Pauline Bern (born 1952) is a New Zealand

jeweller A bench jeweler is an artisan who uses a combination of skills to make and repair jewelry. Some of the more common skills that a bench jeweler might employ include antique restoration, silversmith, Goldsmith, stone setting, engraving, fabrica ...

Early life

Bern was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

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 New Zealand since the mid 1980s. In 1988 she became a lecturer in craft design at Carrington Polytechnic in Auckland (now

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 ...

). In 1992 Bern became Head of Jewellery, and continued to teach at Unitec until 2012, working with a number of students who went on to become significant artists in their own right, including

Areta Wilkinson 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, where she studied under the esteeme ...

Octavia Cook Octavia Cook (born 1978) is a New Zealand jeweller. Education Cook graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor of Design in jewellery from Unitec Auckland where among other tutors she studied with Pauline Bern. Work Cook's work examines the concept of id ...

Jane Dodd Jane Dodd (born 1962) is a New Zealand musician and contemporary jeweller. From 1982 to 1984 she studied for a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Otago, majoring in Phenomenology of Religion with additional papers in Anthropology, History, Ar ...

and

Joe Sheehan Joseph S. Sheehan was born in New York City on February 26, 1971, and attended Regis High School. He graduated from the University of Southern California in 1994 with a degree in journalism. Sheehan lives in the New York City area. He is one of ...

Work

Bern's work often references domestic activity. A necklace of silver strands woven to resemble small steel wool pot scrubbers won her the Thomas Foundation Gold Award in 2000, and the piece she created as a result, made from 80 metres of 18ct gold wire, is in the collection of 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 20 ...

Recognition

In 2003 Bern was awarded 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 Art Residency, giving her the opportunity to spend two months working with other jewellers at the Gray Street Workshop in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

Exhibitions

Major exhibitions include 'Strain, Grate, Whisk, Scrub' which toured New Zealand galleries in 2000–01 and 'Colonial Goose' at

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 dir ...

, Auckland, in 2011.

References

External links

* Douglas Lloyd Jenkins,
Strain, grate, whisk, scrub : jewellery by Pauline Bern
', Auckland: DOT, 2000. * Bronwyn Lloyd,
Colonial Goose
', Auckland: Rim Books, 2011. . Excerpt available online from Rim Books http://www.rimbooks.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/P_Bern-Colonial-Goose-Web-excerpt.pdf * The Dowse Art Museum; Kobi Bosshard
The Second New Zealand Jewellery Biennial: Same But Different
1996. * Deborah Crowe; The Dowse Art Museum
4th New Zealand Jewellery Biennale: Grammar: Subjects and Objects
2001.
Pauline Bern
in the collection of the

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 ...

1952 births New Zealand jewellers Living people People from Auckland Academic staff of Unitec Institute of Technology Women jewellers {{NewZealand-artist-stub