During the month of February the Galerie Rob Koudijs is featuring two outstanding exhibitions: Tobias Alm: Traces of function and Terhi Tolvanen: Introduction. Tobias is a younger emerging artist and Terhi is a well-established maker but showing for the first time with this gallery. Rob is very articulate about their work and his gallery. Read on.
Susan Cummins: How would you describe the kind of contemporary jewelry you represent?
Rob Koudijs: Here’s what it says on our website: ‘The gallery specializes in contemporary art jewelry which communicates ideas, has sculptural qualities and an innovative use of materials. The gallery represents a very motivated group of jewelry artists who produce work challenging the borders of the applied and the fine arts.’ This still hold true for what we are aiming for and both exhibitions live up to this goal.
Have you represented the two jewelers you are featuring in this exhibition for a long time?
Yes, I’m pleased to say we both picked them when they graduated. Terhi Tolvanen when she had just finished her master-education at the Sandberg Institute (connected to the Rietveld Academy) here in Amsterdam; Tobias Alm at the time he made his bachelor exhibition at Ädellab (Metal Department), Konstfack, Stockholm in Sweden in 2009.
How does the jewelry in this exhibition fit into their body of work?
Terhi Tolvanen stayed on a few years at my former gallery, so we are very pleased that she has decided to join Galerie Rob Koudijs. As a sort of ‘Introduction’ we are showing many older 
pieces and several new ones. It soon became clear that there was a wealth of beautiful pieces still available from the last five years. The new work is stunning as well, so it is an exceptional exhibition of a mature artist who gets better and better at what she is making. Over the years Terhi has experimented with all sorts of unusual materials – her technical training and abilities granting her every possible freedom. In her work the connection/conflict between man and nature has come more and more to the fore. So there is a steady development from her early work to the present day, in which her involvement and artistic quality have matured immensely. Over the last five years her association with themes concerned with nature probably led her to often using wood in her work: mostly rough, or unusually shaped branches; from this she especially likes to emphasize the connecting points.
Tobias Alm is one of those young artists who graduate and hurl themselves at their work. Our request to show his graduation pieces resulted three months later in a completely new and exceptional body of work and with it produced a very successful and beautiful exhibition in October 2009. Since then we have been able to show new work every time at art fairs like Object and Collect. All the work is made of wood (though very different from Terhi’s branches) with added elements made from, for instance, rigid-foam, often connected with textile (shoe-lace like cord). All his jewelry is bold in size and abstract-sculptural in shape. The last two years traces of former use (or the suggestion of it) emerged and there are references to the vernacular of tools and utensils. In the present exhibition this sort of visual language was the starting point of the entire collection, with which Tobias once again introduced a new facet to his art. For a more extensive introduction visit our website.
Can you give us the flavor of the personalities of these two jewelers?
They are both very dedicated to what they are doing and that’s probably the reason they are pleasant to work with, reliable and very nice people in all other respects.
What do you think is the most interesting aspect of what they are doing?
Developing themselves as artists time and again. It’s always worth your while to look forward to their latest pieces. With their own progression, they also contribute to broadening the scope of contemporary jewelry.
Have any of these jeweler's works gone into museum collections?
Tobias Alm has, as yet, not been so fortunate. Terhi Tolvanen has an impressive list: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, NL; Gintaro Museum, Vilnius, LT; Françoise van den Bosch Foundation, NL; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL; European Ceramics Work Center, Den Bosch, NL; Schmuckmuseum, Pforzheim, DE; Koch Collection, Basel, CH, Rotasa Collection Trust, California, USA; CODA Museum, Apeldoorn, NL; Jewelry Art Association Finland, FI; Designmuseo, Helsinki, FI.
Is this jewelry wearable? Is wearability an important aspect to you?
Wearable: yes, definitely! Wearability is not our main concern, for the artistic intentions are allowed to prevail, but there always should be some sort of connection with jewelry. And, as you know, wearing contemporary jewelry is very gratifying! Terhi’s work a bit easier to wear because it is somewhat more conventional in size and she is very precise in molding necklaces on a dummy so they will fit like a glove. Tobias’s brooches and necklaces are mostly a bit bigger than is common, but that does not mean unwearable: it really surprised us how well his necklaces fit the body when worn. Putting on one of his brooches is always a treat because of its flamboyance, if you intend to make a flashy entrance: this is the thing to wear!
Have you produced a catalog or other material to accompany the exhibition?
For both exhibitions there are introductions on our website.
Has it been, or is it going to be, reviewed?
You are the first! So we are very pleased with that, for jewelry of this quality should be noticed by as many people as possible.
