Gabriella Hegyes

Gabriella Hegyes, Covert 2015-16 The Promise 2015

Text on tulle

‘There is a lesson in each flower, A story in each stream and bower, In every herb on which you tread Are written words, which rightly read Will lead you from earth’s fragrant sod, To hope, to holiness, and God.’

Poem by Thomas Osborne Davis

1814-45

Gabriella Hegyes, Covet 2015-16 The Promise 2015

Scroll H:30cm x W: 30cm X D:30cm on a plinth – length variable

Materials: Tulle, fabric, thread

The promise

Religion has played a major aspect in my life through my grandmother’s catholic

beliefs. As I was brought up by her I envied her belief - to me the religious text

became a jumble of words coiled up in an unintelligible way and apart from my

excitement about nature I never made the connection with her beliefs.

Gabriella Hegyes, TCovet 2015-16 he Promise 2015

The Flowers and Fruits of the Bible

Publishers: Webb &Bower UK 1982

John Chancellor

Illustrated by William Mc Cheane

ISBN 0-906671-53-1

Covet 1 Catalouge

Opening Covet 1

http://belconnenartscentre.com.au/exhibitions/covet.html

Covet Exhibition

Covet
Belconnen Arts Centre
4 - 28 March 2016
Belconnen Arts Centre 

Bev Moxon

Bev Moxon, Covet 2015

The Necklace 

Recently I came across a story written by a French 19th Century author, Guy de Maupassant called, ‘The Necklace’ and although the story is quite well known I had not read it until now. His tale was inspirational in motivating me to create a necklace for this exhibition. In this story a beautiful jewel necklace belonging to a friend was much desired by a young woman, Mathilde. 


Coveting and perception are the themes of the story and throughout the narrative the protagonist, Mathilde covets all that other people possess. She perceives others to have more than she and is so covetous of jewels, silks and furs that eventually she comes to a sorry finish. I won’t give the story’s ending away in case you haven’t read it, but I will put a link here so that you can read it for yourselves. 

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Neck.shtml 


It seems one of the most common weaknesses of human nature is to be covetous of the wealth of others and to perceive that they have more than ourselves. I have used very common objects found in nature to demonstrate how ‘all that is gold need not glitter’. Wealth is a matter of perception as is well illustrated when reading Guy de Maupassant’s tale. If we take the time to look there is a treasure trove to be found in nature. 
 

My necklace is still in the very early stages of designing but will eventually have a rabbit fur edging, cowrie shells, stones, small pieces of bone and other natural materials such as seeds and pods. Techniques employed are weaving, sewing and beading.

There are other layers of meaning within my work from the controversial use of fur as a decorative piece to adorn humans to the suggestions of natures objects, simple, common, yet beautiful and valued in their own right as Nature’ riches. 


I also allude to the historical use of shells as money. Shell money was used in America as well as Asia, Africa and Australia. The cowrie shell was the shell most often used as currency and in my work it becomes a signifier of wealth. 


It is ironic that Guy de Maupassant penned his own epitaph, which read,
“I have coveted everything and taken pleasure in nothing.” 

Bev Moxon 

Covet

covet

verb

verb: covet; 3rd person present: covets; past tense: coveted; past participle: coveted; gerund or present participle: coveting

yearn to possess (something, especially something belonging to another).

From Google search

Sharon Peoples

Sharon Peoples, Covet Shawl sketches, 2015

Sharon Peoples, Covet Shawl sketches, 2015

Over Easter I thought a lot about covet, particularly one night while I laid wide awake. I was thinking about things that I had coveted and had 'stolen' from family members. Usually this means borrowing with the intention of never giving back. I remembered I had a shawl that belonged to my sister, Elizabeth. She died of mesothelioma about seven or eight years ago.

I loved this exotic shawl, made of brown net and had very thin metal pieces bent around the fibres, almost like very fat staples. I don't remember the actual point of me stealing it, but I know I took it. 

I used the shawl in a class on the politics of dress. Students had to write what is called a 'significance report'. Each object in a museum needs to have one of these for each object. Students as part of their internships often have to write these as there is generally  a backlog as you can imagine. I brought in this shawl in for learning how to write these reports, using it for learning how to describe clothing and textiles in detail. By sheer co-incidence one student in the class had just seen a similar shawl that the NGA had purchased. It was a 1920s shawl made in Egypt. Subsequently some say they were made for the tourist trade, others say it was for women who had ravelled to Mecca.

The netting is a similar pattern to the way I machine embroider the lace I make. I have been making textiles with metal threads. I spent the Easter bringing the idea of the stolen textile, with work I have been trying to make about my sister's death. I'm not sure quite where this is going but it is a start. It was good to be doing sketches and not have access to a sewing machine. Just forcing myself to keep drawing and painting. Today I will start on the machine.

Sharon Peoples, Covet Shawl sketches, 2015

Sharon Peoples, Covet Shawl sketches, 2015

Sharon Peoples, Covet Shawl sketches, 2015