This major exhibition of contemporary New Zealand jewellery will open at the Fisher Gallery, Pakuranga, Manukau City from Friday 25 March 1994.
Open Heart: Contemporary New Zealand Jewellery consists of over one hundred pieces of jewellery designed and made by thirteen of New Zealand’s most innovative and creative jewellers. This show, expected to be the first of a biennial series of jewellery exhibitions, is intended to provide an ongoing survey of contemporary jewellery.
Open Heart has been curated by Auckland artist and member of the Fingers Co-operative, Eléna Gee. Dowse Art Museum Curator, Laurence Hall states that, ‘This is a landmark exhibition: it represents first in what is and will become a New Zealand jewellery biennial.’
‘Invited by the Dowse to curate this exhibition, Auckland based jeweller Eléna Gee has selected a superb range of objects featuring artists who extend the language of jewellery through exploration and risk-taking. A magnificent jeweller herself, Elena has made a personal selection. The focus will change with each new exhibition and new curator.’
Elena Gee says of the exhibition, ‘Open heart refers to both the intimate and personal nature of some of exhibits and to the jewellers’ exposure to the process involved in creating their work.’
Gee says of the young artists involved in the exhibition, ‘The questioning attitudes of such younger jewellers and their readiness to take risks with their work guarantees a dynamic future for contemporary jewellery in New Zealand.’
Other Auckland artists to have work included are Paul Annear, Joan Atkinson, Richard Bell, Andrea Daly, Warwick Freeman, Alan Preston Matthew von Sturmer and Lisa Walker.
The exhibition includes a group of framed photographic brooches forming a story by Nelson artist, Kim Brice. He is one of several exhibitors who were among the earliest graduates of the Craft Design courses started in New Zealand Polytechnics in the mid-1980s. This year he is pursuing further study in Sweden on an Arts Council grant.
Press
→ Creative jewellery speaks of the land, New Zealand Herald, 07-04-1994
→ Paua, pebble and pearl, New Zealand Herald, 21-04-1994
Ephemera
→ Open Heart: Contemporary New Zealand Jewellery, 1994, poster