bettina welker and synergy

Synergy I is over, the blogging frenzy has all but subsided and we are back in our studios. Germany’s Bettina Welker is already tracking how the information, feedback and collective energy that she absorbed at the conference is affecting her work. Remember this necklace – the one that was on her neck when I met her at Synergy? Buoyed by the response to the necklace and armed with new information, Welker went back into the studio eager to push the idea a little further. ‘Sticks and Clusters’ is the first post-Synergy iteration.

The individual stamen-like polymer extrusions are captured cleanly in a silver framework that allows for a different view of the delicate strands. Each strand’s gentle curve gives the appearance of movement – as if they are bending and moving away from the stronger, more rigid silver tube that contains them.

I look forward to following her progression as the Synergy experience becomes fully integrated into her artistic process and I hope that this scene is being played out in studios across the globe. Concrete evidence that coming together as a community, sharing, exploring and nurturing each other benefits each of us individually and the group as a whole.

Did you attend the conference? As you return to your art-making in the weeks and months to come, I urge you to be mindful of the places where Synergy helped to move you along in your art, in your process and in your thinking. Let’s talk about it.