Renée Pearson: Artist Statement & Bio

Artwork Statement as a part of Aotearoa Jewellery: Unmapping & Remarking 2026

These works are both a celebration and a mourning. Calling on the familiar rituals and rhythms of a shared cup of tea they allude to a story of personal identity. They explore the history of the artist’s ancestors on the tea plantations in South India, a story with many missing parts. They speak of the joy of sharing stories, over many hours and innumerable cups of tea, the sense of connection and belonging storytelling can create. But also, there is an aspect of mourning, for all the stories that have been lost, that have faded from memory or have been intentionally obscured.

The works incorporate patterns adapted from kolam designs, traditionally drawn as ritual with rice flour in front of entranceways in Southern India. Fragmented and worn, they suggest the erasure that time can bring.

******

Working predominantly with greywacke, the most common New Zealand stone, Renée explores social and philosophical concepts in her work relevant to the modern world. Renée’s objects present an archaeological reference alluding to the inevitable transience of the human experience.

A fascination with everyday objects sees much of her work investigating our relationship to the mundane items we interact with on a daily basis and how those objects can create a story of who we are.

Renée Pearson is a visual artist, stone carver and jeweller. Born in Ōtautahi, Christchurch in 1991, Renée grew up in a small village in the southern alps of New Zealand. These formative years, exploring the surrounding landscape, fostered a passion for the land that grew alongside her, and continues to be an important influence in her work.

Renée completed a Certificate in Design at Christchurch Polytechnic in 2012 and a Bachelor of Applied Arts at Whitireia Polytechnic in 2018. She has had work exhibited throughout New Zealand and internationally and was the recipient of the Talente award for emerging artists in 2018.

Vanessa Arthur: Artist Statement & Bio

My practice focuses on unearthing small moments of subtle awe or everyday wonder. It considers the benefits of gazing in awe. That when we experience awe inspiring landscapes or events both positive and negative, we become less individualistic, more generous, reflective and feel a greater sense of connection to others and to our place in the wider world community.

Lately I’ve been thinking about the practice of looking and observing and eyewear as a a tool of activation. 

Recently I spent time with Brian Adam in his Titirangi studio learning the eyewear making process. Brian’s early Pāua eyewear are some of my favourite objects. My Wonder Goggles series gives a nod to these works and considers the function of eyewear as not just protection and enhancement, but as an object to direct our gaze.

Constructed using a blend of jewellery and eyewear making techniques and formed with precious metals, Pāua industry offcuts, paint and pearls. The shape of the Wonder Goggles ‘lens’ guides the wearers gaze up and out, bringing focus to their present surroundings.

 

Vanessa Arthur is a jeweller and artist based in Te Matau-a-Māui Hawke’s Bay, Aotearoa. She has exhibited nationally and internationally for more than a decade. In 2011, she completed a Bachelor of Applied Arts at Whitireia NZ, and shortly afterwards was selected for Handshake, a leading national mentorship programme for contemporary jewellers. In 2025 Arthur was awarded a Creative New Zealand fellowship & presented her solo exhibition Wonder Goggles at Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga.

Moniek Schrijer: Artist Statement & Bio

Moniek Schrijer is a contemporary jewellery artist from Aotearoa / New Zealand, who holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts (Jewellery) from Whitireia, New Zealand's Faculty of Art, exhibiting nationally and internationally regularly; her work has been collected into various public and private spaces, including Die Neue Sammlung, Te Papa Tongarewa, and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. In 2016, Moniek received a Herbert Hofmann prize, further solidifying her position in innovative jewellery art.

Schrijer's practice orbits around the transformation of new, second-hand, recycled, and found materials; these markers of human existence and the natural world are worked into intricate, thought-provoking pieces that balance artistry between jewellery, sculpture, and wall-mounted objects. Her creations move seamlessly between the flat plane and the third dimension using traditional and unconventional jewellery techniques, offering a unique interplay between form, texture, and light.

With distinctive ingenuity and a deep investigation into craft, combined with her wry sense of humour and critical reflexivity, Moniek's works provide a window into her sentiment and understanding of materiality and environment. Recently, she has been concentrating on altering flat sheet metal; her pieces glow with an otherworldly radiance as carefully set materials reflect and refract light, their surfaces rich with hand-painted detail. Whether suspended, mounted or worn, these works dissolve the boundaries between dimensions, inviting the viewer to reconsider the space between object, form, and perception.

