participation and exchange: interactive partners...jewellery functions within its primal context....
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Participation and Exchange: interactive PARTNERS
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Jewellery Pa tners
INDICATION, SIGNIFICATION, IDENTIFICATION
In this paper I will discuss the Participation and Exchange theme with reference to interactive PARTNERS in three connected topic rhizomes based on: memory, revelation and discovery. Preparing for this paper I became conscious that there is a strong relation throughout my interests connected to the fundamental premise of ‘Participation and Exchange-’. Looking at the words, it brings together the action and reaction of more than one person. ‘Participation and Exchange’ deals with people and their willingness to communicate, to interact and to share. In jewellery terms it is via the maker’s context of the ideas in the work as well as coaching others in getting there. For the wearer what it means and communicates - that is ‘inwards’ to what personal content it relates to, or ‘outwards’, what it connects to, anything from narrations to artistic associations. For the audience it comes from the individual response evoked by the piece.
1977
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I learned jewellery-making at a trade school. I was introduced to the many rules belonging to the traditional jewellery trade. All my classmates learnt them, all those who studied before me knew them and all those who have studied after me continue to be taught the same rules. It created a rigid ‘must do’ – ‘must not do’ environment. After graduating I did four apprenticeships in four locations. All expected me to follow the rules, all concentrated on metal. After that I was busy, studying at night at art school and working during the day freelance for two jewellers, doing some part-time teaching and fortnightly window dressing. Busy indeed!
Protest songs of Bob Dylan Conceptual art of Marcel Duchamp
The intellectual world of Joseph Beuys Gijs Bakker Crazy Welfare Theatre and Lol Coxhill
The question of art: Denis Oppenheim
(Protest songs of Bob Dylan Conceptual art of Marcel Duchamp The intellectual world of Joseph Beuys Gijs Bakker Crazy Welfare Theatre and Lol Coxhill The question of art: Denis Oppenheim)
This was an important time when I made discoveries which influenced me and my future: the protest songs of Bob Dylan, improvised music, jazz, and conceptual art, the power of creative research, philosophy and flower power. I saw Gijs Bakker using duct piping to make jewellery, breaking away from the ‘rules’ and was impressed by Fluxus and the social analysis of Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Beuys and Otto Künzli. Unconsciously the ingrained metal rules created an accent, always imbedded in my work similar to that in my speech. In 1985 Hilda Gascard and I immigrated to NZ where I slowly established my NZ art practice. In 2001, I consciously wanted to rid myself of the jewellery-rules impediment and finished my art study by completing an MFA at Elam in Auckland.
>>>>>>>Facts from the 2013 Euro zone:
–––––Lately 3 jewellery galleries closed their doors:- Gallery Louise Smith, Amsterdam (nobody was interested to take over)- Gallery Pilartz in Cologne/Germany closed their doors - Helene Poree in Paris/France (around 20 yrs). Was the French gallery of repute
•Gallery RA has recently had to let go of 2 employees, due to slower business.(Paul and Wim husband team are left)
•Gallery Rob Koudijs – husband team only----------------------------------------------------------------oThe pop-up store project OP VOORAAD decided to stop since the 3 founders were barely covering expenses, despite their successful reputation with their ’multiples’ concept.
oDutch Dinie Besems' on-line site LELLETJE for earrings (selling different artists' work) stopped after the 2nd year.
oSTEINBEISSER a well-known pop-up store in different European cities for fashion/jewelry/shoes stopped. Instead they now organise special vegan-dinner events with artistic cutlery and dishes (pop-up restaurant).<<<<<<<<<<
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Whatever we do, whether we recognise it or not, there is always a partnership with something/someone else with or without objects/technology/systems. I wonder if it is even possible to make jewellery that is not influenced by anything or anyone at all. Is everything not influenced and reactionary to what went before? It is important that we look to our global situation first: what is the environment are we operating in? Are the outside influences dominating our decisions? What outside influences make us do what we need to do? Being more global means for good or bad, we are all more connected. Recession has hit hard on our European colleagues, their museums, galleries, collectors and makers. Is this temporary or a long-term trend to fear? What does our jewellery-making future hold? Where does contemporary jewellery belong? Jewellery has a problematic relationship with the museum; it is one of those exhibits out of place because of its claim of display on and for the body.
