WELCOME TO HANDSHAKE 4
The HS4 two-year (2017-2018) recruitment programme focused on experimentation and exhibiting, demonstrated through a development programme that included coaching, mentoring, and masterclasses.
Dutch artist and educator Ruudt Peters selected twelve NZ jewellery mentees and their mentors from an open call. The programme started with a Masterclass led by Estonian artist Tanel Veenre, who came to New Zealand. He introduced innovative methods of presenting artworks and ideas.
Exhibitions were held at Pah Homestead in Auckland in October 2017, at Toi Poneke in Wellington during the International Festival of The Arts in March 2018, and at Corban Estate Arts Centre during Auckland Art Week in October 2018. Furthermore, an online exhibition was featured on the HS4 HandShake website.
NEWS & BLOG
7.8 shock
Blog 1, January 7th, 2017 The news in November that I had been selected for HandShake 4 was rather daunting. The 7.8 earthquake had left me shaken – with a recent move into a 12th floor apartment and nothing yet secure in it’s final location – our possessions were...
Entry 2
Entry 2
How to start – Introduction
Sometimes it feels frightening to make the first mark on a white page. This is very much the feeling I have approaching new projects, people and materials. As with the white page there seems to be a perfection/beauty present that doesn't want to be disturb. Over time...
Grandpop
21st February 2017| My father Jack died last year in April on the day of his 55th wedding anniversary. Jack inherited a whole load of tools from his father, Thomas William Stevenson who was an electrician in the South Island of NZ. Over the holiday period just gone,...
‘I’m just saying’
John Reynolds 2014 Feb 2017 ‘I’m just saying’, to me it is the equivalent of ‘I’m sorry’. It is just one starts a sentence and the other finishes it. Personally, there was a lot of ’just saying’ during the week of Jewel Camp for HS4. It was the time to meet new...
PLEASED TO MEET YOU
Following a series of online conversations, Vincent and I had our first “meeting” via Skype. I'd been delaying this interaction because of my intense (and entirely irrational) fear of video calls. It was a great example of why you should 'feel the fear and do...
Handshake 3- Munich
I was lucky enough to be part of the set-up and manning team of Handshake 3 at Handwerkmesse, Munich, and spent 10 days with inspirational artists, gallery owners, and collectors. Being at the 'Oscars' of Contemporary Jewellery and seeing the work of the international...
“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them” (Galileo)
Because I'm not sure yet of the physical material that will best translate my idea, I've started with porcelain as my blank canvas, for its potential translucent quality and have been experimenting with marbling effects and creating shapes that eventually are forming...
All that is solid melts into air
The polar jet streams are something I've been contemplating for a while in regards to climate change. Naturally there are other complex factors when studying this issue but scientists have made strong links between the rising CO2 levels, wandering jet streams, recent...