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:
Relating to the feminine.
A long, winding walk in the dark terrain of my subconscious begins to reveal itself, in patterns of dappled light through native forest leaves. It arises in the soft, quiet dark where the full moon is illuminating, summoning and awakening ghosts left sleeping in my...
Infinite Selves
"When you start working, everybody is in your studio - the past, your friends, enemies, the art world, and above all, your own ideas - all are there. But as you continue working, they start leaving, one by one, and you are left completely alone. Then, if you are...
Larger than my head
As our online classes with Estela Saez have come to a close I took a moment to reflect. I hadn’t known what to expect from the masterclasses. The first class was also the first meeting as a handshake group and I was nervous/excited to meet my peers. Our...
Light from Tate
Recently I went to the Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tamaki to see their exhibition 'Light from Tate: 1700s to Now'. The exhibition artworks explored how light captivated artists, but also how it was used in their artwork. Both literally as well as symbolically. The...
Loud Chatter
Life can seem like a juggling act and I often feel the same about creativity. Applying to be a part of Handshake 8 I needed to consider multiple factors which often felt contradictory. Apart from the concerns about having time and money to immerse myself in the...
Reflections
The virtual classes with Estela Saez have now sadly come to an end. I learnt so much from Estela, as well as from the Handshake 8 cohort. It was a period of intensive development of my making processes, as well as expansion of my thinking and creative comfort zones....
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.
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...
transitions.
My life is in boxes, now neatly arranged in piles around the house. A moment of reprieve amongst the chaos. I'm about to move to the other side of the country, so my making practice is stalled until I can re-settle. In the past month or so I found myself obsessed with...
My other Family Tree
My master discipline of procrastination comes to the fore as deadlines loom and I find myself reading one of the many books on my desk - Steal like an artist by Austin Kleon. It was something I had picked up out of curiosity from the many hundreds I’d inherited from...