Kristy-Lee Agresta - November 2021 Artist of the Month
Our November Artist of the Month is Kristy-Lee Agresta, a creative force from Griffith. Known for her handmade fine jewellery business and being one of the friendly faces at the Griffith Regional Art Gallery, Kristy-Lee is now taking on a new business venture with her soon to be opened creative co-working space.
From an early age it was clear that Kristy-Lee was passionate about making: “When I was in high school I used to always get in trouble because I used to wag some subjects to go to the art class. I remember being in PE class and beading under the table. I was in the art room all the time making beaded bodices. I studied design and tech and art in high school as I was always drawn to it, I loved making stuff – I still love making stuff.” After school she pursued a career in the arts, receiving a formal education in jewellery making at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga: “The first two years of university I studied traditional silver-smithing - which was a really good basis that I revisited a few years later. In the third year we worked on a master project. My dad was a cabinetmaker, and he had a lot of laminate samples everywhere so I started experimenting with that as my final third year project. I spent the whole year developing a way to get the laminate to adhere together and then use that as a wood to carve out of. I started experimenting with shapes and lines. The key thing I was always interested in was the lines and the basic shapes overlapping.”
Careful consideration: each piece of jewellery is heavily scrutinised.
In 2013 Kristy-Lee started her own label ‘Kristy-Lee Jewellery’. Previous industry experience and experimentation during residencies led to the refinement of her work. The result was a shift away from laminate as a medium, instead focusing on semi-precious stones and fine metals: “I got an internship while I was living in Sydney, at a fashion label called Petite Grande. Working in the quick-paced industry meant we had to make 100 rings a day. We were like little bench monkeys making all these different things, which was amazing. My boss Tanja Kovacevic did more of a beading style and did very fine work. I studied her processes and then I compared my original line and shape work from the laminate. It kind of evolved as a natural progression. As I was working in the fashion industry I started simplifying my designs. It came to a point where I was using minimalist forms in the metal and phased out of the laminate. I started to want to have my own label and have my own brand. Simplifying the making process made that more viable.”
All Kristy-Lee Jewellery pieces are handmade in the studio.
‘Kristy-Lee Jewellery’ has grown to be a popular brand with a strong online following due to its wide appeal and special handmade quality: “In recent years I tried to focus on wearability whilst making it interesting. Some of the laminate pieces I made earlier on were crazy but they weren’t wearable. As I got older I realised that I want to wear jewellery that I never want to take off. There’s a fine line between having some kind of design style and making it wearable or relevant for people. I try to create a story around the collection that I bring out each year. I try to not focus on the individual pieces so much as making sure there is some sort of strong aesthetic feeling for the collection as a whole. I try to make it so people of any age can wear my pieces. They’re versatile. The individual pieces are refined enough so that it is accessible to everyone and they can be layered to create a statement or if you’re a bit more conservative, they can be pared back and worn on their own.”
The Kristy-Lee Jewellery Studio is now located at ROR Space.
Although the jewellery business has strong regional roots, Kristy-Lee also draws upon global influences for her brand. Her many travels around Australia and abroad to over twenty countries have helped to shape her arts practice: “It opens your eyes to the world. I feel like sometimes in small regional areas everyone becomes so concerned with just what’s directly around them. I now have such a wider appreciation of different crafts and people of different backgrounds. I love the shocking feeling of something new. Being a creative sometimes makes you search for answers and seek out inspiration. I loved when you could travel pre-Covid, and see how other people live. I used to go to craft markets in different countries to see how they made things traditionally. I would watch over their shoulder. I loved seeing their process of making. I also used to travel and source a lot of gemstones. Going to markets full of gemstones and being able to sift through them and pick out which ones I felt I wanted, gave me more of a connection to the process of what I was doing - instead of just ordering online and receiving a rock in a plastic bag. I love experiences, I love exploring and I love the journey. It adds an extra step to my making process and an extra depth to my pieces.”
Kristy-Lee is firm supporter of raising the profile of local talent and notably uses Australian photographers and models in her jewellery campaigns and promotions: “Working in the fashion industry in Sydney for such a long time you’d see brands take work outside Australia or shoot in LA or shoot in California. We [Australia] have the same beautiful landscapes and we have talented photographers. Just because we’re regional doesn’t mean we don’t have style, doesn’t mean we don’t have talent and doesn’t mean that our aesthetic or our own backyard is not as cool as what people in the fashion industry in Sydney idolise. I look at Vogue Australia and other magazines and see the use of the ‘other’ instead of utilising what we have here. That’s one of the main things that I want to do - I want to showcase regional areas, regional photographers and give a platform to our own scene. We are not just aspiring to move to the city, we can do those things here. I love to use local Riverina talent.”
Images supplied.
