Please join us for the opening of the exhibitions 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Emerging Contemporaries, JamFactory ICON Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion and Sculpted by Lifestyle.

About the Opening | Thursday 12 February

Official Opening + Artist Talks | In the Gallery, from 5:30pm

About the Exhibitions

Exhibition Title | 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Emerging Contemporaries
Artists | Giselle Bailie Anderson, Sarah Brown, Nina Casey-Brown, Jake Haynes, Tessa Hoser, Liv Kidston, Isaac Kozlovskis, Ingrid McGrouther, Campbell Miller, Jenn Morton, Eliott June O’Dowd, Zali Odlum, Paloma Padovan, Luc Puchert, Rosalie Ryan, Lisa Stevenson and Mulloon Institute Design Project (Eddie Condé, Oonagh O'Dwyer, Kayla Wade-Lehman and Anne Wen)

Exhibition Statement

2026 Craft + Design Canberra Emerging Contemporaries is Craft + Design Canberra’s prestigious award exhibition celebrating the next generation of designers and makers. Showcasing works by early career artists from leading local institutions, including Canberra Potters Society, Canberra Institute of Technology, and the ANU School of Art + Design, this exhibition highlights the diverse talent shaping the future of craft and design.

2026 Craft + Design Canberra Emerging Contemporaries is more than a showcase; it plays a vital role in nurturing early career practitioners, supporting their transition into professional practice. Join us in celebrating the creativity and potential of these exceptional emerging artists who represent the vibrant future of contemporary craft and design.

Exhibition Title | JamFactory ICON Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion

Artist | Julie Blyfield

Exhibition Statement

JamFactory’s ICON series celebrates the achievements of South Australia’s most influential visual artists working in craft-based media. With a practice spanning 35 years, Julie Blyfield is a jeweller and metalsmith who is renowned for her intricately crafted jewellery and sculptural objects that capture the essence of the Australian landscape. Often referencing specimens found in natural history collections, as well as those she collects herself in nature, Blyfield’s jewellery and objects take inspiration from the forms, textures and patterns of Australian botanicals, plants and marine life. The major touring exhibition JamFactory ICON Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion presents a new collection of meticulously crafted works, inspired by Blyfield’s experience of visiting the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef in far north Queensland.

One of Australia’s most revered contemporary craft practitioners, Blyfield is highly skilled in the traditional metalsmithing technique of chasing and repoussé. These techniques are central to the creation of her delicate and ornately patterned works, which are primarily constructed of sterling silver and bi- metal. Arising from the French word chasser (‘to chase’), chasing is a process whereby intricate designs are struck using a chasing hammer and small steel tools to create line and pattern on the annealed metal surface. The technique of chasing dates to 3000 BCE and is applied in conjunction with the technique of repoussé (‘push up’ in French), in which raised designs are made by hitting the metal upwards from both the front and reverse sides to create volume and form.

The major national touring exhibition JamFactory ICON Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion presents a new collection of meticulously crafted works, inspired by Blyfield’s experience of visiting the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef in far North Queensland. As designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites, both of these natural environments are celebrated for their rich biodiversity, exceptional beauty and universal value to humanity. Influenced by her lived experiences of these sites, Blyfield also reflected on the coral specimens stored at the South Australian Museum to inform her making process.

“I see the world of plants and nature through the lens of a jeweller – the micro world and all its details are a fascination for me,”

Blyfield says. “I enjoy working from the ephemeral, reinterpreting nature s details which I experience and witness firsthand... I am touched by nature.”

JamFactory ICON Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion is a JamFactory touring exhibition.

Presenting Partner

Government Partners

Exhibition Title | Sculpted by Lifestyle

Artist | Lee Nelms

Exhibition Statement

This exhibition reimagines the seven sins through an unapologetically Australian lens—less moral judgement, and more reflection on how culture, habit, and circumstance shape behaviour. The works are presented as “before” pieces capturing raw, unfiltered visages, and seven amplified “after” pieces that explore what those behaviours become when shaped by experience, behaviour, consequence, and time.

Hand-built and altered wheel-thrown forms carry expressive marks and creature-like features, embodying flaws, humour and vulnerability. These pieces ask how lifestyle sculpts us—and how we, in turn, sculpt our own narratives.

Contact the host of Exhibition Opening + Artist Talks | 2026 Craft + Design Canberra Emerging Contemporaries | JamFactory ICON Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion | Sculpted by Lifestyle