Gesamtkunsthandwerkcollaboration between Martino Gamper, Francis Upritchard and Karl Fritsch
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, NZ
Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, NZ
Fritsch, Upritchard collaboration
I believe that jewellery, displayed wherever in context, can also function well as an object for contemplation and consideration. Its concept and its display can share a sense of disassociation or dislocation, but they are also enhanced through their different contextual discourse. The physicality of the work, its context and its display has great potential for radical new explorations.
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The Silent Pa tnerIN
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INDICATION
1) memory: The silent partner Often you hear that jewellery should speak for itself. Jewellery is the silent partner to the
wearer, communicating subtle messages.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Albright, former US ambassador to the UN knows that well. She said that the brooch she wears is her symbolic commentator. In her book (Read my Pins), Albright reveals that the brooches she chose to wear were influenced by the state of affairs, or by her feelings on the day; a good day was expressed by wearing a flower…a bad day by spiders and bugs. She gave the name ‘Broaching it Diplomatically’ a whole set of new meanings. Eg while Yasser Arafat was treated to a wasp brooch, the South Korean president got a more welcoming sun brooch, and the North Korean dictator got a big patriotic American flag flashed in front of him. It all started after the Gulf war in 1994 when Iraqi propaganda referred her as an "unparalleled serpent". Albright decided to go with that name by wearing a coiled snake brooch to send a ‘subversive message of strength’ when meeting Iraqi officials.
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The art jewellery makers and academics have been placing bling jewellery to one side. Their philosophy and ideology are focussing on the wider horizons and issues inside the art works and in the wider field of the arts. I am also not really interested in fine and craft jewellery objects and its trade. To me their invested ideas are underdeveloped and unimaginative and its commercial appeal is far too personal. However, there are aspects of this kind of jewellery that we should take note of, including those which Albright picked up on. We should look at how mass-produced and high-end jewellery functions within its primal context. That is: the ability to disclose, to associate and to recall. Not only how Albright plays on its subliminal level, but more so at the ability to become most powerful through extraordinary forces independent to the intentions of the maker.
Christine Jones (in red jumper) is comforted by her cousin as she smiles and wipes away tears as she talks about looking for lost wedding rings at her
home. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Emilee Neagle and her family lost their home and belongings in the
destructive tornado storm, but, miraculously, the family dog and her prized
wedding ring were recovered (CNN).
http://www.thejournal.ie/photos-oklahoma-tornado-923163-May2013/
Jewellery in particular seems to be the physical device where the memory, meanings and unanswerable questions reside. The size easily contains it, makes its’ representation physically small, compressing it into an abstract entity, recollecting enough to cope, but not to forget, ready to unpack and decipher when needed. Stories of memory can be represented as light-hearted as a souvenir, celebrations, friendship, as heavy as mourning jewellery, or as bitter as the divorced wedding ring. Jewellery easily plunges itself into deep conceptual layers of relationships, special events, unexplainable emotions and unforgettable connections. I am reminded of the report of an Oklahoman woman who desperately searched for her grandparent’s wedding rings in her tornado destroyed home,... they were the only things she needed to find to console her in the face of such adversity. Here is where pieces of jewellery step in to take stock. Such jewellery becomes more than its formal function. The story loaded onto the jewellery becomes its intrinsic ‘gold’. Taste, author, decorative function, design elements do not matter anymore. Antique, fine, costume, design, art, craft- jewellery becomes all the same and can be worn side by side, with no distinction of hierarchy, design consciousness or fashion preference. Such loaded items can become irreplaceable and so valuable that if lost or stolen the loss of their silent partner with its treasured compacted-memory is mourned in the same way as the death of a person.
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I am not much concerned that the intensions in the work I have sold get encumbered by the owner with an extra load of values of a sentimental nature. I wonder if that is even possible, because of its intended context. I do realise that the social and political content in my work is somewhat neutralised, that the dense subject matter is not an illustration or emulation and that it can play a part in the context of questioning. But I doubt if the low value materials infused with this attitude are sufficient for the added sentimental platform? Do I have to tone down my subject matter even more or grab for the gold and gemstone box again? I might have to, looking at Karl Fritsch’s rings.
http://thespace.org/items/s0000fql#
He brilliantly reinvented the traditional practice. His ‘conventionally infused’ rings made from precious materials are indeed good alternative candidates for continuing a powerfully deciphered format.
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But, by setting the intention of the artist to one side we can with some confidence conclude that certain jewellery will remain the storage mechanism for the memory by choice and that it will be hard to substitute with something else whatever technology throws at us.
