Mary Curtis
Decoration is central to a jeweller’s practice. We decorate objects and people to elevate and draw visual attention to them. The function of decoration is for concepts such as ceremony, celebration, festivity or enhancement. Mary’s work explores the visual language of decoration and uses her formal training as a base from which to springboard ideas.
Mary Curtis started making jewellery as an apprentice in the mid 1980’s, completing a Trade Certificate. She has done residencies at Edinburgh College of Arts and Fluxus in Dunedin during the mid 1990’s and in the Munich workshop of Helen Britton and David Bielander in 2007.
Mary has exhibited nationally and internationally. In 2010 she presented the solo exhibition Metadecorative at Objectspace, New Zealand’s national gallery for craft and design.
Mary’s work is held in public collections at Auckland Museum and The Dowse Art Museum. She a senior lecturer at Manukau School of Visual Arts, Auckland, where she has been teaching since 1990. Mary makes jewellery from her home based workshop in Auckland.
> View Exhibition ‘Breathe’ 2021