Rebecca Ilett, a talented jeweller and part-time lecturer at CRC, won a place on the shortlist with her concept jewellery piece ‘Spinning Straw to Gold’, inspired by the story of Rumpelstiltskin.
She was one of just 27 outstanding artists shortlisted for the award, which attracted a record number of more than 1,000 entries. Her work was chosen to illustrate the exhibition, ‘Master of All Trades’, which runs until 8 October at the Millennium Gallery, Sheffield.
The 2017 Prize invited artists, makers and craftspeople from across the UK to investigate the theme of the artist as polymath, a multi-skilled master of many disciplines, attracting record number of submissions from fine artists, makers and craftspeople from across the UK.
Judges said the competition’s polymath theme enabled artists whose work was interdisciplinary and more fluid to submit entries, resulting in a huge number of high quality applications from which it was a real challenge to shortlist.
Rebecca, who teaches jewellery design evening classes at CRC, said her work was inspired by a classic fairy tale.
“Reading the story of Rumpelstiltskin made me consider how the miller's daughter had no control over her destiny, from being volunteered by her father to perform un-accomplishable tasks, to having the threat of head removal if unable to spin straw into gold,” she said.
“I have made her a small, easily concealable machine which spins straw into gold. She will have to decide herself if marrying a king who threatens to kill her if she cannot weave a room full of straw into gold is a good idea!”
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