Top: Blombos Cave Nassarius kraussianus (South Africa) marine shell beads, ca 73,000 BC
Bottom: reconstruction of bead work stringing
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With that thought the future of jewellery might be safeguarded. It is hard to throw out a 75,000 year tradition. As I said: is everything not reactionary to what went before? In what format and with whom is to be seen. http://thespace.org/items/s0000fql#
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The Meaning Pa tner
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2) revelation: The Meaning Partner In this section I consider issues of expression, and question whether jewellery is an appropriate platform for subject matters of a commentary nature.
• How far can we place our own personal emotions and issues as subject into our work?
• How much is needed to get a point across?
• If so what format works best?
• Is there a place for that in jewellery ?
How far can we place our own personal emotions and issues as subject into our work?
How much is needed to get a point across? Is there a place for that in jewellery?
And if so: what format works best?
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Status QuoVivien Atkinson June 2013 the SeeHere, Wellington
Vivien Atkinson’s “Status Quo” is a deeply-felt personal expression of mixed emotions. The installation consists of a larger than human-sized chain made from beautiful shoes that the artist can no longer wear. The shoe chain references Ted Noten’s ‘Fashionista’ necklace, although that work comments on glamour in a more overt way than Atkinson’s piece. This personal subject, where wearability becomes performative, and plays only a part in its appreciation, is successful in an installation format, but I like for my argument to focus more on the wearable art-jewellery objects and its presentation.
Between 1966 and 1996 France undertook 181 nuclear weapon tests at MururoaAtoll/Aopuni. At the time a huge toll was paid in health, lives and livelihood. Twenty-five years on, the atoll is now unstable and apparently could collapse into the sea at any time. Its collapse would release radioactivity into the surrounding area, spreading contamination across the Pacific as far as Peru and New Zealand and triggering tsunamis predicted to be 15 meters high. (The Epoch Times, August 2012)
The atoll is still guarded by French forces.
Fran Allison May 2013
My Place…’ Necklace –
materials:6 jackets French F2 Camo - used20 metres silver wire1 metre stainless steel wire
Fran Allison’s necklace My place is made from 6 French camouflage jackets, cut and assembled to echo the traditional floral lei, and accompanied by a hard-hitting artist statement:
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Between 1966 and 1996 France undertook 181 nuclear weapon tests at Mururoa Atoll/Aopuni. At the time a huge toll was paid in health, lives and livelihood. Twenty-five years on, the atoll is now unstable and apparently could collapse into the sea at any time. Its collapse would release radioactivity into the surrounding area, spreading contamination across the Pacific as far as Peru and New Zealand and triggering tsunamis predicted to be 15 meters high. (The Epoch Times, August 2012) The Epoch Times founded in New York in May 2000 connected with the Falun Gong spiritual group to counteract the
propaganda machine from the CCP Fran mentioned that some people found that her work suddenly became too ‘heavy’ and uncomfortable after reading her artist statement. A footnote on the Epoch Times: -it was founded in New York in May 2000 and is connected with the Falun Gong spiritual group to counteract the propaganda machine from the CCP Does having access to this kind of information rule out all possibility of free interpretation in engaging with the piece, and therefore distance us and diminish its effect? Or is it the way into a complex response built on individual experience? Does it only reach the converted? In my own practice I repeatedly return to political and social issues as subjects, and so I have spent a considerable time negotiating the problems that can arise when such subject matter is imbedded as default. I have used various strategies in order to create a state of neutrality to enable new interpretations and narratives to form. I am sure that these ways of expression will not change the world, but I hope that it will add in a small way to its debate.
Mourning Jewellery from the Chernobyl Collection, 2004 Mourning Jewellery from the Chernobyl Collection covers issues similar to Fran Allison’s neckpiece. The work features images of children from around the Chernobyl region who suffered thyroid cancer. It is an ode to the many unheard victims of the appalling 1986 nuclear disaster. The images I used were manipulated to alter personal and painful imagery, similar to how the news reports and edits harsh and personal news items. I installed the work including sounds in three locations. I found that the BBC reporting of the disaster was too illustrative and decided on the less ‘imperatively directed’ obscure sounds with white noises from radio Belarus overlaid with Geiger counter sound pulses. Like Fran I use ‘open’ titles which can be interpreted to add new readings for more questions and impact. My last couple of projects are based on explorations of injustice:
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National games as entertainment has primal purposes: it is where skill, craft and intellect compete for pride and glory. Here is where we choose sides that make us interconnected. I enjoy a well crafted game of soccer...however some sports I do not and cannot want to understand. One accepted sport I have trouble with is hunting.
