Working with Materials:
Mastery vs. Dialogue
In her research, the author considered material as one of the central entities of jewellery and object design to be investigated. Her research and explorations primarily focused on two fundamentally different ways of working with material: The mastery approach rooted in traditional craftsmanship, in which the material used is subjected to the creative will; and the lesser practiced dialogical approach, in which the material is elevated to the role of equal counterpart. The dialogical is first tested on the example of the basic elements since these largely elude direct formability. In the subsequent process, the experience of the dialogical is transferred to the work with the material, a process usually associated with mastery. The same method was later applied to teaching.
“The meticulous process of exploring a subject matter, sometimes spanning several years, has always been one of the quintessential qualities of Elisabeth Holder’s work.” Barbara Maas