Vanessa Arthur is a jeweller based in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. Her work often records moments in time, an excavation of the everyday and un-monumental elements within the streetscape. 

In the workshop, while cutting, hammering, constructing, she picture’s her jewellery inhabiting these explored spaces – a drifting trove waiting to be discovered, treasured and worn.

Vanessa completed a Bachelor of Applied Arts at Whitireia New Zealand in 2011. On graduating she was selected as artist in residence at Toi Poneke Arts Centre, Wellington, and awarded the 2011 Fingers Graduate Award. Vanessa was also part of Handshake II, a mentoring project. Vanessa is paired with Australian Goldsmith David Neale.

With the support of Creative New Zealand, Vanessa has been selected to travel to Munich in February, to exhibit with fellow Handshake Alumni at the Einsaulensaal of the Residence Palace during Munich Jewellery Week 2016.

 Unmonumental Fever - excavating the everyday.
‘I excavate small moments in time, capturing these through the jewellery and objects I make. 
The often overlooked elements within the streetscape are my muse: buffed walls, wet cement scrawling, fragments and objects left behind in the rush. 
An exploration of the marks we make and the mark we make. 
The biography of these objects, materials and spaces are what interests me. 
Uncovering the mostly anonymous and constantly evolving stories they collect.’