Loretta lives 25 minutes south of Hobart close to the beach with a cliff view of the sunrise and the waves below. She is surrounded by wildlife; birds wake her early in the morning, the wallabies and pademelons bounce around on the gravel late at night. Occasionally she will spy a bandicoot or an echidna wondering by. This is the inspiration behind her work.She holds a University of Tasmania Bachelor of Fine Arts with admission to the Dean’s Roll of Excellence for her academic achievement two years running including nomination for membership in Golden Key International Honour Society. In 2017 she gained employment at a leading jewellery manufacturer in the centre of Hobart, last year she branched out on her own to pursue a career as a contemporary jewellery artist. The three elements to Loretta’s work are: the materials, the process and the jewellery pieces. In being mindful of minimising the impact of her work, she uses recycled materials such as silver, gold and brass, with a fascination of discarded and salvaged Tasmanian timbers. This fascination came about when attending an exhibition held by Hydro Wood. She was mesmerised in how logs were resurrected out of the depths of Lake Pieman to be processed into rare and sought-after timbers. Loretta works unconventionally in comparison to the way she was trained as a designer in fine jewellery. She prefers to melt down metals, forging them by hand and using a range of hammering techniques. In working with wood, she forms pieces into new shapes, and is guided by all the materials she uses in her work as they speak for themselves in the design and making process. Her jewellery is a representation of leaves, pods, seeds, bark and the sun. As a Tasmanian artist she is inspired by our wilderness and continues to work from a deep connection with lifecycles and regeneration.
To see Loretta's work, visit - https://www.facebook.com/lorettamilazzocontemporaryhandforgedjewellery/
