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:
Rivers as jewellery
Tui Diprose reflects on their recent PUSH/PULL workshop held during Nelson Jewellery Week and how it is impacting their current making process.
Objects, objects, objects
After all our hard work experimenting with forms and surface textures it was time to bring these ideas together. Estela asked us to unpacked our cardboard models from a couple of months ago, and chose the one form that we were most drawn to. We did the same with our...
Material exploration (aka controlled mayhem)
In our recent class with Estela we were asked to bring along some material, and plenty of it. I chose a collection of old steel signs given to me by my grandparents. They used to fabricate, hand print and sell these signs in their hardware store, Peoples Hardware in...
Struggle
It’s the word I have been given to guide me through my latest handshake tasks. Whilst I’d prefer a kinder word, something more inspiring, it’s been an accurate synopsis of my progress. The task is to take an alternative material, for me, tire inner tubes, and explore...
Buckled in, the ride has begun!
Kia ora! It seems March has vanished into thin air and we have landed into April with the start of daylight savings and Autumn settling in. With many commitments, I, unfortunately, have missed making a monthly post, so will endeavour to make up for it here!...
permission to be lost
When we are dealing with papers, textile, piece of timber and soap, the restriction became a freedom. Sketching with scissors instead of pencil reminded me of Matisse’s scissors painting. I was free of guilt. When you choose to deal with gold and silver to make your...
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.
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....
Any moment now…
For many of the previous classes with Estela we had been oscillating between creatively exploring within two and three dimensions. In this session we played somewhere in between. We had a creative brief that was inspired by our latest collection of rings. It was a...
doorways
Small moments. Fragments of my insides.Threads to pick up. Objects to place. Being with discomfort. Creating from that place. I see forests, oceans, rivers, land, weaving themselves through my mind, speaking their stories. pollution. deforestation. over harvesting....
Not Everything Goes to Plan
This Post is like that bloopers section you sometimes get at the end of comedy movies. There were a couple of pieces made during the Estella Workshop phase that kinda crashed and burned. I tell myself "this is a time to experiment. If I'm not hitting the occasional...
Rings From Other Things
I want to say "this was another fun week of play"....but maybe that diminishes the process. With hindsight it's true, but I am writing these posts several weeks after the online workshop and group crit. In the lead up, I'm always pushing to try 'one more idea' and I...