Bluestone collections’ first purchase, Susan Robey, Splay, 2010, ceramic paperclay, 150x130x200mm, photo Christopher Sander
Anna Davern recounts the inspiring history of a craft-collecting collective
The first time I heard about Bluestone, it was just an idea floating around in conversation between jeweller Roseanne Bartley and writer and curator Kevin Murray. They both saw a need for a contemporary craft collection and could visualize the social and professional benefit that a craft collecting group could offer to makers, gallerists and individual collectors. Rosie called me up wanting to know if I was interested in the idea of instigating a craft collection that would not only be a legacy of cultural objects but would also encourage craftspeople to create exhibition quality work, encourage private galleries to represent the crafts, to foster dialogue amongst our peers, and provide an opportunity to break down the siloing of our individual craft disciplines. I didn’t need to be asked twice!
Initially, there were six of us: Rosey and Kevin, ceramicists Robyn Phelan and Fiona Hiscock, jeweller Ali Limb and myself, sitting in a tiny café in Flinders Lane, nutting out what this collecting group might look like and how we were going to get it there. It was a really long process to get organized and to create the structure and define the parameters of Bluestone. My initial conversation with Rosey occurred in July 2009 but Bluestone Collection’s first purchase didn’t occur until February 2011! So it took a long time, but it was fun. We had many long discussions about craft practice and collection policy sitting around Robyn Phelan’s dining table, drinking endless cups of tea from her collection of handmade mugs.
Eventually, we decided that Bluestone would be defined by several key principles. The aim of Bluestone is to support contemporary craft practice and encourage a high standard of exhibition work within Victoria. Bluestone members will develop a knowledge of contemporary craft practice by actively examining and reviewing exhibition practices in the region. Acquisitions will be determined through a rigorous selection process, with the goal of creating a lasting collection of contemporary craft that has been exhibited in Victoria over a minimum of ten years. Priority will be given to artists who are not already represented in public institutions. Bluestone is funded by member contributions, with an annual cost of $300 per member.
Acquisitions will be innovative, aesthetically compelling, and provide interesting insights into materiality. They will feature works by craftspeople who are working and living in Australia, have been consistently exhibiting for several years, and whose work challenges and stimulates craft ideas.
We hoped that the activities of Bluestone would encourage others to collect contemporary craft and we wanted to encourage private commercial galleries to show contemporary craft, to say to them that there is a market out there of people who are interested in purchasing contemporary craft.
Claire McArdle, Kangaroo Meditative Space Kangaroo leather polystyrene 550x330x530mm photo Christopher Sanders
We also wanted Bluestone to be a domestic collection, with the works on display in member’s homes. The idea of having a domestic collection, but also wanting to collect innovative work were sometimes at odds with each other. One of the earliest pieces we collected is “Kangaroo Meditative Space” by Claire McArdle. It’s a large hollow kangaroo headpiece made from pink kangaroo leather. It hangs by a pulley rope from the ceiling, and you use the pulley to raise and lower the head over your own head. There was a lot of debate about the purchasing of this work because a few of us felt that it was a wonderful piece by an (at that time) unrecognised and under-collected artist. But it obviously posed difficulties in terms of it being easily displayed in a domestic environment.
After 10 years of collecting, The Bluestone I collection wound up at the end of 2019 and it was in our charter to donate the collection as a whole to a public collecting institution. After calling for Expressions of Interest, the collection was donated to the RMIT University Art Collection. We are currently collecting for Bluestone II which already contains over 20 objects.
I recently spoke with Roseanne Bartley while researching this story and I asked her if she thought that the Bluestone collection had the impact that she hoped it would, and she actually thinks that it had a greater impact than expected. She is particularly proud that Bluestone I is now in an important public institution collection and that it is available for teaching and research purposes at RMIT. She did say that it’s not a perfect model because we didn’t really raise the profile of collecting as much as we’d hoped.
I think the model that we developed still has value. And I believe that the longer Bluestone continues for, the more impact we have, particularly on influencing commercial galleries to represent craft. The best things for me about being a part of the Bluestone collection has been meeting other practitioners and getting together with other makers and collectors and talking about craft. I now have a greater understanding of how the different craft disciplines work and the ideas that they grapple with.
We’ve had some amazing and interesting discussions, and we’ve never had any blues. We’re all very respectful of each other and our opinions, and it’s great to be able to collect work that I would love to have in my own personal collection but am unable to afford. And I’ve also developed my own private passion for collecting contemporary ceramic cups!
About Anna Davern
I live and work in the wonderful city of Naarm Melbourne. I trained as a contemporary jeweller at Sydney College of the Arts and RMIT and I currently make “stuff” from my light-filled, 9th floor studio in the iconic Nicholas Building in Melbourne’s CBD. “Stuff” includes but is not limited by the term jewellery. I work mainly with metal, and the jeweller in me is intrigued by the nature of the relationships we have with objects, particularly how the process of touching and being touched by art objects enhances these relationships. Visit annadavern.com and follow @annadavern
