Joe Sheehan (artist)

Joe Sheehan (born 1976 in Nelson, New Zealand) is a stone artist and jeweller who works primarily in pounamu (New Zealand greenstone or jade).[1]

Joe Sheehan
Joe Sheehan in his studio, 2015
Born	1976
Nationality	New Zealand
Education	1996 Diploma in Design (Jewellery) Unitec Institute of Technology
Known for	Jewellery and sculpture
Awards	2011 Antarctic Fellow: Artists in Antarctica Programme

Early life and education

Sheehan has been carving since his early teens. His father is an American jade carver who emigrated to Nelson in the 1970s.[2]: 87  Sheehan worked in his father's business, which supplied jade carvings to the tourism market in Rotorua.[3]

Sheehan studied contemporary jewellery at the Unitec Institute of Technology, where his tutors included Pauline Bern, graduating with a Diploma in Design (Jewellery) in 1996.[4][5]

Career

Walk the Line

Sheehan works with pounamu, which is a material of great significance in Māori culture. Some of Sheehan's works explore "the value placed on pounamu as a commodity, rather than a material of cultural importance".[6] In others he uses pounamu in unexpected ways, for example carving ballpoint pens, a tape cassette, or a lightbulb.[3] Sheehan has also made works that question New Zealand's 'clean, green' image.[2]: 87  He says 'A lot of contemporary carving is retrospective looking. I wanted my stuff to relate to the current social environment but also reference the particular way our carving industry has developed'.[2]: 87 

Limelight, his second exhibition, was a solo show at Objectspace in 2005, following a solo show at Avid Gallery in Wellington the previous year.[7] In 2006 Sheehan was one of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand's inaugural New Generation Awards recipients.[5] In 2008 he was selected to participate in the 28th São Paulo Art Biennial; in 2011 he travelled to Antarctica as an Antarctic Arts Fellow under the Artists in Antarctica Programme.[8][9] In 2012 he had his first survey exhibition, 'Joe Sheehan: Other Stories', at Pataka Art + Museum in Porirua, New Zealand.[10][11]

Sheehan was commissioned by the Wellington Sculpture Trust to produce Walk the Line, a site-specific sculpture, for the refurbishment of the Wellington cenotaph. Sheehan carved over 300 nephrite discs that travel across the space, marking the original bed of the Wai Piro stream.[12][13][14]

Collections

Sheehan's work is held in a number of public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Christchurch Art Gallery, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the Chartwell Collection at the Auckland Art Gallery.[15][16][17]

Further reading

• Damian Skinner and Kevin Murray, Place and adornment : a history of contemporary jewellery in Australia and New Zealand, Honolulu : University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2014. ISBN 9781454702771
• Susan Cummins, Joe Sheehan: The Quick and the Dead, ArtJewelryForum, 12 August 2015
• Felicity Milburn, Hidden in Plain Sight, Bulletin, Christchurch Art Gallery, 1 March 2016

References

1. Lloyd Jenkins, Douglas; Hammond, Lucy (10 October 2014). "Crafts and applied arts - Individual crafts, 2000s". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
2. Were, Virginia (Autumn 2007). "Leaving the lagoon". Art News New Zealand: 86–90.
3. Campbell, Fiona (2009). Real Art Roadshow (PDF). Waikanae: Real Art Charitable Trust. ISBN 9780473152949. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
4. Tyler, Linda (Summer 2014). "From small beginnings come beautiful things". Arts news. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
5. "Joe Sheehan: Stone artist and jeweller". The Arts Foundation of New Zealand. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
6. "Joe Sheehan, 'Reserve', 2011". Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
7. Clifford, Andrew (7 September 2005). "Pounamu prospects are seen in a different light". New Zealand Herald. APN New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
8. Coney, Hamish (23 October 2008). "Slow Journey". Idealog.co.nz. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
9. "Alumni". Antarctica New Zealand. Archived from the original on 14 December 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
10. Amery, Mark (25 September 2012). "Joe Sheehan at Pataka Museum". Eyecontactsite.com. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
11. "Joe Sheehan: Other Stories". Pataka.org.nz. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
12. "Sculpture News" (PDF). Wellington Sculpture Trust. December 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
13. "New sculpture at the Cenotaph unveiled". Wellington City Council. 15 April 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
14. Elliott, Sue (29 January 2023). "Joe Sheehan walks the line with elegant simplicity". Stuff. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
15. "Sheehan, Joe". Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
16. "Jo Sheehan". Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
17. "Joe Sheehan: Mother". Christchurch Art Gallery. Retrieved 30 April 2016.