Staff Profiles

Education

Graduate Diploma in Professional Art Studies , Sydney College of Advanced Education (City Art Institute) , .
Graduate Diploma in Adult Education , University of Technology, Sydney , .

Areas of Expertise

Contemporary Jewellery and Object Design, particularly European and Asian studio based practice. Traditions of object-making in South Asia and South East Asia with a focus on materiality, meaning and processes employed in the production of objects.

Teaching Areas

Teaching Areas embrace both Studio Teaching and Lectures in the areas of Integrated Design, Jewellery and Object Design and its extension into Postgraduate Research Supervision.

Current Research Activity

Wendy Parker is curious about the character of objects and particularly design and making as a cultural process. The projects, The Kept Object and Pursuing Synergies In Jewellery and Object Design interrogate two approaches to her research.

The Kept Object contrasts the tradition-bound making of metal objects for house temples in Bali with the contemporary mass-production of objects by the Alessi company of Milan and evaluates these approaches against those of Australian studio based practitioners. Viewing objects as emblematic of a particular social/cultural process is at the heart of the enquiry. A long association with traditional modes of metalworking practice and an interest in contemporary mass production are represented in the research. The pusaka or heritage objects of the Balinese tradition are examined alongside the declared new heirlooms created by Alessi. And the speculations used by Wendy to generate new works, both jewellery and small-scale objects.

Exhibitions

Group Exhibitions

2004, Pursuing Synergies. COFA Gallery, UNSW, Sydney.

2003, 4 times Metal Element of Six Countries. International Design Centre, Nagoya, Japan.

2003, Can Do. COFA Gallery, UNSW, Sydney.

2003, Relationships. COFA gallery, UNSW, Sydney.

Projects

The Kept Object  (Current)
This project is an investigation into the character of objects emblematic of particular cultural processes. The research examines various traditions for the production of metal objects, contemporary studio practice in Australia by designer makers, the design and manufacture of the Alessi company of Milan and the ritual metalworking of Bali.

Pursuing Synergies In Jewellery and Object Design  (Current)
An investigation into the dialogue between new technologies and traditional craft skills in the design and production of Objects. This project involves case studies of contemporary practitioners and their approaches to the making of objects.

Exhibitions Curated

2004, Pursuing Synergies. COFA Exhibition and Performance Space, Sydney, NSW.

2003, Can Do. COFA Exhibition and Performance Space, Sydney, NSW.

2003, Jewels of the Turkmen, A Marriage of Silver and Gold. Lynette Cunnington, Chinese Art, Sydney, NSW.

Conference Papers

Parker, W. Tieu, B. (2005). The Intersection of Lacquer and Laser Technology in Contemporary Jewellery Design. International Design Conference, November, (ASDR, Taiwan.

Chan, L. Parker, W. (2002). Passion and Excitement in Learning. Innovative Teaching and Educational Technology (ITET) Symposium, (UNSW, Sydney, NSW.

Parker, W. (2002, December). Online Design? Redesigning an undergraduate Design course supporting studio teaching through online learning (poster presentation). Innovative Teaching and Educational Technology (ITET) Symposium, (UNSW, .

Grants

Innovative Teaching and Educational Technology Fellowship (ITET), the University of New South Wales, (focuses on the development of an on-line resource to complement and extend Studio based teaching and learning). (2002-2003),

Professional Associations

The Asian Arts Society of Australia (TAASA)
Foundation Member

Consultancies

Design Consultant for Stutchbury and Pape Architects, Landscape Architects, Sydney Australia.