Objectspace Lectures 2008

Clay Economies: Panel Discussion - Thursday 28 August

Contributors to the recent publication Clay Economies - Dr David Craig, Moyra Elliott, Richard Fahey and Dr Christopher Thompson - discuss the multiplicity of contemporary ceramic production and consumption as a significant form of local cultural production with the aim of opening up an inclusive understanding of ceramic practice that goes beyond the narrow confines of ‘studio pottery'.

Clay Economies was published on the occasion of the exhibition Clay Economies, curated by Richard Fahey, which runs at Objectspace to 3 August 2008.

Unwearable: Jewellery by Lisa Walker - Thursday 4 September

Jeweller Lisa Walker and writer Damian Skinner will present two illustrated talks Sometimes: An Artist's Talk by Lisa Walker - a chronological survey of her work from 1992 to the present and Lisa Walker: Bricoleur. In this talk Damian Skinner considers Lisa Walker as a bricoleur, a jeweller making a sophisticated version of DIY, and the parallels between her practice and the concepts of bricoleur/bricolage that have developed in anthropology, cultural studies and philosophy.

Lisa Walker is a New Zealand jeweller who lives in Munich, Germany. Her exhibition, Unwearable: Jewellery by Lisa Walker, will be showing at Objectspace from the 5th September 2008. Dr Damian Skinner is a writer who lives in Gisborne. He wrote the catalogue essay for Unwearable: Jewellery by Lisa Walker.

Thursday 4 September, 6.15pm, Room WE 230 AUT campus.

Rich Craft, Poor Craft - Thursday 2 October

Writers Kevin Murray and Damian Skinner will present two illustrated talks about Murray's concept of ‘rich and poor craft' in contemporary jewellery from Australia and New Zealand.

Baroque ‘n' Roll: the forest versus the street in contemporary Australian jewellery. In this talk Kevin Murray will discuss concepts of rich and poor craft drawn from the alternative classical and modernist strategies that have characterised much of recent southern arts.

Native/Natural, Settler/Silver: Considering Murray's Theory of Rich and Poor Craft in Contemporary Jewellery from Aotearoa. In this talk Damian Skinner argues that Murray's dialectic of rich craft and poor craft in Australian jewellery can be mapped very differently within contemporary New Zealand jewellery.

Dr Kevin Murray is a writer who lives in Melbourne, Australia. His book, Craft Unbound: Make the Common Precious, was published by Craftsman House in 2005. Dr Damian Skinner is a writer who lives in Gisborne. His book, Between Tides: Jewellery by Alan Preston, is being published by Random House in October 2008.

Thursday 2 October, 6.15pm, Room WE 230 AUT campus.

Design and the handmade: new options and opportunities - Wednesday 8 October

Grace Cochrane will discuss the changing relationship between design and the handmade and the choices some Australian and NZ designers and makers, who are experienced in making one-off works, are making in relation to new options regarding material, processes and technologies, in putting their work into production. She poses the question: ‘What does it mean for those interested in the crafts, in these changing times?' and notes that it isn't the first time the crafts have been at this kind of turning point, in a changing society, and it's not the first time craftspeople have been close to the heart of changes in values - of materials and processes, and of functions and forms.

Dr Grace Cochrane is in New Zealand as the 2008 Portage Ceramics Award Judge. She is the Curator/Editor of Smart Works: Design and the Handmade at the Powerhouse Museum in 2007 and was formerly Senior Curator of Decorative arts and design at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.

 Wednesday 8 October, 6.15pm, Room WE 230 AUT campus.