Main Gallery/2008

Uncovering a range of embroiderers' work that challenges many preconceptions about stitch 'No Rules: Rediscovering Embroidery' gathers a selection of 18 makers who have broken free of convention, or redirected it in unexpected ways. These makers have uncovered eloquent personal directions, their common link the inevitability of stitch as their medium of choice. Such exploration is re-discovering the world of stitch, reclaiming it, and opening it to new possibilities.

Objectspace Limited Editions provides an opportunity for discerning collectors to purchase exclusive new designs by leading New Zealand makers working within a number of making traditions in Aotearoa New Zealand. It is an ongoing initiative that works as a professional development opportunity for object makers and as a fundraiser for Objectspace. In 2008 makers were invited to submit designs for works that would be future heirlooms.

1839 Exchanges: Jewellery by Jason Hall is an exhibition about jewellery, identity and cultural exchange explored through a series of amulets created for Frederick Edward Maning, an Irishman who arrived in Aotearoa in 1833 and became a trader. Maning is a well known Pakeha Maori, a term that refers to Europeans who lived as Maori in the early phase of colonisation. Maning, who initially advised Maori not to sign the Treaty of Waitangi, later became a land court judge in the 1860s, and a member of the European colonial gentry.

Unwearable promises to be an exciting and innovative installation for Objectspace. The title of this exhibition pulls in two directions. Some of the most recent works strain at the limits of wearability in size and intention. They bring to mind earlier European jewellery experiments which prodded function and the relationship to the body in order to liberate jewellery and align it with investigations taking centre stage in other art practices. Being unwearable, though, as Walker's work yet again demonstrates, doesn't mean leaving behind the realm of jewellery.

The works in Clay Economies traverse the industrially mass produced and the handcrafted; the ornamental and the utilitarian; the authored and the anonymous; the high and low status; the visible and the barely acknowledged. By assembling such a diversity of works the intent is to expand our understanding of contemporary ceramic practice by considering the multiplicity of ceramic production and consumption that exists beyond the narrow confines of studio pottery.

Strange/Familiar is a new exhibition of sculptural ceramics by Otago based artist Nicholas Mullany. Working "in a manner that is methodical and borders on the neurotic", Mullany's gestalt gestures are physically self evident. Writer Christine Whybrew observes, Mullany constructs works that are "reminiscent of Lego creations". Mullany says his working methods enable him "to create objects that are transitional in nature to navigate the often uncanny relationship that exists between the maker and the object."

Based in the small town of Opotiki, in the Bay Of Plenty, Tangimoe Clay became interested in flax in the late 1980s and has spent a number of years honing her craft. Tangimoe's works have attracted the attention of an increasing number of collectors and in 2006 she was exhibited in the international touring exhibition Toi Maori: The Eternal Thread. Steeped in a tradition many generations old, Uhengaparaoa: Works by Tangimoe Clay is a rare opportunity to witness a contemporary Maori craftsperson successfully negotiating and thoroughly engaged with her craft.

In 1966, Henderson Valley resident, Alwynne Crowsen came across an article in The Lady, a periodical sent to her by an Aunt in England, that suggested it was not possible to teach yourself lacemaking. Since then Crowsen has proved The Lady wrong. In addition to teaching herself the art of lacemaking, Crowsen has passed her knowledge on to countless others via weekly community classes and the Auckland Embroiderers' and Lacemakers' Guild, which she co-founded in 1970. Crowsen has seldom undertaken commissions or given her work away, instead she has made her own collection.

The designers and engineers featured in Redefining Agility apply contemporary manufacturing processes and materials to the production of specialist sporting equipment. Their objects expand the notion that craftsmanship and new technologies may go hand-in-hand and, like many designers and engineers, those featured in Redefining Agility are fusing new scientific and material developments to limit compromises whilst enhancing safety and performance capabilities.