen on the wall – This initiating the relationship with their selected piece.

A variety of silk ribbons in the colours of blue, pink, yellow, green and red were supplied to string their figure around their neck. A photo was taken to capture the moment of interaction between the piece, the viewer and the moment they adorned themselves with the object. 

photography by emma furno