Marian Hosking

Silversmith

An imprint of nature in silver

Marian champions local flora "without hierarchy"
She uses silver as a means to shift light and celebrate other natural materials
She was recognised as an Australian Living Treasure in 2007

Marian Hosking is a distinguished silversmith and jewellery artist whose work celebrates the subtleties of Australian nature. Marian gained her skills at RMIT School of Art and the Fachhochschule für Gestaltung in Pforzheim. With a jeweller's eye, she focuses on the minutiae of flora. Silver helps her represent the shimmering nature of light on plants as well as highlighting their preciousness. She can spend up to two weeks just drilling thousands of tiny holes for one work. For her Living Treasures national touring exhibition in 2007, Marian made a silver ring big enough to fit the circumference of one of the few remaining giant trees in Australia, in honour of its life. Recently she has started to incorporate indigenous wood species into her sculptural and jewellery pieces, creating a mutually-celebrating dialogue between silver and wood.

Interview

What made you choose silver as your medium?: At the time when I started, gold was associated with the Apartheid regime in South Africa. Meanwhile there were beautiful works in silver coming from Scandinavia. I did not want the price of the metal to dictate the form. And I loved the way silver can shift light.
What draws you to nature as inspiration?: I share the values of the conservation movement. In the 1980s, I made small badges to promote endangered species. They then evolved into brooches. I am particularly drawn to coastal heathland, sandstone and desert regions. I observe, select and translate into silver to highlight the diversity of the Australian bush.
What cultures interest you?: I have travelled to India a number of times. I find the students there particularly enthusiastic and knowledgeable. I was particularly struck by the beauty of Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi. I was inspired to use a pattern from the brickwork in the first vessels I made to put candles in.
What would you suggest to a young person wanting to be a silversmith?: Follow your passion, be true to yourself and work consistently. I almost stopped making when we suffered COVID-19, but life goes on.

Marian Hosking is a master artisan: she began her career in 1967 and she started teaching in 2006