Lovely Bones

It’s not a surprise to find out that Wellington jeweller Nadine Smith also works in the medical field. Her work is scattered with body parts in quantities that make sense for someone medically qualified, or possibly an axe-murderer. Working part-time as a nurse, she says her concepts relate to the ‘fragility of life’ and humans’ relationship with technology. She says her two occupations ‘go hand in hand’. Perhaps not so coincidentally, hands make multiple appearances in her work.

She describes herself as an ‘avid recycler with magpie tendencies’, foraging for objects to use in her work.

When she was growing up on the Kāpiti Coast, she says her family would spend many weekends combing the beach for rocks and fossils, which was the start of her collecting objects. Smith likes to give new life to the gathered material. ‘There is humour in my work as a lot of combinations are happy accidents,’ she says.

Having graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing in 1996, in her mid-thrirties she decided to take a gap year and study art at Weltec. She then went on to complete a Bachelor of Applied Arts at Whitireia Polytechnic, graduating in 2009. It was at Whitireia, she says, she found her love of jewellery making, under the guidance of Peter Decker.

Eight years later, Smith has exhibited at Pataka, The Refinery Gallery, Alliages in France and, most recently, at the Pah Homestead in the Leanings, Handshake4 exhibition, open until 10 December. The Handshake project was curated by Wellingtonian Peter Deckers as a way to support New Zealand jewellers after their studies.

Smith was one of six mentees selected by Ruudt Peters from the Netherlands for the two-year programme. Her assigned mentor is sculptor Regan Gentry. Her work will be at Toi Poneke for the International Festival of the Arts in March 2018 and at Corban Estate Arts Centre during Auckland Art Week next year.