Moniek draws inspiration from her everyday environment, both digital and physical; works often evoke nostalgic dissonance, layering slippage and mystery. She is particularly interested in the dualities within her work: the jewel and the object, the object and the host. In exploring cross-disciplinary techniques, Schrijer has incorporated printmaking, darkroom photography, sculpture, and painting into her jewellery practice. A recent project, A Hologram of a Diamond, exemplifies this approach. 

Fran Allison: Artist Statement & Bio

Statement for artworks a part of 'Aotearoa Jewellery: Unmapping & Remarking' 2026

I saw ‘This is a Beautification Enforcement Area’ written on a sign on a beautifully tended lawn in Japan. By making it into a piece of jewellery I shifted the meaning. Now it hints at current societal pressures to always look good… (it's also a stencil, subversively enabling the wearer to retain a sense of power and dissent if used to stencil onto anything else!). 

This group of works endeavour to reflect the time and place of their making. The pieces aim to shed a little light (and humour) onto our bewildering present where the triple threats of communicable diseases, economic insecurity and catastrophic natural disaster are ever present, where mixed messages abound, where the pressure is on how we look, and present and reality is sometimes skewed.  

They are designed to trigger a search for meaning, placing words and objects out of their original context and onto the body creating a completely different interpretation. 

Fran trained as a designer, silversmith and jeweller first at Middlesex University and then the Royal College of Art, London, UK. Her work spans these three areas with explorations into more politically motivated larger wearable works; ‘Your Basic Tee’ being the winner of the Akel Schulte Award in the Molly Morpeth Canaday 3D Awards 2018. Fran was for six years contracted to Creative New Zealand as the Talente scout and mentor, has been a member of the Objectspace Board of Trustees and was employed as Programme Leader Jewellery and Senior Lecturer at Manukau School of Creative Arts for 22 years  (from 1995 to the closure of the school in late 2017) following a teaching career both abroad and in New Zealand. Teaching spans Jewellery, Design, and Sculpture. Currently employed in the area of exhibition and display at Auckland War Memorial Museum whilst working as a freelance maker.
Is dedicated to pursuing her own practice as a maker by regularly exhibiting work nationally and internationally. 

Fran is represented by Fingers Gallery and Masterworks Gallery Auckland, NZ.

Grace Yu Piper: Artist Statement & Bio

Stitches and Stones explores the relationship between fabric and stone, facilitating a dialogue between these two materials with myself acting as an imperfect interpreter. While this work focuses primarily on material exploration it is also an ode to my love of rock hounding on the beaches and in riverbeds of Aotearoa.

Grace Yu Piper is a Aotearoa New Zealand based contemporary jeweller who graduated from Whitireia in 2017 with a Bachelor of Applied Arts.

Her practice explores the functionality of jewellery and seeks to challenge our preconceived notions of what jewellery is. Material exploration is often the starting point for Grace's work, and stone is her material of choice.

Exhibition highlights include Schmuck 2019 and Schmuck 2026 in Munich, Germany and He momo, nā te whanau — it’s a family trait – The 2nd Aotearoa Jewellery Triennial, at The Suter Art Gallery, Nelson, NZ.

Grace Yu Piper: CV April, 2026 Download

Andrea Daly: Artist Statement & Bio

Statement as a part of 'Aotearoa Jewellery: Unmapping & Remarking' 2026

These works by Andrea Daly document a collision between the stories that permeate our cultures and her personal experiences. The works remark on, pay attention to ideologies that are meant to direct our journeys and lead to pre-determined destinations. “If you behave in this way you will marry the handsome Prince, get a mortgage because everyone/every nuclear family should buy their own house and pay down a mortgage, make sure you are getting ahead.” Individual stories from the interwoven and overlaid hum of our cultural narratives suddenly become visible when they fail to lead us to the promised outcome. 
Daly is a storyteller. Each of the works in this show are little exclamations or warnings. They are cautionary tales of paths gone askew. In recognising our dominant beliefs as just stories, we could listen and learn from other people’s. As we go through the process of unmapping and remarking, where remarking means regarding with attention, can we find alternate and more promising ways to navigate our lives in the world?

Andrea Daly is a practicing jeweller and lecturer. She studied in Australia at Sydney College of the Arts and completed an undergraduate Bachelor and Post Graduate Diploma in Visual Arts majoring in Contemporary Jewellery. She later went on to complete a Masters in Philosophy majoring in Art History at Auckland University. 

