Vanessa Arthur is a jeweller and artist based in Te Matau-a-Māui Hawke’s Bay, Aotearoa.
She graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Arts from Whitireia New Zealand in 2011 and shortly afterwards was selected for Handshake, a leading national mentorship programme for contemporary jewellers.
Arthur’s practice presents wearable and painted objects, crafted from offcuts, precious metals, stones and industrial materials. Her work explores the action of observation and looking, drawing connections between the vast awe-inspiring landscapes of nature and the smaller, mundane details of human built environments.
Arthur has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, most recently presenting a selection of her Wonder Goggles at SCHMUCKmuenchen 2026, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich.
In 2025 Arthur was awarded a Creative New Zealand fellowship & presented her solo exhibition ‘Wonder Goggles’ at Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga.
Her work is held in the collection of The Dowse Art Museum and in many private collections.
CV.
B.1982, Pōneke, Wellington, Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Education | Artist Training
2025 Eyewear workshop, Brian Adam, Auckland, NZ
2019 - 2020 Handshake 5, selected to work in dialogue with works by Onno Boekhoudt, CODA Collection, Netherlands.
2013 - 2015 Handshake 2, Mentorship with Australian Goldsmith David Neale.
2012 Bachelor of Applied Art, Contemporary Jewellery, Whitireia NZ Faculty of Arts
2009 Diploma in Jewellery Design - Whitireia NZ Faculty of Arts.
2008 Certificate visual arts - Whitireia NZ Faculty of Arts.
Awards | Residences
2024 Creative fellowship, Creative New Zealand
2022 Selected for ‘Spotlight on Aotearoa’ with ongoing support from CNZ to exhibit work in The Netherlands and Europe, Galerie Door, Netherlands.
2018 Finalist, Molly Morpeth Canaday 3D Awards, NZ
2012 Artist in Residence, Toi Poneke Arts Center, Wellington
2012 Fingers Gallery, Graduate Award
2012 Masterworks Gallery, Jewellery Box Showcase Award
2010 JMA certificate in excellence
Public Collections
The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Solo Exhibitions
2025 Wonder Goggles, Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga Hastings Art Gallery, NZ
2024 Everyday Awe, Galerie Door, Netherlands
2022 Float For A Day, The National, Christchurch, NZ
2021 Waymark, SPA_CE, Napier, NZ
2020 Dent Collector (south), The National, Christchurch, NZ
2019 Dent Collector, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2019 One hundred and one things, to buy before you die, SPA_CE, NZ
2018 To be Everywhere at Once Yet Nowhere at All, The National, Christchurch, NZ
2018 To be Everywhere at Once Yet Nowhere at All, Hastings City Art Gallery, NZ
2017 common era, SPA_CE, Napier, NZ.
2016 Unmonumental Fever, excavating the everyday, Masterworks, NZ
2012 Street Shifts, Toi Poneke Gallery, Wellington, NZ
Group Exhibitions
2026
Replica, Oigall Projects, Melbourne, Australia
40 pins, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Three of Cups, Spa_ce, NZ
Fingers Annual Group Show, Auckland, NZ
Liquid, Alta Forma, Melbourne, Australia
Aotearoa Jewellery: Unmapping & Remarking, Stanley Street Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Aotearoa Exhange, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
Art The Hague, Galerie Door, Netherlands
Mirror Mirror, Galerie Door, Munich Jewellery Week, Germany
2025
Glimmer, Tauranga Art Gallery, NZ
Summer Salon, Spa_ce, NZ
Pleasure Garden, Objectspace Ōtautahi, NZ
Galerie Door, Munich Jewellery Week, Germany
Goodness, Munich Jewellery Week, Germany
Indicating Right Turning Left, Project 100, NZ
Goodness, Nelson Jewellery Week, NZ
Big Bush, The Jewel and The Jeweller, NZ
Art The Hague, Galerie Door, Netherlands
Fingers Annual Group Show, Auckland, NZ
2024
Galerie Door, Munich Jewellery Week, Germany
Swamp Witch, The Jewel and The Jeweller, NZ.
Bead Up, Masterworks, NZ
Art The Hague, Galerie Door, Netherlands
Golden – 50 years of Fingers, Fingers Gallery, NZ
Cocktail, The National, NZ
2023
A Steady Gaze (curator), SPA_CE, Napier, NZ.
Offering it Up, Adam Art Gallery, NZ
Fingers Annual Group Show, Auckland, NZ
Galerie Door, Munich Jewellery Week, Germany
Buffet, Nelson Jewellery Week, NZ
2022
Aotearoa Art Fair, SPA_CE, Auckland, NZ
Kunst Rai, Spotlight on Aotearoa, NZ, Galerie Door, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Pāua: A Contemporary Jewellery Story, The Dowse, NZ
Rings, The National, NZ
Galerie Door, Munich Jewellery Week, Germany
2021
Jewellery from Aotearoa New Zealand, Galerie Marzee, Netherlands
Leading Lights, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Group show, The National, Christchurch, NZ
2020
The National at Frame Schmuck, Munich, Germany
Fingers annual group show, Auckland, NZ
2019
Handshake in Dialogue with the CODA Collection, CODA Museum, Netherlands
The National at Frame Schmuck, Munich, Germany
Tableau, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Annual Group Show, Fingers Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2018
Empowering Women - 125 Years of Women's Suffrage in Aotearoa, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, NZ
East 2018, Hastings City Art Gallery, Hawke’s Bay, NZ
IWA: New Zealand Makers, Munich, Germany.
Monochrome Extended, SPA_CE, Napier, NZ
Jewel display Jewel, PĀTAKA Art + Museum, Wellington, NZ
2017
219-249, A New Gallery, The National, Christchurch, NZ
Expose, Cagnes-ser-mer, France
2016
Specials, Handshake Alumni, Einsäulensaal, Munich Residenz Palace, Germany
HOLD, small vessels in metal, glass and clay. Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Show_sell_shift, Objectspace, Auckland, NZ
30 x 30, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2015
The Ring Show, The National, Christchurch, NZ
Handshake 2, Wallace Arts Centre, Pah Homestead, Auckland, NZ
The Chain, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Pearl, Masterworks Galley, Auckland, NZ
Annual group show, Fingers Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Mentors and Mentees, Avid Gallery, Wellington, NZ
RAW, Wunderweek, Gallery One Oh Eight, Auckland, NZ
Handshake 2, Stanley Street Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2014
Annual Group Show, Fingers Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2013
Remake, Emerging Artists, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington, NZ
Neckwear 10, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2012
Materialistic, Royal Jewellery Studio, Auckland, NZ
Fingers Graduate Exhibition, Fingers Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Best in Show, Objectspace, Auckland, NZ
2011
JEMposium, Wellington, NZ
2010
Driven, Pataka Museum of Art’s and Culture, Porirua, NZ
The exchange project, Studio 20/17, Sydney, Australia
National Jewellery Showcase, Auckland, NZ
2009
Origins, Pataka Museum of Art’s and Culture, Porirua, NZ