Lesson Content

1. Meet Areta Wilkinson

   Areta Wilkinson is an Aotearoa New Zealand Māori jeweller who, according to “Areta Wilkinson Biography, Artworks & Exhibitions”, 2020, explores ideas about adornment, wealth, and the preciousness of materials. She also examines local and global issues, including identity (particularly her Ngai Tahu identity), dislocation, memory, protection, and spirituality.

   According to “Areta Wilkinson - The National,” 2021, Areta says her practice has developed into explorations of craft methodology forming from unified Ngāi Tahu cultural values. Much of Wilkinson’s current work involves collaborative processes from responding to narratives told and written, to working alongside and with other creative professionals. The result is an expanded practice full of surprises and development.

   

   Areta Wilkinson, Hei Ata Āhua, 2018

2. Areta says that “new works do not seek to replicate an existing image of the world but instead alert me to a new way of seeing from the world in which I stand, whilst still maintaining a relationship to the past. The jewellery practice is invigorated by community insights and cultural values, and praxis is something of value to pass on to others. It is a taonga”.

   Over a career spanning 20 years, Wilkinson has built a reputation that sees her work in national public galleries and collections such as the third Auckland Triennial, City Gallery Wellington, Auckland Museum, Dowse Art Museum, and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

   

   Areta Wilkinson has help to create photograms of existing taonga which are then used to create a working surface of negative space

More work by Areta Wilkinson

1. 

   Areta Wilkinson's Moa Hunter Fashions: Vertebra I, II, and III is made from Otago 24 carat gold and mixed sizes of flax bailing twine.

Let's do something!

Citations