Pendant

A large scale pendant hanging from a plaited cord. The pendant itself is made from the inner-sole of a winter boot. The innersole is divided into four painted sections. The heel section is cream and is adorned with fresh water pearls, the second section is red and adorned with red painted pearls, the three section is green and decorated with globules of thick green paint straight from the tube, the toe area is yellow and decorated with yellow globules of paint from the tube.

Lisa Walker is one of New Zealand's most internationally successful jewellers, working in the 'contemporary' sphere. She graduated from Dunedin Polytechnic in 1988 with a Certificate in Craft Design. Subsequently she moved to Auckland, where she became one of the founding members of Workshop 6, one of the country's most influential jewellery workshops. From 1995-2001 Walker studied under Otto Kunzli at the 'Klasse Kunzli' at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. She remained in Munich, where she established a successful international career as a jeweller, including a long-term installation at the Pinakothek der Moderne, until 2009, when she decided to return to New Zealand. Prior to her departure from Europe, Walker was awarded the Françoise van den Bosch Award 2010 by jurists Ted Noten (winner Françoise van den Bosch Award 2008), Marjan Unger (art historian, jewellery specialist), Hilde De Decker (teacher jewellery design Sint Lucas Antwerp, Belgium), and Paul Mertz (member of the board of the Françoise van den Bosch Foundation). Walker is the second New Zealander to win the award, the first being Warwick Freeman.

One issue of her work is a study into the differences between an acceptable notion of beauty or stereo-type, and something else - the search for an aesthetic that we hardly ever see, but nevertheless perhaps recognise. She is continually pushing towards the extreme, and recognises this is a method which enables her to expand her thinking and way of working.

She works in a large range of materials and techniques. She makes reactionary work, consciously active with influences from all walks of culture and life. The pieces are often laced with references to contemporary jewellery of the last 40 years, questioning and researching what jewellery means, what it can be.