Cruelty is the deliberate infliction of physical or psychological pain on other living creatures, sometimes indifferently, but often with delight. Though cruelty is an overwhelming presence in the world, there is no neurobiological or psychological explanation for its ubiquity and reward value (Psychologist Victor Nell, 2006).
Cruelty is the deliberate infliction of physical or psychological pain on other living creatures, sometimes indifferently, but often with delight. Though cruelty is an overwhelming presence in the world, there is no neurobiological or psychological explanation for its ubiquity and reward value (Psychologist Victor Nell, 2006). I made five installations based on the legitimate killing of animals for pleasure.
The Beauty Patch : in Moving Targets installation, Masterworks, Auckland 2010, detail
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The Pleasure Best: in Moving Targets installation, Masterworks, Auckland 2010
I see these installations as homage to those being victimised. In ‘Pleasure BEAST, in moving targets’ I reworked the image of popular hunted animals into jewellery. Inside their cut-out silhouette I gave them an inspiring environment (details from images of famous artist’s paintings) where they could be free and at peace.
It is true that hunting held an undeniable pivotal role in ensuring our arrival as twenty first century (hu)man. Hunting means survival. Nowadays this act is more abstract and all of the food hunting, gathering and processing is hidden behind our farms, factory doors, banks and stock exchanges. The instinct for hunting still permeates and can be detected inside the fabric of our society, from competitive sports, hunting games to profiteering, power hunger, warfare, terrorisation, discrimination, violent sex, to name a few. These installations and the wearing of these works intend to function as small tokens, representing large compassionate and wishful thoughts, where all life is honoured.
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Shadow Make-weights, 2010 (Masterworks, Auckland)
Satellite Poster Show; with spatters on the wall installation, The SeeHere, Wellington 2011
Give and Take installation, Auckland Art Fair 2011
Give and Take installation, Auckland Art Fair 2011, detail
Referring again to the issues surrounding the placing of personal agenda into jewellery, for myself, I am still not convinced if this platform makes a difference or not, or if we should even bother. Looking what is hot in Munich recently, I discovered that social and political works are rather 'out of fashion’. Does that stop me....... it would be difficult to stop making work that reflects the ethical concerns that I stand for and that are the inspiration and the passion behind my making.
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The Cognitive Pa tner
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discovery
3) discovery: The Cognitive Partner I coordinate a course for jewellery making near Wellington. When I started teaching in NZ, we concentrated on continuing to offer the old metal jewellery rules, but after Whitireia turned the course into a visual arts degree, the focus became less rigid. However, mastering a discipline has to do with instructions (rules) and practice (time), in order to build depth and focus and avoid the risk of offering creative people too many options, where end products suffer from badly crafted solutions. I believe a balanced middle approach is the best solution for the time being. This needs to be presented by, ideally, a lecturer who is a passionate and supportive coach, who is knowledgeable and adventurous, curious, able to listen and willing to give supportive feedback, is a free spirit interested in the wider contemporary art fields, stimulates the development of new ideas and ways of doing things and shares a rich network. Quite a tall order! Equally important alongside learning techniques, developing and exhibiting ideas is the recognition that teaching students the skills that originate in business practice. These include cooperation, ability to function within a team, flexibility, certain generosity, tolerance and support for fellow-students and are vital ingredients for a happy working environment and success. New business-management practice lets employees feel empowered. This idea needs to happen in education too. At Whitireia we have included a couple of simple ideas that work well within such a new framework: twice a year we all make jewellery gifts for each other. One is a low tech gift to be made at home from found materials in around 1 hour.
Gift Exchange
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The other is a high-tech gift made in one day in the workshop and created to match the recipients’ personality. It is a popular activity for all. The joy this exercise in Participation and Exchange gives is part to the vital lifeline of jewellery. Whitireia also supports the involvement of active well-educated alumni as artists-in-residence. They work alongside the students and participate in group and individual discussions, mentoring and feedback. These humble things do seem to stimulate the development of a variety of bigger projects - often non-commercial. An additional exercise by students in developing experience and professional practice based on the ideal business model is the annual production of a jewellery catalogue for which they also organise the fundraising and its distribution. The third years organise annually a solo exhibition with their body of work. The students did a creative exchange with the students of the SCA, shown at Studio 20/17 in 2010.
