Nelson Jewellery Week looked fantastic from a far! If only the trans-Tasman bubble had opened just a few weeks earlier. The CHAINreaction exhibition, in particular, was wonderful to be involved in – at least my work made it over when I couldn’t!
CHAINreaction exhibition concept: a celebration of 10 years of the HANDSHAKE Project, a continuous necklace celebrating “connectivity and communication.”
A giant necklace made up of 49 artists work? Yes please!
In being a part of this project, we were given the opportunity to connect and collaborate with our neighbouring artists, figuring out how our chains would join or “shake hands”. The concept, process and installation all spoke beautifully about ideas of connectivity and communication. Ideas that also felt very relevant to my own experience with the HANDSHAKE Project.
When coming up with ideas for my chain, I thought a lot about my connection to HS; the people I’ve met, the collaborations I’ve been involved in and the conversations I’ve had. I thought about our first HS6 introduction and masterclass in January 2020, sitting around a big table for 4 days of incredibly interesting, engaging and sometimes quite vulnerable conversations. Since this masterclass, I haven’t been able to return to NZ due to COVID, so all of my contact with my fellow HS6 group has been via social media or Zoom. Despite predominantly virtual catch ups, I feel very included and connected to everyone. Pretty special really.
One thing that I realised I didn’t know about my HS community was their day-to-day making spaces. When in normal times I might have had the chance to visit their workshops, this past year hasn’t allowed me to. I thought this exhibition could be an opportunity to reach out and connect with each person and get to know this aspect of their practices a little better.
More specifically (for reasons discussed in my last blog post), I decided I wanted to get to know the workshop chairs of my fellow HS6ers as well my ‘neighbours’ in the continuous chain, Lisa and Gillian.
Images of all the chairs sent to me by HS6, Lisa and Gillian.
It was great to reach out to each person in the lead up to making my chain. Many people came back to me with stories of how they came by their chair. Some people sent multiple chairs alongside descriptions of what they used them for in their studios. I then used these photos as a starting point for my neckpiece, often translating them, through drawing and making and taking quite a lot of creative liberty along the way!
Visually, chairs all linked up in a neckpiece facing each other spoke to the community and connection I have directly experienced though HS. Each section of this neckpiece is made in response to an individual maker’s chair from HANDSHAKE 6. The final two sections, at each end of the necklace, respond to the chair of Lisa and Gillian whose necklace it is then connected to in CHAINreaction.
Big thank you to Amelia Rothwell for the images from the CHAINreaction exhibition!
Chairs, 2021, mild steel, furniture paint, dimensions of sections varied. Length 1500mm.
Linking up (shaking hands) with Lisa Walker’s chain.
Linking up (shaking hands) with Gillian Deery’s chain.