Touch, Pause, Engage Auckland Rematch

Katherine Wheeler (Aust) Existence Ring

Touch, Pause, Engage 2011 opens on February 4th alongside Best in Show 2011

When Touch, Pause, Engage went to Sydney in October 2010 we were looking for the same sense of community and collegial spirit that gives the New Zealand contemporary jewellery scene its energy and identity.

We found it and now, thanks to the support of Programme Director Matt Blomeley, in February there will be a re-match on home ground when the NZ fifteen together with fifteen Australian jewellers show in the Window at Objectspace. (text by Raewyn Walsh)


More information and Australian jewellers' profiles here

kicked into touch

Phew.  Back from the whirlwind of a Sydney visit, full of wonderful people and galleries.  Overall we were really happy with the show and its reception. 

It is hard to believe that it is in it's final days today.

The show might be coming to an end, but Raewyn Walsh has been keeping the blog evolving with featured artists: whose pictures are all remarkably indicative of their personalities.

We have had some good attention from the blog community:

melbourne jeweller

bijou 

kit and caboodle

strobed

and we even subliminally infiltrated our own show: subliminal infiltration 

Announcing Touch, Pause, Engage

Touch, Pause, Engage is an introductory snapshot of contemporary jewellery from Aotearoa, New Zealand for the Australian community.  Known primarily as the call the referee shouts before two rugby teams lock into a scrum, in this context Touch, Pause, Engage becomes a call to look fully and interact with jewellery as you see it.

And so, this innovative jewellery showcase is designed to reset the trans-Tasman rivalry between our rugby-loving brothers and sisters, and to build new jewellery relationships. The show will be hung at the Keeper Gallery, at the Gaffa Art Complex in Sydney, and will run from 21 October – 2 November 2010.  Opening night, October 21st will also mark the release of an accompanying publication.

The initiative of Kristin D’Agostino and Raewyn Walsh, Touch, Pause, Engage, has invited a diverse team of fifteen New Zealand jewellers to submit inventive and inspired works.  Although many of the makers’ practices focus on different issues and are expressed in a wide range of forms, the side is fit and game ready.  The roster is comprised of talented individuals with varying skills, strengths, and experience but who all make a target of pushing the experimental aspects of their jewellery practice.

-Kristin and Raewyn