Welcome to HandShake 8, 2023-24
HS8 is a two-year programme designed to encourage experimentation, feedback, development, and exhibiting for emerging artists. The HS8 development program aims to challenge and support each artist in their creative development, helping them to grow their capability, excitement, and endeavour through a range of masterclasses, professional support, and feedback.
The programme is comprised of eleven artists selected by Estela Saez Vilanova from Barcelona, who began with a series of masterclasses that delved deep into the content and depth of the artist’s work practice.
Estela Saez Vilanova’s masterclass is a source of inspiration and support for each HS8 artist, providing them with various design options and ideas opportunities. Her passion, succession of briefs, and direct feedback stimulate the development process in terms of ideas, material exploration, and art-making.
A special face-to-face masterclass gathering was held during the Nelson Jewellery Week in mid-April 2023, featuring the successful Push-Pull workshop of Renee Bevan (12-16 April 2023).
In the second half of 2023, the HS8 artists refined and developed their ideas from explorations and discoveries from the two masterclasses and a series of feedback sessions by three international mentor coaches who helped them refine their ‘process‘ explorations.
Another masterclass with writing expert May-Jane Duffy focuses on blog writing, content writing, and artist statements.
From 4 – 20 December 2023, HS8 artists exhibited their 2023 ‘process’ work (including some finished artwork) at DEPOT Art Space, Auckland. See their exhibition.
In the second year (2024), the HS8 mentees are matched with their mentors. The mentees develop their ideas and materials in a body of work with the assistance of their mentor.
Andrea Daly and Neke Moa’s online masterclass on ‘theory and history’ integrates art and design theory with the depth of the HS8 artist’s work through experimentation and exploration. Neke Moa introduces how connections to the art practices of tangata whenua are explored within her own artworks and those of others.
In 2024, the final masterclass will focus on innovative presentation methods. This includes using images and videos to explore different ways of presenting artworks for the HS exhibition online programme and social media platforms. The masterclass will also concentrate on producing a collaborative video expressing the unique group dynamics of HS8 alongside their artworks at their Pah Homestead exhibition.
HS8’s second and end-of-project exhibition MATERIALISE: 8 Nov 2024 – 16 Feb 2025 will take place at Pah Homestead, Auckland, opening on Thursday, 7 November 2024, from 6-8 pm.
HS8 blog posts:
OBJECT & EGO: PART 2
The following is an unpublished journal excerpt from 2015 when I was studying for my Graduate Diploma through Whitireia NZ Reflecting on a walk-about It's mid-summer, and I'm walking through the Mt. Vic greenbelt as the sun is going down and the moon rising, darkness...
Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia [reflection]
sunlight drips into my third eye... Ancestors at the door. Eyes as voids, portals to other worlds. My body begins to hum, tingle, energy rushes to my feet as I enter their world. With their eyes they communicate, invite, invoke, warn, acknowledge. In endlessly dry,...
Ever Present
Not long ago I visited Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tamaki to see the exhibition Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia. It was a wonderful reminder of home. The exhibition presented a cross section of the vibrant and diverse collection of artworks from indigenous...
Productive Procrastination
When in doubt - mooch. I have some go-to places that I like to hang out when creative thoughts are percolating. One is an art gallery, in NZ that’s usually the Auckland Art Gallery or Te Uru, they are such great buildings. The other place is Bunnings or Mitre 10....
Wayfinding: The Art and Science of How We Find and Lose Our Way
Firstly a public service announcement, this is not a review. It is more akin to thinking aloud about what I got out of Wayfinding by Michael Bond. In the book Michael Bond explores how the act of wayfinding and spatial awareness helps to connect us to surroundings by...
Market Place – Rabbit Hole
Recently I have been fascinated with the tradies and handymen of facebook marketplace selling their scraps. The composition, lighting and angles of these images are brilliant. All I see is jewellery. I can see the thought and artistic intent that has gone into these...
Welcome to HandShake 8, 2023-24
HS8 is a two-year programme designed to encourage experimentation, feedback, development, and exhibiting for emerging artists. The HS8 development program aims to challenge and support each artist in their creative development, helping them to grow their capability, excitement, and endeavour through a range of masterclasses, professional support, and feedback.
The programme is comprised of eleven artists selected by Estela Saez Vilanova from Barcelona, who began with a series of masterclasses that delved deep into the content and depth of the artist’s work practice.
Estela Saez Vilanova’s masterclass is a source of inspiration and support for each HS8 artist, providing them with various design options and ideas opportunities. Her passion, succession of briefs, and direct feedback stimulate the development process in terms of ideas, material exploration, and art-making.
A special face-to-face masterclass gathering was held during the Nelson Jewellery Week in mid-April 2023, featuring the successful Push-Pull workshop of Renee Bevan (12-16 April 2023).
In the second half of 2023, the HS8 artists refined and developed their ideas from explorations and discoveries from the two masterclasses and a series of feedback sessions by three international mentor coaches who helped them refine their ‘process‘ explorations.
Another masterclass with writing expert May-Jane Duffy focuses on blog writing, content writing, and artist statements.
From 4 – 20 December 2023, HS8 artists exhibit their 2023 ‘process’ work (including some finished artwork) at DEPOT Art Space, Auckland.
In the second year (2024), the HS8 mentees are matched with their mentors. The mentees develop their ideas and materials in a body of work with the assistance of their mentor.
Andrea Daly and Neke Moa’s online masterclass on ‘theory and history’ integrates art and design theory with the depth of the HS8 artist’s work through experimentation and exploration. Neke Moa introduces how connections to the art practices of tangata whenua are explored within her own artworks and those of others.
In 2024, the final masterclass will focus on innovative presentation methods. This includes the use of images and videos to explore different ways of presenting artworks for the HS exhibition online programme and social media platforms. The masterclass will also concentrate on producing a collaborative video expressing the unique group dynamics of HS8 alongside their artworks at their Pah Homestead exhibition.
HS8’s second and end-of-project exhibition MATERIALISE: 8 Nov 2024 – 16 Feb 2025 will take place at Pah Homestead, Auckland, opening on Thursday, 7 November 2024, from 6-8 pm.
Proof
Putting it out there - talking about it. What to exhibit in an exhibition that marks the halfway point in this two year handshake project? In a public process show how resolved should that process be? Does it need to be jewellery, to be wearable? So many questions...
The summit
One of the first things that struck me when I moved to Tamaki Makaurau Auckland were the over 50 volcanic cores that are sprinkled throughout the city. I have used these volcanic cores as guideposts to help me figure out where I am. If I got lost I could drive towards...
A texture library
On my explorations I recorded things that I came across. In particular things that caught my eye, for one reason or another. A lot of this process was done by taking hundreds and hundreds of photos. I also collected bits and bobs. Yet, sometimes you can’t or shouldn’t...
Proof of Concept
We are halfway through our Handshake8 journey and the exhibition 'Proof of Concept' was a chance for us to share what we have all been working on for the last 10 months. The exhibition at Depot Artspace opened on Saturday 4 November and continues until 20 December...
Mapping Shells
When I first moved to Aotearoa New Zealand, I had a flurry of international visitors. There was a need for a non-digital or wifi dependent mud map of the area. I began to play with an idea of a map drawn onto an object from the area. Living on the bay, my first...