Fingers (gallery)
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| Fingers | |
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| General information | |
| Type | Art Gallery |
| Location | 2 Kitchener Street, Auckland City Centre, New Zealand |
| Coordinates | 36°51′03″S 174°45′58″E / 36.8507°S 174.7661°E |
| Website | |
| fingers | |
Fingers is a contemporary jewelry gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. Fingers shows and sells the work primarily of New Zealand jeweler's, but also of international jeweler's, mostly from Australia and Europe.[1]
Established in 1974, Fingers is the longest running institution of its type in New Zealand, and one of the longest running contemporary jewelry spaces in the world.[2] It began when jeweler Alan Preston, after a stint as a Guest Artist at Brown's Mill Market, New Zealand's first craft co-operative, approached jeweler's Ruth Baird, Roy Mason, Margaret Philips and Michael Ayling to open a jewelry shop on Auckland's Lorne Street.[3] The name 'Fingers' was chosen because all the jewelers were at the time making rings.
The aim of the cooperative was to "sell directly to the public, to exchange techniques and ideas, and to provide a focal point for creative jewelry in New Zealand."[4] Each member of the cooperative spent one day of the week minding the shop, and the rest working independently on their jewelry.[5] In its early years, Fingers had a strong focus on silversmithing and the group also set up a silversmithing school called Lapis Lazuli.[5]
Important early exhibitions included 'Guaranteed Trash' (1978), which responded to the punk aesthetic, the Bone show (1981), where 24 jeweler's contributed pieces made from bone, and 'Paua Dreams' (1981) featuring the six Fingers members and eight invited jeweler's, with the aim of elevating paua shell back up from its use in mass-produced souvenirs for the tourist trade.[3] Much of the work in the Bone exhibition was lost in a robbery on 29 April 1981.
By the mid-1980s New Zealand galleries and museums were starting to buy pieces of jewelry from Fingers. A 1984 article in the New Zealand Listener Jacqueline Amoamo noted:
"In a review of 'Paua Dreams' I suggested it was time that museums and art galleries started collections of New Zealand craft jewelry. Someone at the Auckland Museum must have taken the hint because within a few minutes of the opening of the latest Fingers exhibition 'Souvenirs' a representative had bought a delicate paua necklace-and-earrings set by Ruth Baird and a spectacular silver pendant inlaid with paua and enamel by guest exhibitor Elena Gee - at $600 the most expensive piece on show. The Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt is one public gallery that does have a permanent collection of jewelry, including work by Fingers people and Auckland stone carver John Edgar."[6]
Fingers moved to its current premises on Kitchener Street in 1987, opposite the Auckland Art Gallery.[3] Freestanding glass-sided cabinets and a counter designed by Humphrey Ikin suggested "an expanded ambition as a gallery rather than a shop".[3] In a move to reassure jeweler's and customers that it remained committed to accessibly priced jewelry, Fingers staged the group exhibition '$100 Under' in 1988. In 1991 craft commentator Helen Schamroth wrote, "If there is one underlying common philosophy of the work at Fingers it is an original, innovative approach to design solutions, a contemporary response to customer interests, and meeting their aesthetic and emotional needs."[7]
Fingers celebrated its 40th anniversary in November 2014 with an exhibition at Objectspace gallery in Auckland and a book by Damian Skinner and Finn McCahon-Jones.[8][9] Three of the original five founders - Alan Preston, Ruth Baird and Roy Mason - are still members.[2]
List of Fingers members
- Alan Preston (1974 -)
- Ruth Baird (1974 -)
- Roy Mason (1974 -)
- Margaret Philips (1974-1976)
- Michael Ayling (1974-1976)
- Michael Guy (1975 - 1982)
- Alex (Erena) McNeill (1976 - 1977)
- Daniel Clasby (1976 - 1979; 1984 - 1985)
- Chaia Fein (1977 - 1979)
- Michael Couper (1977 -)
- Warwick Freeman (1978 - 2003)
- Nick Charlton (1984 - 1988; 1990 - 1993)
- Eléna Gee (1984 - 1991)
- Paul Annear (1991 - 1996)
- Andrea Daly (1991 -)
References
- ^ Skinner, Damian (20 September 2012). "Fingers, Auckland, New Zealand". Art Jewelry Forum. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
- ^ a b Skinner, Damian; McCahon-Jones, Finn (2014). Fingers: Jewellery for Aotearoa New Zealand. Auckland: Bateman. p. 9. ISBN 9781869538620.
- ^ a b c d "Fingers gallery is celebrating 40 years of contemporary jewellery". NZHerald.co.nz. APN New Zealand Limited. 15 October 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
- ^ "Fingers - a co-op jewellers' shop". City News. 11 December 1974.
- ^ a b Cape, Peter (1980). Please touch : a survey of the three-dimensional arts in New Zealand. Auckland: Collins. p. 69. ISBN 0002169576. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
- ^ Amoamo, Jacqueline (17 November 1984). "Co-operative fingers". New Zealand Listener: 57.
- ^ Schamroth, Helen (November 1991 – January 1992). "Fingers". Craft Arts International (23): 97.
- ^ "Fingers: Jewellery for Aotearoa New Zealand". Objectspace. Archived from the original on 14 December 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
- ^ Skinner, Damian; McCahon-Jones, Finn (2014). Fingers: Jewellery for Aotearoa New Zealand. Auckland: Bateman. ISBN 9781869538620.
Further sources
- Moyra Elliott, 'Talking Shop: Fingers', Object Magazine, issue 46, 2005
- Alan Preston interview on 'Nine to Noon', Radio New Zealand National, 23 December 2014
- The Dowse Art Museum; Eléna Gee, 'Open Heart: Contemporary New Zealand Jewlery', November 1993
- Objectspace, Fingers: Jewlery for Aotearoa New Zealand: 40 Years of fingers Jewlery Gallery, 2014, ISBN 978-0-9922577-6-7
- Fingers, New Zealand Crafts 7, Sept-Oct 1983