The Mystery of the Design Maker – National Art Museum of China

‘The Mystery of the Design Maker’ is a public lecture held at the National Art Museum of China and presented by our head curator Mr Yinjie Sun and Master Goldsmith and Silversmith Jocelyn Burton. The lecture will take the audience on a journey of discovery and development of a passion, profession, and creative, genius thinking. Moreover, this is one of a series of events organised by Sunny Art Centre in collaboration with international Chinese institutions such as the National Art Museum of China. In particular, our aim is to promote and expand the reach of our artists in the Eastern market providing them with great platforms of interaction between their practice and new audiences.

This lecture will cover the career of one of the most important gold and silver artists of the 20^th and 21^st century as narrated by the artist herself. Moreover, the protagonist of this journey, Jocelyn, will represent the matrix of a series of changes that shaped the jewellery and gold/silversmithing industry. For example, as the first female Freeman at the Worshipful Company of Goldsmith (1974), Jocelyn marked a moment in the history of female artists. Moreover, her work has been avidly collected and exhibited by the most renown patrons and institutions such as the V&A, 10 Dawning Street, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Royal Family, York Minister, the Fitzwilliam Museum amongst many others.

The meticulous geometry and carefulness of each design and the exquisite, astonishing attention to details make Jocelyn’s work the ultimate materialisation of the creative genius, in heavenly golds and silvers. As Sir Roy Strong said, “Jocelyn Burton is one of life’s originals, an explosive, opinionated, bubbling being, all of which is amply reflected in her work. Everything is very exact and technically perfect. Her drawings for commissions rank as works of art in their own right”.