Mia Straka: Artist Statement & Bio

Mia Straka explores the potential of contemporary jewellery as a social medium for communication and connection. A commitment to social and environmental issues drives her practice, visible through carefully considered use of materials, processes and content. Projects embrace collaboration, interactivity and accessibility. An interest in domestic craft, particularly weaving; as metaphor for interconnection and the embodiment of art in the everyday underpins Straka’s predominantly constructed pieces.

Creativity can be a political weapon, to share, communicate and express in a non-violent way.

Craftivism is a powerful but gentle way to share political, social and cultural values. We don't always need to be loud and aggressive to make an impact. What we wear is a way of communicating ourselves to the world.

Mia Straka graduated with an Honors degree in 3D Design: Jewellery, from Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland (2001). Straka’s work is exhibited regularly and has toured public institutions and galleries nationally and internationally. Works are held in the Arts House Trust Collection (NZ).

As one of three partners in Auckland jewellery studio Workshop6, Straka teaches jewellery classes alongside continuing to evolve her own contemporary jewellery practice. From 2020-2022 the artist participated in the HandShake programme, provoking creative development and endeavour.

Since 2012 Straka’s practice has grown to encompass creating and facilitating community art projects, workshops, installations, videos, larger scale sculptural works and objects, as an extension of contemporary jewellery. Notable examples are The Valere Talisman Project (est. 2017) and The Talisman Project (est. 2014). Straka has undertaken Art residencies in Berlin, Germany 2018 and Oaxaca, Mexico 2014.

Sarah Walker-Holt: Artist Statement & Bio

Conversant with a Life Lived 2023 (As a part of 'Handshake 2024')

A crisscross of processes, local materials, environment, and cultures through 50 years of being ‘Kiwi’. 

Fruit Salad 2020 (As a part of 'Handshake 2020')

Influenced by traditional hand-drawn and drafting methods, that use structural and functional knowledge of materials, composition and wearability, Sarah Walker-Holt generates formative drawings that she then uses to produce distinctive jewellery. In an effort to comprehend and reinterpret the initial stage of drawing the pieces are taken from their drawn state through an impromptu rendering process of materials and techniques, at the bench, that allows for a less formal and liberal interpretation.

Since 2010, Sarah Walker-Holt has been testing the tactile qualities of wearable objects through wood that have intermittently incorporated mechanisms, print, textiles and moving image.

“From questioning the value bestowed in the materiality of everyday, precious, and non-precious timbers, I alter them into something complex and decorative for the body. Essentially, deconstruction, construction and engineering shaped my approach as I was intrigued by structural fabrication and how things work. More recently, I have become attentive to the sustainability of my materials and challenging the authenticity of where and what I source.”

Sarah Walker-Holt completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Auckland University, MSVA in 2010, where she received numerous prizes including the Fingers Graduating Students Award. In 2011, she won the New Zealand Contemporary Jewellery Award. Walker-Holt has exhibited nationally and internationally, and featured in the Dowse Art Museum’s travelling exhibition, Wunderrūma: New Zealand Jewellery. In 2014–2015 she was mentored by Helen Britton for Handshake 2: Prentice and Prodigy and was successively selected for Handshake 3 in 2016–2017. In 2016 she travelled to Europe as a participant in multiple Handshake exhibitions and a masterclass with Helen Britton. In 2019, she was again selected for Handshake 5, presenting at CODA and Te Uru.

https://www.sarahwalker-holt.com/

Neke Moa: Artist Statement & Bio

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi engari, he toa takitini!
My strength is not mine alone, but due to the strength of many!

 

Neke Moa

Te Whare a Papaīra, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Ahuriri, Kai Tahu, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Tūwharetoa

Moa’s practice seeks to promote hauora (wellbeing) by deepening connections between tāngata, tohunga, and atua. Using materials from the taiao (environment), and drawing on customary and contemporary processes, she works to make mātauranga and pūrākau newly accessible.  

Her work explores our connections within the spaces of the seen and unseen, the place where wairua resides and creativity is sourced.

She has exhibited throughout the Moana Oceania region and further afield. In 2023, she was awarded a prestigious Herbert Hofmann Prize at Munich Jewellery Week and was a McCahon House artist-in-residence. Works by Moa are held in the collections of important institutions, including Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, the Dowse Art Museum, and the Musuem of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. She is based in Ōtaki Beach, where many of her rauemi (materials)are gathered.

Moa taught shell craft in Fiji and Tonga from 2016 until 2020 and continues to teach and learn as part of her art practice.

Caroline Thomas: Artist Statement & Bio

"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 complicatedideas 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 in the 1960s 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 The See Here and Occupation: Artist. She has also participated in the HandShake jewellery mentoring programme.

Raewyn Walsh: Artist Statement & Bio

Victory over Death

I was thinking about what happens in the end; it’s nebulous, yet the dynamics of getting a hold of meaning are part of the human experience. Like breathing.

The ten brooches in this exhibition are made using beeswax from hives in the back garden; a place, I can testify, where faith is restored by the continuous die back and resurrection that comes with the seasons. When mixed with a tree rosin the wax cures to a durable finish.

