Press release for Moana Whenua

Moana Whenua Exhibition

Moana Whenua

A celebration of Aotearoa through creativity

Deanna Gracie invites you to her exhibition of artworks created in beauty and with sheer joy….

Christchurch artist Deanna Gracie brings you Moana Whenua – an exhibition of jewellery and paintings, which express her deep love of Aotearoa – this wonderful land we live in. She has done this by the creating, and now the sharing of her artistry. You are invited to the opening, to be held Tuesday 9th March at Cloisters Gallery, North Quadrangle, The Arts centre of Christchurch from 5:30pm-8:30pm. The artist welcomes one and all to share in a joyful evening of beautiful visual art and jewellery.

For this solo exhibition Deanna has created precious objects by combining gorgeous gemstones, sleek silver, glistening gold, richly coloured indigo blue titanium and subtly patinated copper, finished with soft textures and tactile surfaces. Exhibited alongside these will be beautifully detailed paintings that reflect elements of her jewellery designs, all of which are alive with the colour and movement of nature.

Deanna creates her precious objects in a small studio-workshop in her garden, quite near to the sea at Southshore Christchurch. These objects quite often take on the form of a natural organic shape, with lots of texture and colour. “Jewellery making for me is quite a serendipitous process – sometimes I never know how the piece is going to work out until it’s finished. I need to hold the materials in my hand as part of the creative process” says Deanna.

Moana Whenua – which is Maori for Ocean Land, is also the exhibition theme. “I like to live near the water so that I can embrace both the land and the sea,” she says. Koru designs, feathers and fern shapes are recurring themes in her work, which range from lovely rings, pendants, bracelets, brooches and earrings to the exquisitely detailed paintings.

“I find joy in the most simple of things; the perfect shape of a ginkgo leaf, the ebb and flow of the tide, patterns left on sand by wind and rain, the gentle call of a gull as it soars in the air. These experiences fill my soul to overflowing and I race to my studio to start the next piece.”

Deanna will be available at Cloisters Gallery every day from 10am to 5pm to discuss her work with visitors to the exhibition

Opening: Friday 9th March 5:30pm – 8:30pm
When: 7th March – 15th March, Open daily 10.00am – 5.00pm
Venue: Cloisters gallery, North Quad, The Arts Centre of Christchurch

”Made from my heart and by my hand no two pieces of jewellery can ever be exactly the same.” Deanna Gracie
http://www.Deanna.co.nz

Moana Whenua Exhibition 7-15 March 2010 – Deanna Gracie

I’ve just finished creating the poster and invitation to the exhibition!

Next job is write a press release – which I will need to do really soon – I’ll keep you posted : – )

Thanks for visiting – Deanna X

Sneak Preview of Moana Whenua Exhibition March 2010 – Deanna Gracie

Moana Whenua – an exhibition of contemporary jewellery and artworks by Deanna Gracie

Moana Whenua Exhibition © Deanna Gracie

http://www.Deanna.co.nz

Although I have been working towards this exhibition for over a year now – the past few months have meant long days and very hard work as I have been totally focussed on creating work for my upcoming solo exhibition Moana Whenua.

Moana Whenua will run from March 7th – 15th 2010 at Cloisters Gallery in the North Quad of the Arts Centre of Christchurch, New Zealand. I will available each day to discuss my work with visitors to the exhibition. I am quite excited, as this will be the very first time both my jewellery and paintings will have been exhibited together. Moana meaning ocean and whenua meaning land celebrate my deep love of this amazing land called Aotearoa – the place where I live. More details to follow.

Thanks for visiting!

Deanna Gracie : – )

Merry Christmas from Aotearoa – New Zealand…

Merry Christmas from Aotearoa - Deanna Gracie ©

Wishing all my friends and clients a safe and happy Christmas….and many, many thanks for all your support and encouragement over the past year : – )

Love and best wishes from Deanna X

Wedding Rings for another happy couple…

A lovely couple from Germany sent me these images of them wearing the wedding bands I made for them recently : – )

Thanks Stefan and Denise!

Thanks for visiting!

Deanna Gracie

More New Zealand native fern images….

I captured these images of this gorgeous fern in the garden outside the art room at Hagley High last week : – ) I know I have already shown you lots of different fern images but what I adore about the New Zealand native fern is that each image of each fern is always so different. I hope you enjoy these images taken at night using a flash.
Deanna Gracie ©

Fern Leaf - Deanna Gracie ©

New growth - Deanna Gracie©

New Beginnings - Deanna Gracie ©

Experiments with interference colours and texture….

abstract kowhai Pod - Deanna Gracie ©

I had a great time experimenting with different mediums including black mica, fibreglass, tissues and gel mediums at a night class at Hagley High this term. One of the things I enjoyed most was Gel medium which is messy and great fun – it binds things like tissue and photographic transfers to canvas or board. I also loved playing with interference colours from Golden products. They change colour from different angles – a bit like titanium, a metal I love to use in my jewellery designs. These pieces are experiments I did in a bit of a rush – just playing with the product etc without any fixed ideas of what I was going to create. But I’m really looking forward to more experimentation and developing some ideas I have at home when I have some free time.

As this next piece was a work in progress I have now added some colour to Mauri life force and dirtied it up a bit – (the painting looked very stark and shiny before) – so this image is as this piece looks now.

Thanks for visiting : – )

Deanna Gracie

Mauri life force - Deanna Gracie ©

Editorial in Metropol Magazine November 2009

An editorial in the latest issue of Metropol – thanks Metropol : – )

It’s a great magazine and you can now read it online http://www.metropol.co.nz

Thanks for visiting! – Deanna Gracie

Solo Exhibition – March 2010 – Sneak Preview

In between making special commissions I have also been working hard towards my solo exhibition in March! I have lots of wonderful pieces in mind and so I thought I’d give you a sneak preview of some rings I have finished : – ) These three scrummy “New Beginnings”rings in this textured ring stack are some of the jewellery I will have on display during the nine days. The exhibition will run from the 7th – 15th March inclusive at Cloisters gallery in the North Quad at the Arts Centre of Christchurch. More details will follow closer to the time. The rings in the ring stack are created with sterling silver and red gold. The exhibition is inspired by the beauty of natural New Zealand.

Proudly made from my heart and with my hands in Aotearoa – Land of the Long White Cloud : – )

http://www.Deanna .co.nz

Thanks for visiting! Deanna Gracie

Featured Jewellery Design #46 – Aotearoa Aroha pendant

.beautiful .natural .unique contemporary jewellery by Deanna Gracie

I wrote a poem illustrating some of the thoughts behind my “Into the Blue Nowhere” jewellery series.

Aotearoa – Aroha Pendant #11 from this series is created from sterling silver, 9ct gold, monel and garnet. I collected the feather from the beach here in Southshore and incorporated it into the design of this pendant. Perhaps the gull I mentioned in the poem left it behind on his journey into the blue nowhere?

All my jewellery is proudly designed and created by myself here in Aotearoa – New Zealand. Made from my heart and with my hand, no two pieces of jewellery can ever be exactly the same.

Into the Blue Nowhere

It’s a red sky sunrise!

High above the beach

a gull glides,

then soars,

and slowly disappears.

Out of the blue nowhere

I hear a faint haunting call,

then nothing but silence.

Waves reach high,

they hover,

then tip forwards

and gently fold over.

One floats towards me

as if in welcome.

It recedes and merges,

and disappears,

just like the gull,

into the blue nowhere…

Deanna Gracie ©

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