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
Back to the grindstone…
Blog 25 June 25th, 2018 Some of the unresolved experiments and ideas Literally - I’m really needing to use the space between the end of the last HandShake show and the next to get on with some work long delayed by the frenetic activity of the first half of the year. ...
Mirror Mirror
At the beginning of the year, I found two objects that have formed my line of inquiry this year. One was a shattered car rear vision mirror and the other was a disco ball. The glitter, the glam, the shatter. There is something in these objects that appeal to me,...
Words for Philip….
Polarity The property of having poles or being polar. "it exhibits polarity when presented to a magnetic needle" the relative orientation of poles; the direction of a magnetic or electric field. plural noun: polarities "the magnetic field peaks in strength immediately...
Inner Worlds and Outer Worlds
It appears that our mentorship programme is two thirds of the way done and dusted. I’ve been reflecting on where I’ve come from to where I am now during bouts of insomnia/extreme bursts of mental and physical energy. Everyone has their own private battles and mine is...
Chain Makers 1880s Black Country Birmingham
Repetition is something I struggle with. So I thought I would make a chain, to face the thing I don't enjoy. My attention span is that of a small child, unless chocolate is involved. So to move away from making chain I did some internet research. Chain making was...
Interdisciplinary Inspiration
I was listening to a podcast on a very wet dog walk today. The podcast was WTF with Marc Maron and it was a replay of an interview he did with Anthony Bourdain in 2011 - http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/repost-anthony-bourdain-from-2011 I would not describe myself as a...
PROCESS
What blooms, dies. Mortality, subject to the processes of nature, is beyond our control. And yet we celebrate life. We exalt a flowers essence - its freshness and singularity- on a literal pedestal, by making its fleetingness exquisitely visible. All too often,...
Super Positions: Stanley Street Gallery
Merilyn Installing Nik Hanton's pendants A trip to Sydney to be part of the Handshake Show Super Positions at Stanley Street Gallery provided a great opportunity to make connections with other Handshake artists, art appreciators and collectors. Liza and Merilyn, the...
Post Process
It has been a while since the last Handshake4 show "Process" so I have plenty of time to reflect on what I think worked and what didn’t work so well. Having a concept of process opened up my making a lot, I didn’t feel the need to having a completely unified series of...
Process – Toi Poneke
Participants had between 2 and 4 days (depending on where in the country they were travelling from) to respond to installation artist Gabby O'Conner's exhibition design/challenge. Drop sheets with grids drawn on them (symbolising the canvas of our workbooks/visual...
Hitting the books
So much spinning around with the final HS4 fast approaching. It is time to revert to the trusted workbook approach. It is a discipline I have let go for too long. However, getting back into it, is meditative and constructive at the same time. It is as much of...
Grid-lines – Process at Toi Poneke
Gabby O'Connor worked with us wholeheartedly for our install at Toi Poneke. The Grid-lined drop sheet installation challenged the conventional wall plinth gallery display. Hand drawn with crayons, the grid lines resembled a page in a workbook. These were hung...