Muses: From Canvas to Body – Matilde Fernandes

Muses: From Canvas to Body – Matilde Fernandes

Date: Thursday 12 November 2026 to Tuesday 12 January 2027. Private view on Thursday 12 November, 5pm–7.30pm.
Venue: Vittoria Street Gallery, School of Jewellery, Birmingham City University, 82–86 Vittoria Street, Birmingham B1 3PA

Artist and jeweller Matilde Fernandes returns to the School of Jewellery, where she trained, with an exhibition that turns her painted characters into jewellery for the first time.

Muses brings painting and jewellery together to explore how an idea changes as it moves from one medium to another.

At its centre is a cast of long-nosed figures that first appeared in Fernandes’s sketchbook during a period of creative uncertainty. What began as a simple drawing grew into a visual language, helping her give form to feelings that were hard to put into words. In the exhibition, the Muses take viewers through overthinking, nostalgia, flow, humour and acceptance.

The paintings are intuitive and spontaneous, open to experiment and the unexpected turns that happen while making. The jewellery comes from the same world but is made in a very different way. Through sketching, digital modelling, prototyping and production, Fernandes has translated the shapes, textures and characters of the paintings into pieces to wear.

The exhibition also marks a homecoming. Fernandes studied at the School of Jewellery before setting up her own practice, and showing her work in its gallery brings the project full circle.

Find out more: Instagram @til.studi0 and @soj_bcu