The SeeHere is a forum for interaction with experimental jewellery practice
the see here .com
A bigger impact has been the SeeHere gallery in Wellington. A number of graduates started the SeeHere gallery, where the wider field of jewellery is explored. The SeeHere is a forum for interaction with experimental jewellery practice. Over the years Sarah Read has done several participatory projects, involving the community at a conceptual level.
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Vivien Atkinson
Wellington Trash to Treasure,2007, Cuba Mal
Vivien Atkinson made souvenir badges from the litter found on the street, which were placed back on the street in a performance where they could be taken by passers-by. Jhana Millers cut-up active credit cards into free brooches. Becky Bliss gave her expertise and design skills to worthy projects.
Original object by Stella Chrysostomou
LIKE I lifted it: finger & thumb.
Two tiny holes went deep inside a single side of it, but never did emerge.
Pores or sockets? Eyes?
Some sort of mouth? I listened for its non-existent cries.
I placed it on the skyline and wondered would it shine. Soft light and hard light: both it met, but never did reflect.
And still it tottered on its legs, a dangerous, solid tank, until at last I turned it.
Now I saw how four great rods reached up, and they were slightly less than the structure that they left.
A set of smokestacks. Below themI could count a dozen edges, and those edgeshid the centre.
I turned it sideways then, and made it all exhaust, a rigid traveller. And then I saw four holes which once were underneath.
One by one they each did enter and reach towards the rods. Or perhaps the rods had ventured out and left the holes behind?
Yet those rods were thicker than the holes they left !
Big plug that might enter yet another, and which a smaller plug might one day enter, and yet it sat apart from electricity . . .
Something alone. Something abandoned. Something whose function had slipped from memory.
Nothing would make it move or flee. Nothing would make it quite agree. Nothing would make it speak to me.
Bill Manhire
icebox.org.nz/LIKE
LIKE project
Sean O’Connell
Karl Fritsch
Fran Allison
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http://www.icebox.org.nz/LIKE.html
Stella Chrysostomou did an ambitious project called ‘Like’ where a mystery object made by Stella was poetically rendered by one of New Zealand’s most illustrious writers, Bill Manhire which in return was reinterpreted into small objects by a group of invited jewellers. Over the years I have done several probono curatorial projects and gave emerging jewellers an exhibition platform in order to develop ideas.
It is known that the wider jewellery community in NZ is supportive of each other. We seem by and large to be on a similar page and this gives us ways of collaborating and sharing, empowering experiences. One example is the free Overview online magazine, produced by
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the Sandringham Jewellers Guild on the smell of an oily rag. Last month they produced their 13th edition and it is sent out to 230 national and international addresses.
RETROSPECT curated by: Joe Mears, Dowse Art Museum, Wellington
Another example of the spirit of sharing is the ‘Retrospect’ project. It juxtaposes my 2007 installation (purchased by the Wallace Art Trust) with responsive works by 20 emerging and established contemporary jewellers, many of whom I have mentored or have somehow inspired. Reading their artists statements made me realise that energy does go around.
vimeo.com/59829907
Jhana Millers & Suska Mackert
Fabrizio Tridenti & Becky Bliss
Sarah Read & Iris Eichenberg Sam Kelly & Octavia Cook
Karl Fritsch & Neke Moa
Gillian Deery & Estela Saez
Warwick Freeman & Jessica WinchcombeLucy Sarneel & Nadene CarrLisa Walker & Sharon Fitness
Andrea Wagner & Lindsay Raine
Kristin D'Agostino & Judy Darragh
Debby Adamson & Hanna Hedman
http://handshakejewellery.com/
This brings me to the HANDHAKE project, which became more than an exhibition project for 12 artists. In short: Handshake is a mentoring project involving 12 emerging jewellers from New Zealand matched with their chosen idols as mentors from across the globe. The project
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began in February 2011, with exhibitions in NZ and beyond along the way, culminating in a collaborative exhibition at Objectspace in Auckland in June 2013.
