Areta Wilkinson

Areta Rachael Wilkinson (b 1969) is a New Zealand jeweller of Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Irakehu and Ngāti Wheke descent.^[1]

Education

In 1991 Wilkinson received a Diploma in Craft Design and in 2001 she completed a Bachelor of Design from Unitec Institute of Technology, where she studied under the esteemed Pauline Bern.^[2][3] In 2014 she completed a PhD in Fine Arts at Te Pūtahi-ā-Toi School of Māori Art, Knowledge and Education at Massey University in Palmerston North.^[4]

Career

Wilkinson has been a practicing jeweller for over 20 years and her work explores customary Māori adornment while pushing the boundaries of contemporary New Zealand jewellery practices.^[5] "Her work emerges from the encounter of two things: contemporary jewelry, which she would define as a critical studio craft practice which makes objects that are grounded in an awareness of the body; and Maori systems of knowledge, which place people in specific relationships to each other and to the world and which sometimes use objects to mediate these connections." ^[6]

Wilkinson has exhibited nationally and internationally and has work in both private and public institutions including Te Runanga-o-Ngāi Tahu, The Dowse Art Museum, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and The Auckland War Memorial Museum.^[7][8][9]

On February 28, 2016, Wilkinson gave a lecture with Alan Preston at the Pinakothek die Moderne in Munich Germany.^[10]

Recognition

• 2015 Recipient of the Creative New Zealand Craft/Object Fellowship^[11]
• 2012 Guest Judge for the Objective Art Awards 2012 Auckland Council Manukau Arts Centre
• 2009 Winner of The New Dowse Gold Award
• 2006 Premier Award winner of the Oceana Gold National Jewellery Awards.^[3]
• 2004 Aotearoa /NZ Maori Delegation for 9th Festival of Pacific Arts in the Republic of Palau.
• 2002 Commissioned by Ngāi Tahu to make a gift for Queen Elizabeth who visited a Ngāi Tahu marae whilst on a Royal New Zealand Tour. The result was a brooch called Aoraki Lily that was made from family heirloom white heron kotuku feathers in the shape of the native flower, a Mount Cook Lilly.^[3]

Selected Exhibitions

• 2016 Kōrero Mai, Kōrero Atu, with Te Rongo Kirkwood, Auckland War Memorial Museum^[12]
• 2015 ARCHIVES Te Wahi Pounamu (with Mark Adams), Dunedin Public Art Gallery^[13]
• 2014-2015 Whakapaipai: Jewellery as Pepeha, Canterbury Museum, Christchurch; Objectspace, Auckland; The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt.^[14][15]
• 2012 Pepeha Bartley and Company Art, Wellington^[16]
• 2012 Collecting Contemporary, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa^[17]
• 2003 Te Puāwai o Ngāi Tahu: Twelve contemporary Ngāi Tahu artists", Christchurch Art Gallery^[18]

Further information

• Megan Tamati-Quennell, Archives – Te Wāhi Pounamu, Areta Wilkinson and Mark Adams, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 22 December 2015
• Mark Amery, Show me your motion, The Big Idea, 26 August 2015
• Interview with Areta Wilkinson, The Dowse Art Museum podcast, August 2015
• Richard Bell, The Third New Zealand Jewellery Biennial: Turangawaewae: A Public Outing, Lower Hutt: The Dowse Art Museum, 1998.
• Deborah Crowe, 4th New Zealand Jewellery Biennale: Grammar: Subjects and Objects, Lower Hutt: The Dowse Art Museum, 2001.
• In Conversation with Areta Wilkinson, Art Jewelry Forum, September 2015.

References

1. Schamroth, Helen (1998). 100 New Zealand Craft Artists. Auckland: Random House. ISBN 1 86962 030 5.
2. Were, Virginia. "Flying Carpet". Art News New Zealand. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
3. Tyler, Linda. "From small beginings come beautiful things". Art News New Zealand. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
4. "Whakapaipai: Jewellery as Pepeha". Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
5. "Areta Wilkinson". The National. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
6. "All The World Over: The global ambitions of contemporary jewelry | Art Jewelry Forum". artjewelryforum.org. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
7. "Nuku: Symbols of Mana". The Dowse Art Museum. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
8. "Made in New Zealand". Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
9. "Encounter Gallery". Auckland War Memorial Museum. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
10. "Event - MCBW 2016". www.mcbw.de. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
11. "$100,000 Creative New Zealand Craft/Object Fellowship awarded to Areta Wilkinson". Creative New Zealand.
12. "Kōrero Mai, Kōrero Atu". Auckland Museum. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
13. "ARCHIVES Te Wahi Pounamu". Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
14. "Areta Wilkinson, Whakapaipai - Jewellery as Pepeha". Objectspace. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
15. "Areta Wilkinson: Whakapaipai—Jewellery as Pepeha". The Dowse Art Museum. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
16. "Pepeha". Bartley and Company Art. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
17. "Collecting Contemporary". Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
18. "Te Puāwai o Ngāi Tahu: Twelve contemporary Ngāi Tahu artists". Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu. Retrieved 13 June 2015.