She was a Partner in Fingers Jewellery Gallery from 1991 – 2017 and has been involved in art education since 1990. This has included positions as a guest lecturer at various educational institutions as well as being a lecturer at Manukau Institute of Technology in the Visual Arts Degree from 1995 - 2004, Hungry Creek Art and Craft School from 2008 – 2019 and is now lecturing at Whitecliffe on the Bachelor of Jewellery Design and Technology. 

Andrea’s practice is divided between making, thinking, writing, talking, and educating.  She exhibits nationally and internationally and is held in both public and private collections. 

Andrea Daly: CV April, 2026 Download

Shane Hartdegen: Artist Statement & Bio

My work explores the intimate, layered interactions between physical and conceptual surfaces—both through haptic knowledge and neural pathways extending outward through the hand, tools, and ultimately, the manipulated surface of a reclaimed car tyre.

The tyre, once an object of motion and wear, becomes a base upon which identity is re-inscribed. The repetitive act of cutting is both meditative and aggressive—at once frustrating and deeply satisfying.

It speaks of mapping not just as the outermost layer, but as a site of transfer, translation, and transformation. In this way, there may be a conversation between self and object, action and reaction, surface and meaning. 

Shane is a jeweller based in Auckland. He moved to Auckland in 1997 with his family from Durban, South Africa. Studied at Technikon Natal and later taught in the Jewellery department from 1989 -1997. Tutor at Hungry Creek Art and Craft School to 2002 -2018.

Co-founder of Clink Project with Dr Johanna Zellemer in 2016. This project considered alternative approaches to showing and curating work while allowing students from Hungry Creek and Otago Polytechnic Jewellery Dept to engage in collaborative making and meaningful discourse. Clink changed name to C-Link project in 2017continued for 7 iterations.
2019 purchased Hungry Creek Art and Craft School and worked as Head of School until 2023 when the school was acquired by New Zealand school of Art and Fashion.

Caroline Thomas: Artist Statement & Bio

Title of series: Making Marks [2026]  (As a part of Aotearoa Jewellery: Unmapping & Remarking 2026)

With these pieces I am mapping memories and making marks. The pieces are made from metal fragments that I have picked up over time on my daily walks with my dog, objects whose functions are unclear but whose shapes and lines are somehow compelling to me and anchor me to a time and place.

A couple more items are decorative metal pieces I bought at a local market and two further objects have been formed by me, in emulation of the original metal objects found while walking. I have made cords for these objects to turn them into neckware. Some of the cords are interchangeable so the objects can be arranged and re-arranged around one’s neck.

The greenstone and the seed pearls come from broken necklaces that belonged to my late mother. For me many senses are stirred when I encounter these materials. If  the works that use these materials ever change hands, I like to think that my mum is continuing to travel the world.

To me, the pieces appear to be speaking a language, not yet fully deciphered, but full of meaning and steeped in memory.

*****

"My practice is driven by the forces of material, language, humour and experimentation. I accumulate found materials around me until new relationships suggest themselves. My past working life as an image researcher, where I often had to select one image as a means of encapsulating a larger story, has enabled me to distill complicated ideas into a single form or handful of materials. I enjoy transforming existing objects - that have already lived a life - to find them new partners and add layers to their experiences."

Caroline was born in London, UK to Kiwi parents. She studied History of Art at Edinburgh University and worked as an image researcher in London in the publishing industry for several years. She moved to Aotearoa in 2007 and studied contemporary jewellery at Whitireia NZ from 2011-13. Since then, she has exhibited widely at home and internationally and is a current member of Occupation: Artist. She has also participated in the HandShake jewellery mentoring programme.

Brendon Monson: Artist Statement & Bio

My work as a jeweller is rooted in memory of place, of craft, and of inheritance. Using CNC technology, I carve repurposed native New Zealand and Australian timbers into wearable objects that speak to both personal and collective histories. Each piece reflects my deep connection to Aotearoa’s landscapes and my own whakapapa, shaped by generations of carpenters in my family line. Drawing inspiration from Victorian colonial architecture, I explore the tension between ornament and structure, legacy and loss. The intricate fretwork, turned balusters, and decorative trims of that era are reinterpreted through a contemporary lens. Miniature relics that speak of a complex past.

Brendon is a Dunedin based artist that has exhibited throughout New Zealand internationally. He completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2013 at the Dunedin school of Art, where he currently works as a technical teacher and night class tutor.

Brendon Monson: CV December, 2019 Download