Grace Yu Piper is a Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) based contemporary jeweller who graduated from Whitireia in 2017 with a Bachelor of Applied Arts.
Grace’s practice explores the functionality of jewellery and seeks to challenge our preconceived notions of what jewellery is. Stone is her material of choice.
"I enjoy the slow pace and meditative aspects of carving. Stone has a connection to nature and to place. It is a slow material that counteracts the fast paced and disposable world that we live in."
Grace was selected to participate in Handshake 8 (2023-24), a development and mentoring programme for independent Aotearoa jewellery artists. During this time she has begun to work with fabric in addition to stone.
Education
2023 - 2024 Handshake 8 mentoring programme
2019 Graduate Diploma in Applied Arts (Visual Art), Te Auaha, Wellington, NZ
2015 - 2017 Bachelor of Applied Arts (Visual Art), Whitireia, Wellington, NZ
Awards
2019 Richard Burrell Scholarship for Te Auaha
2018 ECC Student Craft/Design Jewellery Award
Public Collections
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Solo Exhibitions
2024
A Handful of Pebbles, Avid Gallery, Wellington, NZ
Stitches and Stones, The See Here, Wellington, NZ
2019 Brooching, Avid Gallery, Wellington, NZ
2017 1 + 1 = 3, Potocki Paterson, Wellington, NZ
Group Exhibitions
2024
Swamp Witch, The Jewel and the Jeweller, New Plymouth, NZ
Graduate Metal XVI, Gallery Central, Perth, Australia
Fingers 50th Anniversary, Fingers Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Materialise, Pah Homestead, Auckland, NZ
2023
Attachment, Avid Gallery, Wellington, NZ
Fourmation, Red Gallery, Nelson, NZ
Buffet by The Jewel and the Jeweller, Arden, Nelson, NZ
Proof of Concept, Depot Artspace, Auckland, NZ
2022
Art Matters, Avid Gallery, Wellington, NZ
Lobe, Fingers Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Delimit, Thistle Hall, Wellington, NZ
2021
Carving Culture, Avid Gallery, Wellington, NZ
Fingers Annual Group Show, Fingers Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2020
Fingers Annual Group Show, Fingers Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Galerie Marzee International Graduate Show, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
2019
Schmuck, Munich, Germany
Emerging Artists Show, Fingers Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2018
ECC Student Craft/Design Awards, Wellington, NZ
Galerie Marzee International Graduate Show, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Talente, Munich, Germany
IWA NZ Makers, Frame Galleries, Munich, Germany
2017
Shifts, Bowen House, Wellington, NZ
Full Stop, Potocki Paterson, Wellington, NZ
2016
Exit, Thistle Hall, Wellington, NZ
Friends of Pataka, Pataka, Porirua, NZ
2015
Flux, Thistle Hall, Wellington, NZ