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
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
Early life and education
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 works with pounamu, which is a material of great
significance in
Māoriculture. 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]
Damian Skinner and Kevin Murray, Place and adornment : a history of contemporary jewellery in Australia and New Zealand, Honolulu : University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2014.
ISBN9781454702771