Studio 13 Jewellery and Design and Art: In the Fleurieu Peninsula region of South Australia
Wander into the back streets of Normanville and you’ll find Studio 13. The former stone stable is a showcase for many Fleurieu Peninsula artists including the work of joint owners, Erika Inhofer and George Tetlow.
“I only do one-off designs,” Erika told us. “I really don't like making earrings that much because I have to make two of them!” she laughed.
Erika’s jewellery is big and bold and has been influenced by her travels around the world. She immigrated to South Australia in the early 80s but she still travels a lot in search of exotic pieces for Studio 13.
“They include really nice silk shawls and scarves and batiks from Thailand, India, and from Indonesia,” said Erika. “They are from different cultures. There's an old piece here from Afghanistan. And they are all displayed in a cupboard made from a old village door from India.”
Studio 13 is a doorway into another world that includes pottery, sculpture, woodcarving and much more. As Erika and her partner, George Tetlow clock on for another day at the office, they say their good-byes in the backyard sculpture park and head to their respective workspaces.
Erica's jewellery draws on her fascination with Afghan tribal art. Her workshop is full of files and hammers, while at the other end of the yard, George looses himself in a bursts of vibrant colour. He describes himself as a ten-pound tourist who came to Australia from northern England in 1959.
“In England I was a humble gardener,” said George. “So to suddenly lob into Mount Isa was a bit of a culture shock.”
Like Erika he took to the artistic caper much later in life. The deep reds in many of his paintings come from his years working in the Red Centre as a laborourer. Finally, he studied graphic design at art school in Adelaide and so began his artistic journey in a new country where the vastness of it all was often overwhelming.
“And you see these roads going apparently to nowhere. They must go somewhere. Where do they go?”
These days the roads lead to George's recollections of journeys through the vast Australia interior. Where fence-lines end abruptly in a dried out salt pan or dirt roads stretch across gibber plains for hundreds of kilometres.
Other paintings are inspired by trips closer to home like the road to Cape Jervis, which he's interpreted in his own way from memory.
For George Tetlow it's all a question of patterns and shapes - some quite remarkable. They're all part of the amazing collection at a very distinctive gallery. Studio 13 is on Heathcote Street at Normanville. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au
Studio 13
13 Heathcote Street
Normanville
Open daily except Tuesdays
11am - 4pm
