Bern is a self-taught jeweller who began making jewellery while living in the United States in the 1970s.[1] She has exhibited consistently in New Zealand since the mid 1980s.[2] In 1988 she became a lecturer in craft design at Carrington Polytechnic in Auckland (now Unitec Institute of Technology).[3] In 1992 Bern became Head of Jewellery, and continued to teach at Unitec until 2012, working with a number of students who went on to become significant artists in their own right, including Areta Wilkinson, Octavia Cook, Jane Dodd and Joe Sheehan.[2]
Work
Bern's work often references domestic activity.[4] A necklace of silver strands woven to resemble small steel wool pot scrubbers won her the Thomas Foundation Gold Award in 2000,[5] and the piece she created as a result, made from 80 metres of 18ct gold wire, is in the collection of the Dowse Art Museum.[5]
Recognition
In 2003 Bern was awarded the Creative New Zealand Craft/Object Art Residency, giving her the opportunity to spend two months working with other jewellers at the Gray Street Workshop in Adelaide.[6] Major exhibitions include 'Strain, Grate, Whisk, Scrub' which toured New Zealand galleries in 2000–01 and 'Colonial Goose' at Objectspace, Auckland, in 2011.[6][7]
^Skinner, Damian (2010). Pocket Guide to New Zealand Jewelry. San Francisco: Velvet Da Vinci and The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston. p. 60. ISBN9780615340104.
^Skinner, Damian; Murray, Kevin (2014). Place and Adornment: A history of contemporary jewellery in Australia and New Zealand. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i. p. 220. ISBN9781454702771.
