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Main Gallery

  • Iced Vovos 2005

    Maker: Niki Hastings McFall
    Materials: phosphorescent plastic flowers, mother of pearl
    Courtesy of the Artist
  • Lost and Found Series 2005 2005

    Maker: Renee Bevan
    Materials: silver, bronze; oxidised, gold plated
    Courtesy of the Artist
  • Pure Thoughts 2004

    Maker: Shelley Norton
    Materials: plastic bags
    Courtesy of the Artist
  • A Leading Role 2005

    Maker: Tracey Clement
    Materials: dvd
    Courtesy of the Artist
  • The Route Of All Evil 2005

    Maker: Leola Le Blanc
    Materials: urethane 280 PMC Dry
    Courtesy of the Artist
  • I Think You're Growing On Me 2005-2007

    Maker: O'Connor & Gough
    Materials: mixed media
    Courtesy of the Artists
  • Ex-Voto 2005

    Maker: Andrea Daly
    Materials: sticking Plasters
    Courtesy of the Artist
  • Thirteen Little Fetishes 2005

    Maker: Ilse-Marie Erl
    Materials: sterling silver, safety pins
    Courtesy of the Artist and Anna Miles Gallery
  • The HOLE Project 2006

    Maker: Stella Chrysostomou
    Materials: mixed media
    Courtesy of the Artist
  • Index Of Refraction / Shiny Things That People Want 2005 - 2007

    Maker: Deborah Crowe
    Materials: mixed media
    Courtesy of the Artist
  • Embroidered Louis Comfort Tiffany precious and semi-precious jewels 2005

    Maker: Sandra Bushby
    Materials: mixed media
    Courtesy of the Artist and Anna Miles Gallery
  • How To Make A Necklace From A Frock 2005

    Maker: Fran Allison
    Courtesy of the Artist
  • Romancing The Stone 2005

    Maker: Lang Ea
    Materials: dvd
    Courtesy of the Artist
  • Dressed To Kill - This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us 2006

    Maker: De Goldi & Corbishley
    Materials: mixed media
    Courtesy of the Artists
  • Self Portrait of Breast 2003

    Maker: Emily Bullock
    Materials: mixed media
    Courtesy of the Artist
  • My Invented History 2004

    Maker: Victoria McIntosh
    Materials: mixed media
    Courtesy of the Artist
  • Ring 2005

    Maker: Jennifer Laracy
    Materials: mixed media
    Courtesy of the Artist
  • Hoodwink 2006

    Maker: H&M
    Materials: mixed media
    Courtesy of the Artists
  • Brooches 2006

    Maker: Arti Sandhu
    Materials: mixed media
    Courtesy of the Artist
  • Now Lakha-Ha (900,000 Rupee. Necklace) 2006

    Maker: Arti Sandhu
    Materials: mixed media
    Courtesy of the Artist
  • Recall 2005-2006

    Maker: Altagracia-Malcolm-Milbank
    Materials: mixed media
    Courtesy of the Artists
  • Jewellery Installation 1997-2005

    Maker: Lisa Walker
    Materials: various materials
    Courtesy of the Artist
  • Trui 2006

    Maker: H&M
    Materials: mixed media
    Courtesy of the Artists
  • Baubles 2005

    Maker: Pippi Tetley
    Materials: mixed media and wooden shelf
    Courtesy of the Artist

Jewellery Out Of Context

10 March 2007 - 05 April 2007

Makers:
Fran Allison, Colleen Altagracia, Renee Bevan, Emily Bullock, Sandra Bushby, Stella Chrysostomou, Tracey Clement, Grant Corbishley, Deborah Crowe, Andrea Daly, Tony De Goldi, Lang Ea, Ilse-Marie Erl, Chelsea Gough, Niki Hastings McFall, Jennifer Laracy, Leola Le Blanc, Ross Malcolm, Gina Matchitt, Victoria McIntosh, Carolyn Millbank, Shelley Norton, Gabby O'Connor, Arti Sandhu, Matthijs Siljee, Pippi Tetley, Hanne Van Beek, Lisa Walker

Jewellery Out Of Context (JOC) was originally curated by Peter Deckers and Dr Carole Shepheard as an exhibition for the 2006 International Jewelers and Metalsmiths' Group of Australia conference. JOC ‘Junior' has recently been revised as a touring exhibition and will later be traveling to Canada, The Netherlands and Germany. Objectspace is the New Zealand venue for the exhibition. The installations comprising JOC further the discourse around jewellery, enabling contemporary practice in New Zealand to be stretched beyond traditional boundaries.

We occupy a time when the wearable object is often a commoditized branding concept, replicated through cheap materials and labour. Jewellery is witness to this one-upmanship. The recent fashions for 'bling' or boutique labels venturing into high-end priced watches and jewellery are obvious examples of how conventions around adornment are manipulated, emphasizing our collective focus on the body as site.

The curatorial brief for JOC involved makers unraveling the conventions of jewellery, albeit within a much more individual and purposeful aesthetic framework than the above examples. The curators note, "JOC is born from the desire to communicate the unique issues related to jewellery and adornment, in formats with and different from itself. The aim was to reveal and unravel the many facets related to the formation and organisation of the jewellery discourse."

The makers in JOC subject jewellery practice and body adornment to conceptual artistic processes. In this exhibition precious materials are not treated as sacrosanct or hierarchical. Instead the emphasis is on context. "What is precious and what is non-precious seen through the eyes of artists will transform relationships and positions of normality. It is made special by the reflection of who we are and what we like to be."

As important as it may be to open new doors in the search for meaning, it is however also part and parcel of any aesthetic practice to leave some stones unturned. Cultural theorist Jonathan Culler fittingly observed, "problems always arise within the framework of a set of assumptions, and a new theory can only challenge or explain those assumptions." Finally, on this note JOC generously invites us to take some time to reconsider objects traditionally ‘made to wear.'