Inspired: Suzanne Cronin with some of her moonah-inspired jewellery.
MICHELLE HERBISON
A TRIBUTE in silver to Queenscliffe’s moonah trees is jewellery maker Suzanne Cronin’s focus.
Her work features replicas of moonah seed pods in what she describes as an emotional response to a history of controversy surrounding Borough of Queenscliffe moonahs.
Ms Cronin has spent the past year making a range of jewellery from silver-caste replicas of two seed pods, one from Queenscliff’s Victoria Park and one from Point Lonsdale.
She was inspired after learning of the planned felling of moonahs in Victoria Park.
The Independent reported in June that the borough chopped down three moonahs despite a group of residents rallying to save them.
Ms Cronin collected a seed pod during a trip with an arts group.
The pod sat on her mantel until she completed a silver smithing workshop.
“I thought it would look beautiful in silver, which was my way of preserving its beauty,” Ms Cronin said.
Seeing colour-coded plastic ribbons attached to the moonahs provoked her artwork.
“Seeing Victoria Park in 2009 full of bright plastic ribbons on the trees was a surreal experience. It just looked odd.
“Each plastic ribbon was a timeline for tree maintenance, which included some felling.”
Ms Cronin incorporated the plastic colour-codes using latex and resin as a feature in some of her pieces.
“The hand of man is present in these beautiful organic silver cast seed pieces and in a way this is my tribute to the people who fought against unnecessary felling.”