This wax medium was used, primarily by Greek artisans, to paint Egyptian funerary portraits that were attached to mummy wrappings. Their image, and other details, immortalised in wax and then unsealed and deciphered centuries later.

Victory over Death heads to Australia on October 2024.

Raewyn is a jeweller who lives and works in Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa (Auckland, New Zealand)

Becky Bliss: Artist Statement & Bio

Handshake 2024

Both New Zealand and Australian colonialism saw large-scale land confiscation, displaced indigenous peoples, loss of cultural identity and erosion of traditional practices.

Displacement is associated with climate change as well as forced migration due to conflicts etc. In the Pacific the Maldives, Kiribati, Tuvalu, and the Marshall Islands are currently most at threat with around 4mm of sea rise annually and the populations in these countries will be forced to migrate. Tuvali already has a planned exit strategy.

Changing weather, water levels and heat are forcing migration in many towns and communities in New Zealand and around the world.
I am using the Lego block as a symbol for displacement by moving and deleting the studs.

LEGO is a collaborative game. It’s name comes from the Danish phrase leg godt (“play well”). Now more than ever we need to play well together.

Becky Bliss graduated from Whitireia New Zealand in 2010 and is also a graphic designer.

Her current works look at social issues such as global warming, fair pay and equal employment opportunities.

She was a participant in Handshake 1, 3, and 5 and the current HS7, as well as Handshake alumni exhibitions, in the New Zealand/German Wunderrüma exhibition, and an exhibitor in Schmuck 2020 in Munich and Valencia, and Schmuck 2015 in Munich and Prague and the New Zealand Jewellery exhibition at Gallery Marzee, The Netherlands.

She is in collections at Te Papa Tongarewa, The Doswe Art Museum, Auckland War Memorial Museum, and several private collections

Aphra Cheesman: Artist Statement & Bio

I collect traces of the encounters that have occurred between people and things, gleaning objects and materials that are worn or decayed; signs of their past, and their interactions with people. Our everyday habits and the objects we interact with are often overlooked, but they could be viewed as being a part of an invisible network that connects us though touch and action. Some of the works are made to be worn on the body, while others are designed to attach to objects such as a couch or a rug for example. In doing so, this body of work also considers the boundaries of what ‘jewellery’ is and what it could be used for. 

Aphra Cheesman (b. 1989, Auckland) is a New Zealander living and working in Naarm/Melbourne. Aphra’s practice includes contemporary jewellery, objects, drawing, video and sculpture. Her research examines our complex relationships with commonplace materials and objects, often considered in relation to the cycles of capitalism and other economic, social, political and environmental systems. Her work considers the overlooked and in-between moments of everyday life. She has an ongoing practice of observing and collecting within her own daily life from which her research and creative works often evolve. Aphra graduated from RMIT with a BA Fine Art (Honours) in 2020. She has exhibited in Australia and internationally. In 2019 she was selected for the Fresh! Graduate exhibition at Craft Victoria and the Gallery Marzee International Graduate Show (NL). She was also a finalist in Talente 2022 (DE) and was the recipient of the Talente Gestaltungspreise 2022.

Nina van Duijnhoven: Artist Statement & Bio

The ‘No’ vote in Australia and the recent setbacks in New Zealand due to the change of government, weigh heavily on my heart.

In this work I contemplate the struggles faced by the Māori, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and use their experiences as a reflection on the broader challenges confronting indigenous communities worldwide. 

These pieces specifically focus on the profound connection indigenous cultures share with the natural world which is rooted in spiritual, cultural, and sustainable practices. Unlike Western perspectives that often exploit nature, I draw inspiration from the indigenous viewpoint, which regards the environment as a living entity with intrinsic value. This holistic approach emphasizing harmony, reciprocity, and the interdependence of all living things.

The work honours indigenous perspectives and envisions a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable future where the wisdom of indigenous communities becomes an integral part of our shared narrative.

Nina completed her Bachelor of Applied Arts, majoring in Contemporary Jewellery at Whitireia, New Zealand in 2018.
Nina’s work explores environmental issues and spiritual beliefs such as impermanence and non-attachment. She examines the human connection to material possessions, emotions, ideas and beliefs. Paper is her current material of choice to express ideas around ephemerality.
Nina was a participant in Handshake 6 and 7. She has exhibited nationally and internationally and was selected for Schmuck 2020.

Nadene Carr: Artist Statement & Bio

Sometimes when words are hard to find I use my alta egos. They can be from my descendants, characters I know, how I feel I’d like to be seen, unlabelled. Today I’d like to introduce you to Carr, Waka, Bil, Jadongcha, Carbad, Auto, Motoka.

New Zealand born artist Nadene Carr completed an Auckland Bachelor of Visual Art in 2009. A participant in Handshake 1,3 and 5. Her work looks at the dynamic relationship between the beautiful and ugly. Carr pushes the aesthetic elements of what constitutes the beautiful and the ugly by investigating the provocative and challenging concepts that arise: culture, gender, age, taste and appropriation.