My art practices evolve from the demarcations between contemporary jewellery-making and fine art practices. I interrogate the body-object relationship, centring on the handbag as instrumental to its materialisation. I maintain two main thematic categories, namely the private/public binary and the relationship between the bag/jewel-object and the human body. Both themes appear as an idiomatic visual language that I draw from the social, cultural and personal histories of a South African context.

My interest in handbags might have started with my earliest memories of my mother. I found one aspect of her especially peculiar, namely the inside of her handbag. I was overcome with curiosity and fascination for its secret darkness, a very private and personal space that obviously belonged to my mother. The interior of her bag reflected a secret, hidden life of its own and, even at a young age, I realised she didn’t want other people to know about it.

As I became older and started to develop the need to carry my personal belongings with me, I also started my own relationship with the handbag. As protective container of my own private belongings (and identity) and as a comforting and constant presence, it provoked feelings of security and safety. Between my bag and me a love affair developed.

A handbag contains those things that are appropriate to one’s daily needs as much as to one’s trajectory through life. Its contents vary according to the various social spaces one enters. It varies according to different times of the day, the seasons of the year, and the different stages of life. My needs determine its contents, which I ritually revise and adapt on a daily basis. The reverse of this ritualistic performance occurs at the end of every day when I empty the bag only to repeat the ritual in preparation for the next day or for going out in the evening.

Both jewellery and handbags (as objets d’art) are worn on and adorn the body. For the wearer, both are used to signify disposition and so much more. As a jeweller, I am constantly interested in both the conceptual construction of objects of adornment (such as handbags and jewellery) within the popular imaginary as well as their material manifestation in relation to the body.

Nanette Veldsman, 1983, South Africa
Living and working in Stellenbosch, South Africa 


Education:
2006 – 2009 MA (VA) Master of Arts in Visual Arts Cum Laude. University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
2007 Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
2002 – 2005 BA (FA) Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts (Creative Jewellery Design and Metal Techniques). University of Stellenbosch, South Africa 

Workshops:
2007 Jewellery Guerilla, Amsterdam. A workshop with Yuka Oyama, a Berlin based contemporary Jeweller, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam | Platinum workshop with Elizabeth Loubser, University of Stellenbosch

Awards:
2007-2008 Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Fund Bursary | Van Ewijk Stigting Bursary

Competitions:
2009 Talente 2009, in association with Schmuck, Munich, Germany 

Solo Exhibitions:
2009 BAG ID, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town | Handbags: Carrier of Meaning, US Gallery Dorpstreet, Stellenbosch.

Selected Group exhibitions (International):
2010 - 2011 Dichotomies of Place in Objects: Contemporary South African Studio Jewelry from the Stellenbosch Area | Velvet Da Vinci, San Francisco, CA | Ohio Craft Museum, Ohio | The Ornamental Metals Museum, Memphis, TN
2009 Talente 2009, in association with Schmuck, Munich, Germany
2007 Sieraad: International Jewellery and Silver Design Fair, Amsterdam.

Selected Group exhibitions (National):
2011 Dichotomies of Place in Objects: Contemporary South African Studio Jewelry from the Stellenbosch Area. Sasol Art Museum, Stellenbosch (14 September – 29 October 2011)
2009 10 Philosophical Questions, group exhibition, US Gallery Dorpstreet, Stellenbosch | Occasions, The Gallery at Grande Provence Estate, Franschhoek | Angels4Good, The Gallery at Grande Provence Estate, Franschhoek | Six Small Stories group exhibition, Artspace, Johannesburg
2008 Inventions, Gold of Africa museum, Cape Town | 
2008-2012 University of Stellenbosch group exhibition, Design Indaba Expo, Cape Town

Work cited in publications:
2009 The Compendium Finale of Contemporary Jewellers 2008, Edited by Andy Lim, Darling publications, Cologne & New York | Metalsmith Magazine, South Africa: Unearthing artistic talent in the land of mining.Author: Lauren Kalman, Metalsmith: Society of North American Goldsmiths, Vol 29 No3 (2009).

Employment:
2009- 2012 Full Time Lecturer: Department of Visual Arts: Creative Jewellery Design and Metal Techniques, University of Stellenbosch. South Africa
2006 -2008 Part Time Lecturer: Department of Visual Arts: Creative Jewellery Design and Metal Techniques, University of Stellenbosch | Assistant curator for Inventions and assistant editor for the Inventions catalogue, Gold of Africa Museum, Cape Town | Coordinator: University of Stellenbosch Jewellery Design Exhibition, Design Indaba, Cape Town.

Conferences and Trade Fares attended:
2010 Gray Area Symposium, Mexico City, Mexico.
2010-2012 Schmuck and Talente, Munich, Germany.
2009 -2012 Cape Town Design Indaba Conference, Cape Town, South Africa
2008 -2010 Jewellex Jewellery Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa

2009 The Compendium Finale of Contemporary Jewellers, Edited by Andy Lim, Darling publications, Cologne & New York  | Metalsmith Magazine, South Africa: Unearthing artistic talent in the land of mining.Author: Lauren Kalman, Metalsmith: Society of North American Goldsmiths, Vol 29 No3 | The Handbag as Social Idiom and Carrier of Meaning: Inner Self Projected as Outer Person. Nanette Marguerite Nel. MA(VA) thesis.
scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/1719 

Contact the artist at:
nanette@sun.ac.za