VISITORS to ANCA Gallery in Dickson should leave their preconceived ideas of what a brooch is at the door when attending the “Pin 9” show.

For, although the exhibition is predicated on the most universal object of wearable art, tastes will inevitably differ as to what that means.

The show is a revival of one that was for several years the most popular event of the year at the gallery and now with more than 46 contemporary artists and makers exhibiting there, the field is wide open.

The ideal of reducing scale has obviously appealed to artists from a wide range of practices, so there are brooches by sculptors, painters, ceramicists, silversmiths, photographers, wood workers and textile and glass artists

The materials in the pins and brooches vary wildly, from more traditional porcelain, silver and enamelled copper to leather, driftwood, bone, cactus spines, and an impressive array of recycled materials including coiled string and “felted cat fur courtesy of the artist’s cat.”

Some of the brooches are abstract or geometrical, others replicate plaided fabrics, several speak of the natural world, while, in a nod to pop culture, there is also a brooch based on the Polaroid camera and an eye-tooth, both replicated, artistically by Damien Veal in acrylic on plaster.

Artist Katy Hayne ha even conjured up brooches referencing the Northbourne flats, University of Canberra student residencies and the NGA.

It’s a cliche to say that this exhibition contains something for everybody, but with prices as low as $60, pretty well anyone can claim a piece of this miniature art as their own.

“Pin 9,” Australian National Capital Artists Gallery, Dickson, until August 19.