Participants (see their HS progress)
- Antonia Boyle
- Aphra Cheesman
- Nina van Duijnhoven
- Jack Hadley
- Fran Leitch
- Nikki Perry
- Amelia Rothwell
- Mia Straka
- Simon Swale
- Susan Videler
- Michelle Wilkinson
- Macarena Bernal
HS6 collaboration video work
WELCOME TO HANDSHAKE 6 (HS6), 2020 – 2021/22
The HS6 two-year programme offered emerging jewellery artists a unique opportunity to develop skills through masterclasses, mentoring, and work development involving experimentation and exhibiting. Iris Eichenberg (US) selected twelve talented artists and paired them with recommended mentors who provided regular feedback and support throughout the two-year program. In 2019, Iris Eichenberg came to Auckland and conducted a masterclass with HS6 artists, igniting various conceptual and design approaches and opportunities. Her public lecture at Objectspace in Auckland drew a full house of enthusiasts.
Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, each HS6 artist was able to continue their research, experimentation, and development online with the assistance of their assigned mentors. The first exhibition opportunity was pre-Covid and curated by Weasel Gallery in Hamilton (now rebranded as Laree Payne Gallery). During Covid, the HS6 artists showcased their work at various exhibitions, including “Signing-In” at Te Auaha, Wellington, and a large, curated exhibition called “CHAINreaction” at the Refinery as part of the first Nelson Jewellery Week.
Throughout the programme, the artists benefited from a series of lectures and workshops on professional ethics, fundraising, communication, and design. They also received valuable training on presenting and promoting their work online through the ON-E masterclass workshop led by Estella Saez (ES).
Despite the obstacles presented by COVID-19, the HS6 artists remained resilient, supporting each other and working together as a team. Their successful funding campaign and the production of a video and catalogue for the final exhibition MORPH at NorthArt in Auckland showcased their extraordinary qualities and demonstrated the power of effective teamwork. Overall, the HS6 program provided a valuable opportunity for emerging artists to develop their skill set and showcase their refined work to a wider audience.
Iris Eichenberg’s masterclass in 2020
HS6 focused primarily on the individual development of each mentee’s art practice, with feedback and assistance from their selected mentor. Their exploration package included research, experimentation, various design processes, and material explorations. The year kicked off with a JEWELcamp, covering expectations, obligations, and professional ethics.
Renowned artist and educator Renee Bevan conducted her influential PUSH-PULL workshop, providing a series of methods for exploring and expanding ideas and designs.
Following the JEWELcamp, a masterclass from Iris Eichenberg equipped HS6 artists with various toolsets of new approaches and opportunities.
HS6 artists at their MORPH opening, Northart, Auckland, August 2022
- (top row:) Maca Bernal, Simon Swale, Susan Videler, Antonia Boyle, Nikki Perry, Jack Hadley, Michelle Wilkinson
- (bottom row:) Fran Leitch, Mia Straka, Nina van Duijnhoven, Aphra Cheesman, Amelia Rothwell
HS6 NEWS & BLOGs:
The Poet
‘The poet… is the man of metaphor: while the philosopher is interested only in the truth of meaning, beyond even signs and names, and the sophist manipulates empty signs… the poet plays on the multiplicity of signifieds.’ Derrida, 1982* ‘The poet’s job...
Let’s take a walk
“On our walk we encounter a few peculiar, rather incongruous objects, sometimes very much alone while others are in groups and radiate vigour and strength without ever being obtrusive. These are small things that speak to you and although you do not always know their...
thinking skin pantones, Maca Bernal
Im studying skin colours, in the search for a colour system or Pantone. Drawn to the word degrade, its meanings, its connotations. Degraded, degrading, degradé. And what it could mean to wear it. I noticed that this set of sphere halves, resembled the colour pallet of...
MAPPING
Much of my MFA work focussed on considering and exploring notions of space and place. Of finding ways to articulate spaces of the everyday that operate as thresholds and/or places of transition; where land meets water, such as ports, as well as other points of...
BAD JEWELLERY, GOOD ART?
Words with Iris Eichenberg
Yesterday I had my Zoom meeting with Iris, I had been putting it off because the work was not flowing. As those of you who were at the masterclass this year will know, she sees into your very jewellery soul, which is at once disconcerting and a relief. These meetings...
The Conversation
Peter Deckers has given us a range of performative exercises to help us get out of our habitual working patterns. One of these exercises is to talk, shout, whisper or make sounds to your object, and see what response this creates in you or your object. What is your...
Patterns and Structures
I initially started this handshake project looking at patterns of growth. Initial experiments were made out of metal using the pattern of skin cells to create a magnified version. If we think about cells and their patterns we suddenly realise we are surrounded by...
Everything wants to be a necklace
Practicing NOT making jewellery NOT using metal To move beyond where I’m at It’s a challenge Everything wants to be a necklace Collecting, Deconstructing, Reconstructing A double sided homemade cardboard loom with a built in hole Site for experimental...
Channelling Meret
I truly have no idea what I have done since I wrote my last blog. I’ve been looking back at Meret Oppenheim’s compositions, marvelling at Keith Sonnier’s colours and neons, trawling through Hilary Mantel’s latest novel The Mirror and the Light. The daily explorations...
Conversations with Mah: Claiming My Voice
“Read things in the style that you would like your voice to sound like – so that it can be your inspiration and you can study it - absorb it through osmosis.” “Read what you love, not what you think you ‘should’ read.” “Find a way to write about your work that...
In memory of George Floyd and all who have suffered at the hands of systemic racism and violence
It seems to be the nature of contemporary life that history erupts upon the surface of our lives in ever more frequent waves. There seems a volatility in the fabric of society that has created tension and unease. The papered over cracks of history are being torn apart...
Thoughts on holes
I’ve been exploring holes a lot in my work lately so I thought I would write a list of all the different words for holes that I can think of. Holes continue to be a running theme throughout my current works and I spend a lot of time thinking about different kinds of...
HANDSHAKE IN HAMILTON
Left: Hannah Ireland, Closed Curtains, 2020 Right: Jack Hadley, Baroque Flower Indigo Storm Blue, 2020 Image: Weasel gallery Two weeks ago, I exhibited my jewellery for the first time. This was part of the exhibition HANDSHAKE IN HAMILTON at Weasel Gallery. 11 of the...
An exhibition in my living room
I’ve been lucky to have had plenty of time at the workshop this year. Investigating everyday objects and materials, I have kept the parameters in which I am working broad, allowing my environment and the things within it to direct me. Walking, noticing, collecting…...