Peter Deckers artist, organiser, artistic director, lecturer
MTS (Vakschool Schoonhoven), MFA (Hons) (Elam, Auckland University), DipTeach (NL&NZ). Peter studied jewellery making and fine art in both the Netherlands and New Zealand. He is active in his practice, making collections for national and international exhibitions, and instigating opportunities for the wider jewellery art community.
Peter is both a contemporary artist and a craftsperson. Ideas that make distinctive connections with jewellery are the inspiration for his practice, which is highlighted through a series of engaging artworks with inspiring topics. He is interested in how value is perceived and how that is communicated through objects we wear. Peter exhibits with galleries throughout New Zealand. His work, philosophy, and ideas have been addressed in various publications.
Next to being a maker, Peter has been an instigator as founder, organiser, curator, and artistic director with arts development projects like the HANDSHAKE project, an exhibition and art development project for emerging New Zealand jewellery artists, funded by Creative New Zealand. He is particularly passionate about arts education and believes that each student has unique artistic expression potential. He also advocates for the creative community through ongoing projects like the Aotearoa Jewellery Triennial. Peter’s enthusiasm for jewellery and the arts is evident in his ability to transform ideas, projects, and teachings into meaningful experiences.
artist statement:
Throughout my art life, I have explored the various identities of value, raising questions about their authenticity and validity. I get inspired when I work with jewellery tools and adventurous materials. Despite my passion for this art form, I have struggled with the materialistic aspect of being a jeweller, creating jewellery for its wealth and using materials inflicted by conflict.
I strive instead to incorporate content into my artwork that resonates with different aspects of the human discourse and its rhetoric. This was sparked off by a simple 70s ‘Ban the Bomb’ batch, memorability insignia and souvenir sentiments, my mother cutting devalued coins for a jeweller in the war by defacing the Dutch queen and being paid in kind with food, my grandmother’s costume jewellery collection, and how average corner-shop jewellery can be called irreplaceable and convincingly representing people or events as being the most invaluable on earth.
For the past forty years, I explored various topics from the mundane to the most serious subjects. like distortions caused by natural and man-made disasters, human rights, animal welfare, religious conflicts, and political turmoil. I tried to understand and play with the perception and interpretation of value within these overarching contexts, and how it is read and perceived.
Lately, I have concluded that the prevailing context of my current work plays its part in the ‘illusionary perceptions’ of our time, like how social media, cooperative and political power control, greed, and belief systems manipulate the shifting societal focus on reality.
“I am using false interpretations of true value. In other words, what you see is not what you get. This can be found in how our society is unfolding into a hyper-reality, where values of truth are bent to fit any cause, not unlike how fake news and propaganda are promoted as blatant truth”
This type of society I cannot be proud of and therefore it is my mere attempt to break the stronghold of pareidolia (providing things that are not there).
I prefer using discarded and invaluable materials by using my skills to add value to the point that I can detect the precious presence and the magic of jewellery. Some work might take minutes to make, others years.
CLICK HERE for Peter Deckers ‘VALUE principles’ and work practice lecture
exhibition work:
galleries (selected):
Fingers (gallery )
AVID (gallery)
The National (gallery)
installations (selected):
Four Corners (Dowse Museum, 2021)
DeepRooted (See Here, 2014)
Dove Poo (See Here, 2014)
de: Formation (See Here, 2013)
Give & Take (See Here, 2011)
Greetings from Māori-Land (Auckland University, 2004)
Acoustic Tile (Pataka Museum 2004)
The SHUT-UP series (Great Known to Man series), (Pataka Museum 2003)
Now Then Who Owns What (Dowse, 2000)
interviews (selected):
Peter Deckers (AJF interview)
Isolation and Global Sameness (about critique, KLIMT02 interview)
Deflating Standard (AJF interview)
publications (selected):
Two Worlds (article, Craft NZ #45,1993)
HandShake 3: Connecting Practices (article for Overview #26)
Show it ALL (article)
WUNDERRŪMA: the Auckland version (exhibition review)
How original is ORIGINAL (exhibition essay)
Contemporary Jewellery in Context (publication)
radio/audio (selected):
NZ jewellers and the HS project (RNZ Standing Room interview, 2019)
Looking after each other (Urban Dream, podcast 2)
public collections:
Museum of New Zealand
Te Papa Tongarewa
galleries (selected):
Fingers (gallery )
AVID (gallery)
The National (gallery)
installations (selected):
Four Corners (Dowse Museum, 2021)
DeepRooted (See Here, 2014)
Dove Poo (See Here, 2014)
de: Formation (See Here, 2013)
Give & Take (See Here, 2011)
Greetings from Māori-Land (Auckland University, 2004)
Acoustic Tile (Pataka Museum 2004)
The SHUT-UP series (Great Known to Man series), (Pataka Museum 2003)
Now Then Who Owns What (Dowse, 2000)
interviews (selected):
Peter Deckers (AJF interview)
Isolation and Global Sameness (about critique, KLIMT02 interview)
Deflating Standard (AJF interview)
publications (selected):
Two Worlds (article, Craft NZ #45,1993)
HandShake 3: Connecting Practices (article for Overview #26)
Show it ALL (article)
WUNDERRŪMA: the Auckland version (exhibition review)
How original is ORIGINAL (exhibition essay)
Contemporary Jewellery in Context (publication)
radio/audio (selected):
NZ jewellers and the HS project (RNZ Standing Room interview, 2019)
Looking after each other (Urban Dream, podcast 2)
public collections:
Museum of New Zealand
Te Papa Tongarewa