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New art for Reading - acquisition of Wendy Ramshaw brooch
Wendy Ramshaw gilt brooch presented to the RFA Collection
The Museum has recently received a wonderful gilt brooch made by Wendy Ramshaw, which was given to Reading Foundation for Art by philanthropist and art lover Dame Stephanie Shirley DBE.
Wendy Ramshaw is one of Britain's best known craftspeople with an international reputation as a jeweller. Her jewellery is innovative, particularly her use of materials. This large gilt brooch was made as a body ornament in 1999 when Wendy was exploring the notions of time and space in her abstract designs. Her ideas are based on geometry, the shapes of which – circles, squares etc. - she explores by elaborating on each initial idea again and again until she composes a complex composition, occasionally as here in three dimensions.
Wendy was a student in Reading in 1960 and the town holds many fond memories for her. It was here that she met her husband David Watkins, professor of goldsmithing at the Royal College of Art, and together they are one of the most famous jewellery making couples in the world. Wendy has been awarded the CBE for services to the Arts. She says ‘I am supposed to make beautiful things’.
Recently she has also created large-scale site-specific sculpture such as the water-cut aluminium sculpture commissioned by Reading Borough Council to mark the millennium which hangs in the entrance of Reading Museum & Town Hall.
The brooch was formally accepted on the town’s behalf by Marion Livingston, the Council's Lead Councillor for Culture and Sport.
Date updated: 16 Jan 2012
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Reading Foundation for Art website |
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