Craft / JamFactory ICON, Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion. At Craft + Design Canberra, Civic, until March 28. Reviewed  by MEREDITH HINCHLIFFE.

JamFactory ICON is a series of exhibitions held annually in Adelaide since 2013, commemorating an acclaimed South Australian artist working in crafts-based media.

Exhibitions are toured nationally, accompanied by a lavish monograph.

Julie Blyfield has been involved with the JamFactory since her first exhibition there in 1994.

The work being exhibited was developed for this show, and was created in response to her visit to the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest.

Blyfield is recognised internationally for her skills in the traditional metalsmithing methods of chasing and repoussé, central to the production of her delicate and intricately patterned works inspired by Australian botanical and marine life.

Blyfield uses primarily sterling silver and copper. The exhibition title refers to both her lifelong devotion to the techniques she uses, and to her commitment to her craft.

Blyfield has an abiding interest in gardens, and in the lives of plants. The garden in which her workshop and house are situated are prolific and are a constant source of stimulation and joy.

For this exhibition, images from a snorkelling trip to the Great Barrier Reef, where she was hovering over patterns, colours and textures created by the coral, were etched into her memory. They have been recreated here for our pleasure. Blyfield continued her exploration of coral by studying the coral specimens in the South Australian Museum collections.

She has been an artist in residence in the UK, and investigated the collections at the Herbaria of the University of Cambridge, London’s Natural History Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew.

This travelling exhibition is rich in research, in the display of arduous, time-consuming and exquisitely worked silver objects – both wearable and decorative.

The silver is bright, and the work includes gently coloured pieces, such as those in Viridescent neckpieces in patinated bi-metal, copper, sterling silver, oxidised sterling silver threaded onto a waxed cable. The green leaves contrast with the black thread. One leaf is casually hung over one of a pair of Viridescent Vessels, in oxidised copper and wax.

Pieces include Butterfly Brooches, in oxidised bi-metal, gold-plated sterling silver, and dark oxidised sterling silver, and many brooches titled Corallium Brooches and Corallium Pendants and Neckpieces.

This is the second major exhibition from South Australia in the past year. Please visit this one, as I recommended for the last, to see the wonderful work that is being created there.