Nelson Jewellery Week April 13-23, 2023 Kirsten Cooper reviewed Monday 16 April 2023, Nelson The phrase ‘an embarrassment of riches’ recurs frequently in my mind as I contemplate the first few hectic days of Nelson Jewellery Week 2023. Exhibitions, artist talks, public talks, debate, film, games, performance, and other activations are taking place in (and on) art galleries, jewellers, clothing and shops, restaurants, bars, historic places, and even a record store, located within easy strolling distance around Nelson’s CBD. Every moment is an opportunity to be inspired or amused, to wonder at, and to be moved by the objects and images created by makers and curated by NJW 2023 Co-Project Managers Katie Pascoe and Kay Van Dyk. The biennial event began in 2021 in response to an exhibition marking 10 years of Wellington-based Handshake Project held at Refinery ArtSpace and has rapidly accumulated momentum. The Arts Council Nelson initiative is one of a small number of international contemporary jewellery events, such as Melbourne’s Radiant Pavillion, and the Jewellery Weeks of Brussels, Munich, Florence, and Romania. This April, contemporary jewellers have gathered in Nelson from around New Zealand and Australia (and further afield) to display, discuss, and disseminate objects and ideas through the channel of contemporary jewellery. And even as that repetitive refrain lurches around my ganglia, I consider the appropriateness of the phrase. Not so much its meaning (as certainly there are more options than possible for a person to select from or attend) as the incorporation of the word ‘riches’ within that phrase and the Pavlovian link of ‘riches’ with ‘jewellery’. Because what is abundantly clear is that many makers working in contemporary jewellery are incorporating materials that are not historically considered ‘precious’. A postered street bollard from Handshake Cohort, Dialogue Collective, ContempTemp Collective (also exhibiting as HSDCTC-COLAB at Refinery ArtSpace) declares contemporary jewellery is ‘intelligent’, providing avenues for questioning. Further, materials used in making can be precious or found, free or gifted. It can be constructed from unusual materials. It can be wearable – but not necessarily so. It has no prescribed dimension. It could be an idea. In short, what can only be said with any certainty is that it has ‘jewelleryness’. As if to reinforce that observation, Moments of Jewelleryness: Off the Hook at Salt Gallery, presented works from an ongoing project by Wellington-based contemporary jewellers Fran Carter and Christine Thomas, that explored the beauty to be found in the mundanity of the urban and the organic. Minumental (The Gallery at Nelson City Framers until April 21) shows works by a group of eight jewellers from around the country, tracking, mapping and documenting gestures honouring the everyday with used tissues, fallen petals and soil. Occupation: Artist, in residence at Refinery ArtSpace until 6 May, also pay homage to the humble and the ‘ordinary’ in their show, Reflect. There is a broad palette of material employed by exhibiting artists. Lisa Furno and Eva Kerer employ discarded plastics and decorative ‘knick-knacks’ to create objects of re-purpose. A collection of creatives is asked to go ‘beyond the template’ to reconsider the traditional signet ring. Licky, is a joyful expression of queer connections via an ice cream date and can be seen at The Quiet Dog Gallery. Across Wakatu Square, disrupted, and reconfigured domestic items are beautifully reconstructed at Parker Gallery. There are chunky, glossy ceramic rings at Kiln Gallery, and elegant works based on the construction of a magpie’s nest at Craig Potton Gallery. At Jens Hansen, Organica showcases the work of six jewellers highlighting the diversity of earth’s ecosystems. In Shine’s window, Isaac Ibbotson combines gold and driftwood. And at NMIT’s G Block, artists explore the social and human condition, and memory of place. Powerful connection to place is explored in Whenua (Refinery ArtSpace until 6 May) by Ngāi Tahu object-based artists; Vicki Lenihan, Alix Ashworth, Caitlin Rose Donnelly, Rongomaiaia TeWhaiti, and Mya Morrison-Middleton. Respect for Papatūānuku, processes of practice and material are writ large on the walls. And while these objects are created for adornment, they are also for play, and for healing. Observations on the continuum of time are delivered, and stories of belonging, motherhood, family, trauma, and loss are embraced and released through the making. While it is acknowledged that it is not possible to tell other people’s stories, art allows the opportunity to connect with stories that are not your own. Nelson Jewellery Week (gloriously and thankfully lasting for 11 days) is not just an opportunity to celebrate undoubted creative talent but to facilitate exchanges of ideas, process, knowledge, practice, innovation and – whether through linking, knotting, or soldering – to make connections. NJW is funded by Creative New Zealand, Nelson Regional Development Agency, and Nelson City Council. Partners: Refinery ArtSpace, Te Pūkenga Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, Objectspace, the Suter Art Gallery te Aratoi o Whakatū, and Uniquely Nelson. www.nelsonjewelleryweek.nz Instagram: nelsonjewelleryweek Facebook: NelsonJewelleryWeek2023 Images courtesy Kirsten Cooper
Street bollard Whenua
1 Comment
4/18/2023 04:06:09 pm
We her at 18a believe in Cause for Discussion as an important contribution to our creative landscape here in the region, Nelson. Not only for the artists, but too for venues. NJW is one that has become one of the major events here, bringing contemporary jewellery to our doorsteps, much of it for free and thought provoking what contemporary jewellery might actually be? And we agree that it has become a platform of thought exchange - how we make, how the everyday slips into it all. It has quite a history in New Zealand, but the programs 'Mentor and Mentee' & 'Handshake' have definitely brought a new way of discourse to it all. A wonderful summary by Kirsten Cooper. Congratulations to the NJW team, the sponsors, funding entities that came to the table, seeing the potential of NJW as to enrich our lives & encounters in Nelson - too posing the question - what is art? What does it for anyone passing unexpected offerings? How does it nourish the makers already based in Nelson? Applaus.
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