Alan Preston: Between Tides
Auckland: Godwit Press, 2008
The history of contemporary jewellery in Aotearoa might be described as an object lesson in the marvellous materials that can be found between tides – the flotsam and jetsam of nature washed up on the sand, awaiting the patient and careful attention of the jeweller who will transform these materials in the studio.
Between Tides: Jewellery by Alan Preston is a survey of over thirty years work by one of the leading New Zealand contemporary jewellers. An active member of Fingers jewellery co-operative since founding it in 1974, Preston has played a leading role in studio jewellery, especially in terms of the use of natural materials that was a major development in local jewellery practice in the 1980s.
From his earliest work in the 1970s, described as having an ‘appealing gypsy mystique’, to his well-known achievements as part of the Bone Stone Shell movement, to his most recent jewellery using fibre and found materials, Between Tides tracks the ceaseless flow of creativity that informs Preston’s jewellery, and ensures his place as a leading practitioner in the field today.
Along with a critical essay surveying Preston’s career, Between Tides features an interview with the artist, and a wide variety of studio and archival images documenting Preston’s jewellery.
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