Studio 20/17, SydneyAug 2011
NZ Jewellery Show, Wellington, Sept 2011
Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, Dec 2011
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The National, Christchurch,Sept 2012
Toi Poneke Gallery, Wellington,March 2012
FRAME, Handwerk & Design, Munich,March 2013
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Objectspace, Auckland 17 June – 20 July 2013
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The process of each exhibition can be followed on the active HANDHAKE blog (handshakejewellery.com) Here art is being produced out of quite unexpected interactions. Most trainees dream of getting professional assistance from their own chosen idols. Everybody finds a mentor one way or the other; some have an old tutor’s voice whispering in their ear, others get it through simply looking at work they admire. Mentoring isn’t necessarily about agreement. Warrick Freeman mentioned: It can be about working in the gaps of the relationship you have with others - the capacity to fill in missing information for yourself and that information might even be in opposition to something they have said or made. It is not necessarily the mentor’s pearls of wisdom that are remembered, but often their discards. Knocking on your hero’s door is not a common practice which I found out with the HS matchmaking process. But there are new changes detectable in the prevailing winds of exchange. Our participatory society has broken down old hierarchical modernist barriers and made possible other ways for knowledge transfer and exchange. Visionary business analysts will tell you that you better be kind to people on your way to the top, because you might face them on your way down. HANDSHAKE has only been successful by the generosity of those involved. The funding was infrequently sparse and a busy mentor could easily decide to quit. There was nothing to hold them. I draw a few insights from that. The communications from intense dialogue, to silent understanding; each pair developed methods on their own terms. Long-distance relationships did as well as those living in the same city. It is the direct face to face communication (real or on screen) with direct access to workbooks and working models that stimulate direct conversations and responses. The HANDSHAKE package (support with the development of work for exhibitions and retrospection) is innovative and radically different from everything I have been exposed to in my own learning. It required: basic knowledge, a platform, a time span and introspection. The 12 selected are graduates from a degree course (and gave them basic knowledge). The platform is a series of exhibitions in different locations, and where each exhibition marks the progress from the last. The artist blog became a place for introspection, critical analysis, rebooting and communication. The blog records revelations, design explorations, research suggestions by mentors, cerebrations, the opening-up of ideas, decisions, but also about the exhibitions, book, reviews, radio interviews and background information. .
Over the three years the HANDSHAKE blog became a mirror for the project‘s advance.
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Insights to artist thinking are not something the public normally has access to. Is that why relatively big numbers of people return back to the blog … is it like reality TV with its unscripted journey and its venerable impact, or is it to know and learn about the diversity in mentee and mentor interactions?
Becky Bliss & Fabrizio Tridenticollaboration
Each mentor had to feel their way through the process of the relationship and each of the 12 decided to be a support in the development of the mentees, but not be its voice. There were direct requests, like Suska Mackert to Jhana to go back to her more successful projects and to write down the merits, or when Fabrizio suggested that Becky should experiment with simple shapes and forms as a way to get out of her writer’s block, or
Estela to Gillian to draw more open shapes, away from the more solid ones,
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Nadene Carr
while Nadene was encouraged by Lucy Sarneel to get bold within her work.
http://handshakejewellery.com/participants/neke-and-karl/
Neke Moa and Karl’s relationship went along more as how colleagues work together, where Karl showed Neke things and vice versa. In the picture we see Karl making Muka from Flax fiber under Neke’s guidance.
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Neke Moa & Karl Fritschcollaboration
There was a silent but deep understanding of each other. Debbie Adams communicated with her hero Hanna Hedman via Skype. Her blogging has been extensive and most revealing:
Debby Adamson & Hanna Hedman
This whole project has been a process. A large part of that has simply been getting to know someone half way across the world. The ongoing trickle of to and fro between mentee and mentor. So much has happened and so much has changed. As an artist and a person I’ve struggled at times and grown at times.
