Joy BC
(b. 1989, United Kingdom)
Joy Bonfield – Colombara is an Artist and Goldsmith working predominantly in Noble Metals and bronze. Her works are often challenging pre-existing notions of precious materials and ingrained societal ideals of western beauty in sculpture. Joy BC plays with mythologies and re-examines the fascination with the ‘Classical’.
Joy’s works are a love letter to materiality, employing ancient techniques, with contemporary concepts. However, the works are far from being archaic, as what she creates is an artful manipulation of form and narrative, which make the works magnificently modern, yet timeless. The work is emotive, socially and politically loaded. Each piece carved into existence stands to commemorate something or someone, to hero an emotion, a moment or theory.
Joy’s work has been described as both wearable artwork and miniature sculpture. Her work is currently owned by an international clientele of private collectors and she has been commissioned to create pieces for museums both in the U.K. and across the globe. Joy BC received her undergraduate degree from the Glasgow School of Art and her M.A. from the Royal College of Art in London. She has also held two residencies in Japan. The first in Tokyo, working under the tutelage of master craftsmen Sensei (teacher) Ando and Sensei Kagaeyama, experts in Damascus steel and metal casting. She subsequently was awarded a research fellowship to Japan’s oldest school of art, in Kyoto, where she was taught the ancient art of urushi by the renowned craftsmen: Sensei Kuramoto and Sensei Sasai. Shortly after her graduation in 2019 her work was exhibited in Japan and at Somerset house in London. In 2021, her work was exhibited in Hong Kong and at ‘Force of Nature’ curated by Melanie Grant in partnership with Elisabetta Cipriani Gallery.
In 2022 Joy was alluded with the Goldsmiths prize at the 40th anniversary of the fair. The Queen Elizabeth Trust awarded Joy a scholarship in 2023 that saw her working with the master Goldsmith Giovanni Corvajah in Italy, exploring metallurgy and her Italian heritage. NYCJW invited Joy to do her first US solo show in 2023 with Les Eluminures, who specialize in Medieval and Renaissance works. A tiara/sculpture has recently been completed for the Nelson Atkins Museum in the USA and recently a piece was added to the Alice and Louis Koch Collection in the Swiss National Museum, Zurich.
“This young goldsmith is succeeding in pushing the boundaries of design, making wearable art that will get noticed and be highly collected. watch this space” – Joanna Hardy.
