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:
Intention
I want to make work that is intimate; that makes people want to touch it, to hold it; that touches people.
Sentiment, melancholy, or Nostalgia?
July work! After my last session with Iris on Friday morning these are some of the question and avenues I find myself traversing at the moment after our discussion...she also asked where does your work sit; is it sentimental, Melancholy or Nostalgic? I find it at this...
Stitched!
June 2020 Hand, cotton and sunlight! June 2020 sleeves and buttons A play with pattern. I couldn’t find my hands to create things during lockdown, I could see them but couldn’t use them how I wanted! To get into this work physically I have to have someone to...
We Are Not The Poem
We Are Not the Poem. ‘The problem is we think we exist. We think our words are permanent and solid and stamp us forever. That’s not true. We write in the moment. Sometimes when I read poems at a reading to strangers, I realize they think those poems are me....
Head, Hands and Heart: Part 2 – Hands
To escape from my head, I began to engage my hands. I started using what was stashed in my workshop - wire, paper, thread. These didn't give me what I wanted, they were too considered and not organic enough for me. I then discovered an unopened pack of...
Dying and Drawing
I wish to show with the following photographs how salient colour is when making work. As I said in my previous blog, as a result of answers to questions about colour with regard to anxiety, I experimented with dyes, on bone, silks and wood. ...
My Glamorous Life / Studio Experiments
My jewellery practice has typically incorporated traditional jewellery materials: silver, gold and cheap gemstones. Recently, this has started to feel expensive and a bit limiting. I have started playing around with some new materials like aluminium, lead and rubber....
Moss image collecting
All of these images were taken out and about in my neighbourhood.
Untying knots in my thinking
At the conclusion of the second Zoom meeting when we were in lockdown level one, I asked folk to respond to questions about stress/anxiety. Overwhelmingly the colours associated were red and black, a rogue vomit brown, navy and mustard appeared also. Tentacles and...
HANDSHAKE in HAMILTON
Handshake in Hamilton is a group exhibition co-curated by contemporary art collector, Garth O’Brien, and Weasel Gallery Director, Laree Payne. Handshake in Hamilton presents a diverse range of contemporary jewellery from the Handshake 6 cohort alongside paintings by...
No sense of order
The world is undergoing a rather large task. And failing miserably in so many places with Covid-19. What a mess! Here in New Zealand our government shut our borders quickly to give our health professionals time to prepare for the unknown and uncontrollable future. As...
Life in a bubble
This post was written 23 March 2020, due to technical issues (dead laptop charger) it could not be published earlier. Isolation day 32 (feels like 3000). March has been a month of chaos in many different ways. I worked, I taught, I suffered from illness and fear, and...
HANDSHAKE IN HAMILTON
A CONTEMPORARY JEWELLERY EXHIBITION WITH PORTRAITS BY HANNAH IRELAND 8 JUL – 1 AUG. 2020 OPENING NIGHT 10 JUL / 4–6PM Weasel C O N T E M P O R A R Y A R T G A L L E R Y 260 Victoria St / Hamilton / New Zealand MORE image: Aphra Cheeseman
Change is the law of the universe.
Impermanence is a feature of everything that lives. All things, feelings and states pass away and are not permanent or graspable. Trying to hold onto material possessions, people, or experiences, knowing that life is moment to moment and constantly changing, can make...
Familiar Things
Through my practice, I try to cultivate an attentiveness to the world around me. I think of making as a way of connecting to the world of people and things. Recently, I came across an essay by documentary photographer Dorothea Lange, which discusses how ‘the...