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Creative conversations between Debbie Adamson & Hanna Hedman
•Sometimes you have to trick yourself*
•Not think too much. Collect from everywhere. Limit yourself. Be open to change. (May -June 2011)
•Become an imposter. Question your motives. Push yourself further. Give and exchange. (July 2011 – April 2012)
•Find comfort in the same. Form a new language. Make your own context. Be not afraid. (August 2012 – Jan 2013)
Each stage has been a stepping stone, slowly building my confidence to keepgoing. You’ve really helped me through that, both with the things youhave said and through your example. Your responses and questions havealways kept me considering. It was also re-asurring just knowing youwere there.’ – Debbie
(excerpt) http://handshakejewellery.com/participants/debbie-and-hanna/
She also decided she needed to work alongside Kobi Bosshardt by doing an apprenticeship. He is renowned and has a definite and more traditional approach with metal. She wrote: Kobi has very strong views and his ideology about jewellery seems a bit more traditional. She continues: He constantly challenges me to forget about art/concept and just to make jewellery (rings, pendants, bracelets etc). His values and philosophies are very humble and down to earth, I have since had a number of conversations with people about this feeling of a fragmented practice and had some good advice. It seems the trick is to treat it all the same. Your making is all one activity. Things might head in many directions and seem like a tangent but in the end, often with the things you least expect, it will go full circle. It all feeds the same thing.
HANDSHAKE set-up at the Handwerk Messe
Jessica Winchcombe Jessica Winchcombe: Warwick Freeman planted a seed in my head that has sprouted and is growing into a tree as we speak.
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Kristin D'Agostino & Judy Darragh
Kristin D’Agostino reveals how a mentor can have prolonged effects on the practice, not easily dismissed. She wrote: In other words, conceiving of the work, making and killing it all in my head. But I could just see Judy staring me directly in the face, and saying “make-it”.
What is Home from Home?Home from Home is an experiment in: serendipityreciprocitystepping beyond one's comfort zone
The project invites you to step out of your usual routine and invite an artist - Sarah Read - into your home for a 3-day research residency.
In return, Sarah will welcome you into her home in Wellington, New Zealand, "the coolest little capital in the world"(Lonely Planet).
Sarah Read
The hectic exhibition schedule asks a lot of a busy maker, a reality check where the balance needs to be struck between developing ideas/work, and making another piece for the deadline. Sarah to Iris: “It is a delicate balance, to genuinely explore and experiment, knowing that there is an upcoming exhibition for which finished pieces are required.”
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Sharon Fitness & Lisa Walkercollaboration
Sharon about Lisa WalkerI was recently asked how Lisa has influenced me in this mentorship – always a tricky thing to quantify in a few sentences, which of course results in some vague babblings about this and that and never really getting to the point properly… However, I think I have finally achieved what I needed to get out of this mentorship with her:And that is total confidence in what I do.
Sharon & Lisa collaboration piece Sharon Fitness, necklace
Having a strong maker looking over your shoulder also brings darker corners. Benjamin Lignel mentions in his essay for the HS book: A lot of the discussions will circle around the idea of ‘being good at being oneself’ - a core tenet of art education - and occasionally engage with issues of loosing oneself and becoming (the) other. One longs for creative rapture, but wearies of losing the thread of one’s creative identity.
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Lastly, where does education sit in all of this? Our NZ art schools are under threat, powers at the top make decisions based on facts and figures and jewellery art practice does not feature high as an employment opportunity. Unitec in Auckland closed their doors for jewellery making, despite their track record of talented graduates. The HandShake model does give opportunities, but only can work when the trainee is ready and that is when they have done basic vocational training in practicing of new ideas.
Jhana Millers & Suska Mackertcollaboration
Mentors can be most effective in providing refined feedback, within the context of the practice - not discussing basic techniques. Negotiating time and observing how a successful artist works can be an invaluable eye opener. The extensive network that the mentee becomes part-of provides potential for future opportunities. Ben’s closing words saw also another benefit for the HS documentation: While not providing answers, they help us identify the theoretical issues pertinent to mentoring in craft, and constitute a road map for those who may want to think about art education in the future. In the final phase of the HANDSHAKE project each mentee has been given the opportunity to select a new recent graduate, who they will support for a year, converging on the ever increasing circle of learning and contributing to the dynamic flow of shared experiences
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http://handshakejewellery.com/book
Would it have been different if a mentor was not around? Was the impact of having access to a hero mentor immediate, or is it something that will need a longer period to process and resolve? I have seen each individual progressing differently over those three years. I have seen confusion, battling timelines, and unresolved work. I have seen things I do not like and things which I think are absolutely brilliant. The jury is out how all will progress from this and I am sure it will be as this project… different for each individual. What is apparent is that all twelve had a fantastic opportunity to be exposed to their hero artist’s mind, practice and network. Develop work with feedback, exhibit at 7 top locations and that is all well documented. They even had the opportunity for their last exhibition to collaborate with their mentor. Those are all valuable experiences and hard to quantify!
Short video: https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/798