Grainne Morton
If Grainne Morton was to have a spirit animal, no doubt it would be the magpie. Instinctively and obsessively drawn to collecting and hoarding anything miniature or precious that catches her eye, many things you or I would overlook, Grainne has amassed an incredible collection of objects - all destined to find their place among the tales she weaves within her jeweled compositions.
Born and raised in Northern Ireland, by creative and antique-loving parents, Grainne was immersed in and surrounded by the traditional Crafts, Folklore, Music, and Fairy Tales of the country. Perhaps it's this beginning to her story that has now imbued her work with its somewhat contradictory nature? All at once vintage and contemporary, precious and non-precious, spontaneous and ordered, junk and treasure... this could well be a description of Grainne's motherland, itself.
Her individuality, and the expression of that - primarily through clothes, style, and the considered presentation of [her]self - is engrained in each piece of jewelry she makes. Each piece, carefully choreographed, the arranging and re-arranging of little objects, and precious things moved and re-placed until they establish a relationship to each other. And tell a story to the viewer.