Joe Sheehan (born 1976 in Nelson, New Zealand) is a stone artist and jeweller who works primarily in pounamu (New Zealand greenstone or jade). [1]
Joe Sheehan | |
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 Joe Sheehan in his studio, 2015 | |
| Born | 1976 |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Education | 1996 Diploma in Design (Jewellery) Unitec Institute of Technology |
| Known for | Jewellery and sculpture |
| Awards | 2011 Antarctic Fellow: Artists in Antarctica Programme |
Sheehan has been carving since his early teens. His father is an American jade carver who emigrated to Nelson in the 1970s. [2] : 87 Sheehan worked in his father's business, which supplied jade carvings to the tourism market in Rotorua. [3]
Sheehan studied contemporary jewellery at the Unitec Institute of Technology, where his tutors included Pauline Bern, graduating with a Diploma in Design (Jewellery) in 1996. [4] [5]
Sheehan works with pounamu, which is a material of great significance in Māori culture. Some of Sheehan's works explore "the value placed on pounamu as a commodity, rather than a material of cultural importance". [6] In others he uses pounamu in unexpected ways, for example carving ballpoint pens, a tape cassette, or a lightbulb. [3] Sheehan has also made works that question New Zealand's 'clean, green' image. [2] : 87 He says 'A lot of contemporary carving is retrospective looking. I wanted my stuff to relate to the current social environment but also reference the particular way our carving industry has developed'. [2] : 87
Limelight, his second exhibition, was a solo show at Objectspace in 2005, following a solo show at Avid Gallery in Wellington the previous year. [7] In 2006 Sheehan was one of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand's inaugural New Generation Awards recipients. [5] In 2008 he was selected to participate in the 28th São Paulo Art Biennial; in 2011 he travelled to Antarctica as an Antarctic Arts Fellow under the Artists in Antarctica Programme. [8] [9] In 2012 he had his first survey exhibition, 'Joe Sheehan: Other Stories', at Pataka Art + Museum in Porirua, New Zealand. [10] [11]
Sheehan was commissioned by the Wellington Sculpture Trust to produce Walk the Line, a site-specific sculpture, for the refurbishment of the Wellington cenotaph. Sheehan carved over 300 nephrite discs that travel across the space, marking the original bed of the Wai Piro stream. [12] [13] [14]
Sheehan's work is held in a number of public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Christchurch Art Gallery, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the Chartwell Collection at the Auckland Art Gallery. [15] [16] [17]
The hei-tiki is an ornamental pendant of the Māori of New Zealand. Hei-tiki are usually made of pounamu (greenstone), and are considered a taonga (treasure) by Māori. They are commonly called tiki by New Zealanders, a term that originally refers to the first mortal.
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