Eva is an artist and educator with a background in silversmithing and jewellery. She preserves and innovates upon ancient hand-skills making finely crafted objects that highlight the impact of our relationship with the material world. Eva believes that the preservation of hand-skills is the preservation of humanity and that the future of humanity is literally in our hands.
Provoked by a sense of complicity in the destruction of nature to create luxury goods her practice has evolved in a new direction from primarily designing works in precious metals. Using traditional silversmithing technique Eva develops sculptural objects with functions that extend beyond purely the aesthetic.
My studio days vary greatly from day to day and week to week so I dont really have a typical day!! I always have at least 2 or 3 jewellery commissions on the go so Ill be finalising drawings for some commissions whilst working on others. Alongside those, when I get time at the bench, Ill be carrying out experiments, sampling and researching for my larger sculptural works. There’s a fair bit of admin to be done each week from responding to emails, ordering materials, organising classes/workshops and advertising those, funding applications, keeping the website and social media ticking over, researching for new projects…..etc etc. Ill describe last week for you which will give you more of an idea. Monday morning I was interviewing prospective new students for Grennan Mill Craft School where I teach Silversmithing and Fabrication one day per week. In the afternoon I finalised details of some weekend workshops in jewellery-making for autumn and did some other admin for The Irish Jewellers & Silversmiths Guild whose marketing committee Im part of.
Tuesday I spent quite some time organising the removal and cutting of a giant sandstone boulder from Gortdrum Quarry that will be used in one of my upcoming projects. Im making a ‘story bowl’ in carved stone and copper with the story of the bowls development chased into the copper. I collected wedding bands made by a couple I had recently on a one-day wedding band workshop from the assay office in Dublin, and then attended the monthly Craft Writers workshop in The Design Tower Grand Canal Docks. Weds I spent the morning designing and researching for the prototype for my next Anthropoware sculpture and I finally had the hammers out! Thursday and Friday were short days as I have a toddler who finishes creche at noon. On Thursday I began making the Christmas stock that will replenish the outlets that sell my jewellery and on Friday photographer Rich Gilligan came to take some new photos for me.
Don't be shy, ask questions, learn as much as you can from whoever you can. You will never have all the tools or all the experience that you want, just start making. Make what you want to make, there is a market for everything.
Eva Lynch
I like that generally no two days are the same. I enjoy using my hands and working with tools. I notice that my mood is much better when Ive been working in the studio as opposed to on the computer. I love learning new skills and researching interesting themes within my work.
The marketing and selling side.
What other maker in your discipline do you most look up to?
Séamus Gill is such a skilled master and teacher of silversmithing and a wonderful ambassador of our craft at home and abroad. Brian Clarke is a technical genius and an unrivalled fountain of knowledge and skill. The late Peter Donovan was my lifetime teacher, he helped me to make my first silver jewellery piece as a teenager and many more pieces as his student in Grennan Mill and later as his employee. Peter gave me the skills and confidence to do the work I do today. He was a teacher in every aspect of my life and he left behind such an amazing legacy of incredible work and makers.
What advice would you give someone who is considering this craft career?
Don’t be shy, ask questions, learn as much as you can from whoever you can. You will never have all the tools or all the experience that you want, just start making. Make what you want to make, there is a market for everything.
What’s your favourite craft item in your home?
