Areta Rachael Wilkinson (born 1969) is a New Zealand jeweller.

Education

In 1991 Wilkinson received a Diploma in Craft Design and in 2001 she completed a Bachelor of Design from

Unitec Institute of Technology Unitec Institute of Technology (Māori: Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka) is the largest institute of technology in Auckland, New Zealand. 16,844 students study programmes from certificate to postgraduate degree level (levels 1 to 9) across a range of ...

, where she studied under the esteemed

Pauline Bern Pauline Bern (born 1952) is a New Zealand jeweller. Early life Bern was born in Auckland in 1952. Career Bern is a self-taught jeweller who began making jewellery while living in the United States in the 1970s. She has exhibited consistently in ...

. In 2014 she completed a PhD in Fine Arts at Te Pūtahi-ā-Toi School of Māori Art, Knowledge and Education at

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

in Palmerston North.

Career

Wilkinson has been a practising jeweller for over 20 years and her work explores customary Māori adornment while pushing the boundaries of contemporary New Zealand jewellery practices. She was a lecturer at

from 1995 to 2008 and a lecturer at

Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology The Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT), formerly the Christchurch Technical College, was an institute of technology in Christchurch, New Zealand. It merged with Aoraki Polytechnic and became Ara Institute of Canterbury in 2 ...

from 2008 to 2009. "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." During the 1990s, she found support for her practice through th
Fingers Collective
a contemporary New Zealand jewellery store and exhibition space, and through cofounding a shared studi
Workshop6
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 The Dowse Art Museum is a municipal art gallery in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. Opening in 1971 in the Lower Hutt CBD, The Dowse occupies a stand-alone building adjacent to other municipal facilities. The building was completely remodelled in 2 ...

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

and the

Auckland War Memorial Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (or simply the Auckland Museum) is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Aucklan ...

. In 2010, Wilkinson was artist in resident at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, where her research centred on wearable taonga (treasures) held in the museum's collection. On 28 February 2016, Wilkinson gave a lecture with Alan Preston at the Pinakothek die Moderne in Munich Germany. In 2017 Wilkinson returned to the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology as a visiting fellow, and as Visiting Wolfson College Research Associate at University of Cambridge.

Recognition

*2015 Recipient of the

Creative New Zealand The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government, investing in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes and developing markets ...

Craft/Object Fellowship *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. *2004 Aotearoa /NZ Maori Delegation for 9th

Festival of Pacific Arts The Festival of Pacific Arts, Pacific Arts Festival, or FESTPAC is a traveling festival hosted every four years, in the same year as the Summer Olympics, by a different country in Oceania ( map). It was conceived by the Pacific Community (former ...

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.

Selected exhibitions

*2020 ''Moa-Hunter Fashions'',

Christchurch Art Gallery The Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, commonly known as the Christchurch Art Gallery, is the public art gallery of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It has its own substantial art collection and also presents a programme of New ...

; ''Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art'',

Auckland Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

*201
9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

QAGOMA The Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, colloquially known as QAGOMA, is an art museum in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It consists of the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG), which is the main building, and a second gallery, the Ga ...

*2017 ''Repatriation'' (with Mark Adams), The National, Christchurch *2016 ''Kōrero Mai, Kōrero Atu'', with Te Rongo Kirkwood,

*2015 ''ARCHIVES Te Wahi Pounamu'' (with Mark Adams),

Dunedin Public Art Gallery The Dunedin Public Art Gallery holds the main public art collection of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Located in The Octagon in the heart of the city, it is close to the city's public library, Dunedin Town Hall, and other facilities such as t ...

*2014–2015 ''Whakapaipai: Jewellery as Pepeha'',

Canterbury Museum, Christchurch The Canterbury Museum is a museum located in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand, in the city's Cultural Precinct. The museum was established in 1867 with Julius von Haast – whose collection formed its core – as its first director ...

;

Objectspace Objectspace is a public art gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It opened in 2004 and is dedicated to the fields of craft, applied arts and design. Organisation Objectspace's founding chair was jeweller Warwick Freeman. The gallery's founding dire ...

, Auckland;

The Dowse Art Museum The Dowse Art Museum is a municipal art gallery in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. Opening in 1971 in the Lower Hutt CBD, The Dowse occupies a stand-alone building adjacent to other municipal facilities. The building was completely remodelled in 2 ...

, Lower Hutt. *2012 ''Pepeha'' Bartley and Company Art, Wellington *2012 ''Collecting Contemporary'',

*2003 ''Te Puāwai o Ngāi Tahu: Twelve contemporary Ngāi Tahu artists'',

Personal life

Wilkinson is of

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim), Mount Mahanga and Kahurangi Poi ...

, Ngāti Irakehu and Ngāti Wheke descent.

Further information

Areta Wilkinson interview
Ngā Ringa Toi o Tahu web documentary series *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

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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Areta 1969 births New Zealand jewellers Living people Ngāi Tahu people New Zealand artists Unitec Institute of Technology alumni Women jewellers Massey University alumni