Contemporary Jewellery in Context: A Handshake Blueprint

Description

This book unpacks the creative jewellery paradigm into its widest context. Five international writers draw a fascinating and comprehensive picture of contemporary jewellery in the twenty-first century. Through a rich palette of themes, works, reports and concepts from current art practices, they illuminate the conditions and interconnections of education, making, presentation, marketing and networking in design and art using the example of the New Zealand Handshake project. This book will enrich and bring pleasure to all who are interested in the visual arts in their broadest sense! The Handshake project supports emerging New Zealand jewellery artists, allowing them to develop ideas and artworks for a succession of exhibitions with the assistance of a chosen mentor. The Handshake recipients are presented with opportunities to develop work for a number of exciting challenges, including collaborations and national and international exhibitions. The progressive nature of the programme aims to develop independent makers with an innovative and energetic practice.

Kim Paton was appointed Director of Objectspace, Auckland (NZ), in 2015. She came to the position from an academic role as Research Leader at Wintec's School of Media Arts and curator and editor for RAMP Gallery and RAMP Press, Hamilton (NZ). Liesbeth den Besten is an independent art historian who is working internationally as a writer, curator, advisor, jury member, exhibition maker, teacher and lecturer in the fields of crafts and design, especially contemporary art jewellery. She is the author of On Jewellery. A Compendium of International Contemporary Art Jewellery (2012; ISBN 978-3-89790-349-4). Benjamin Lignel is an artist, writer and curator. He was editor of Art Jewelry Forum from 2013 through 2016, and edited three books under AJF's imprint. He is guest teacher at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste Nuremberg (DE) and Alchimia, Florence (IT). Peter Deckers is an educator, organiser, curator, writer and jewellery maker/artist. He is jewellery coordinator and part-time art lecturer at Whitireia (NZ), Porirua. Sian van Dyk is the Curator, Programmes and Events at The Dowse Art Museum since 2013. In 2015 Van Dyk was the inaugural recipient of the Creative New Zealand Craft/Object Art Curator to Munich award.