The Grassi Museum of Applied Arts honored Gabi Veit

The Grassi Museum of Applied Arts (Preis der Grassifreunde) honored the work of our member Gabi Veit by purchasing her pieces for the museum's permanent collection.

The artist tells:

"In the spring of 2020 I picked hazelnuts in the garden.

I was fascinated by the irregular holes in the hazelnuts. I also found nuts split in half.

Research revealed that hazelnuts are split in half by squirrels and that the holes in the hazelnuts are caused by mice. The gnawing marks on the edge of the hole are clearly visible. So each animal has its own way of getting to the hazelnut, to the treasure.

I selected the hazelnuts, cleaned them, removed the inner skin and drilled two holes.

I strung the hazelnuts like pearls in two chains, one for each type of animal.

Now it was up to me to create a tribute to the animals, my assistants as I call them.

I made a necklace of abstract shapes with holes, resembling animals with eyes or ears. I connected these pieces with eyelets. I left the oxidation that occurred during soldering. I found that the indefinite gray-brown tone resembles the color of the animals.

The three necklaces were created in this moment of stillness. The vision of the obvious, the marvelous in the small was sharpened. Nature always plays an important role in my work, animals were for the first time the focus of my attention."

Schatzkammer (treasury)

AG925 silver necklace, 57 individual pieces cast by lost wax, 2021

Hazelnut chain with holes gnawed by mice, strung with strand of red pearls, 2020

Necklace of hazelnuts split in half by squirrels and strung with strand of pink pearls, 2020