Kristy-Lee has gained much exposure to this pool of talented Riverina-based artists through her secondary employment as a Gallery Support Officer at Griffith Regional Art Gallery (GRAG). As an arts worker, Kristy-Lee has demonstrated experience in delivering projects and has worked with several memorable exhibitions. Her skills and passions are perfectly harnessed at GRAG, which happens to hold Australia’s only National Contemporary Jewellery Collection: “I love the Contemporary Jewellery Award. It’s the most exciting thing in the world! We have a collection of contemporary jewellery that I get to handle and display and arrange. Every two years when we hold the awards you will see pieces in the catalogue and then when you’re unboxing and see it up close, it’s very exciting. Ray Wholohan asked me to curate the last National Contemporary Jewellery Award that we held, which was really exciting! I really love that about my job. I even love getting old pieces out from our collection and changing them around. Obviously it’s a personal passion of mine. It’s just perfect for me really. That has been a real highlight.”
Another highlight for Kristy-Lee has been working in close proximity with art from globally renowned artists: “Hanging the Archies was really exciting because of its prestige and knowing about it since I was very young. I didn’t think I would fan girl that hard over it - but I really did! The Archies was such a good achievement. I really loved seeing the people that it brought into the gallery and having that engagement with the community. It was nice to see people so enthusiastic.” She added that, “When we held the Old Masters exhibition, I worked with a drawing that Dali did with Walt Disney and also Picasso prints. I never thought that I would have the opportunity to handle something like that. It was really weird. The Archies was super exciting, but that was my first ‘oh my God’ moment because I was holding a Picasso!”
Drawing inspiration from the creative co-working communities she has witnessed and worked within, Kristy-Lee has identified that the artists of the Western Riverina could benefit from a similar initiative: “I started looking up spaces and facilities in the different countries around the world I was visiting. I found so many. You’d see first-hand how the local people worked, you’d find new kinds of artists and you would stumble across mini festivals and music from the creative young people of the area. I’ve had this idea from way back and I just thought I would really like to do something like that in Griffith. I find that Griffith is such a cosmopolitan and foodie place, but it doesn’t really have a gathering place for artists and creatives. I see potential here. I would like to encourage other people in the same way I had encouragement when I was younger. I thought it would’ve been so great to have something like this closer to home.”
Sneak peek of Griffith’s new creative co-working space.
Through her new venture ROR Space, Kristy-Lee is creating an opportunity for creative co-working in Griffith, which mirrors the successful arrangements seen on her travels. ROR Space is now also the new headquarters of her jewellery business, allowing for studio visits and increased one-on-one engagement with clients: “Creatives can work from ROR and run their business or arts practice. It also has the potential for artist workshops, fun events, exhibitions and things like that. It is a space that has a lot of potential to do different things within the community. Artists have the ability to really engage with the space. They can do whatever they need to, to help their practice. It’s a place where you can go and talk about your ideas, and work together with other creative like-minded people.”
In the lead up to opening ROR Space, Kristy-Lee has received guidance from business owner Nic McHenry as part of the business mentorship program administered by Griffith Women In Business: “It’s been really good to have someone else’s opinion - an outsider’s opinion and someone who has worked in the design space. Even talking your ideas through with someone and working out what you want to do and don’t want to do has been beneficial. She has helped to refine which ideas to focus on and how to go forward. It’s really good to encourage young females to pursue their ideas.”
ROR Space is set to open at 78-80 Yambil Street, Griffith NSW.
Locals are able to get involved in several ways when ROR Space opens at 78-80 Yambil Street in Griffith on the 22nd of November: “There is potential for three spaces which can be rented out permanently or on a periodic basis. There is one space which is a bit more transient - it has the option of being rented out by the day or as a private meeting room or office. If you’ve got a really important presentation you need to do with the client, or if you work from home, you can use that space on a daily basis instead of working out of your little room. I’m also going to do a hot-desking option. You can come in and use the facilities and the space for a day. You can use the desk facilities as well as the private meeting room. If you wanted to take photos of your products it has the capacity to do that. It also has potential for other things such as small exhibitions and workshops. If you want to even just come in to be surrounded by creative people for inspiration - you can!”
As a collaborative and creative hub aimed at bringing people together, Kristy-Lee encourages walk-in visits to ROR Space and hopes it will enhance networking within the wider community. You can stay in the loop about upcoming events and opportunities for artists at ROR Space by following the Instagram page or visiting the website. Freelancers and artists of all disciplines who are interested in renting a studio space, hot-desking or submitting an Expression of Interest for event bookings can contact Kristy-Lee directly via email. You can see the latest collections from Kristy- Lee Jewellery via Facebook and Instagram and browse all available pieces on the website.
Story and images by Camille Whitehead Wednesday 4th November 2021
