About Maca Bernal Jewellery Artist
Macarena Bernal
b.1982, El Salvador, Chile. Chilean national, resident of New Zealand since 2012, and a citizen since 2018, Macarena has a Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Arts from Finis Terrae University in Santiago, an Advanced Diploma in Jewellery Practice from MIT in Auckland, a Post Graduate Degree and a Master’s Degree from the Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin School of Arts.
This Visual Artist chooses Contemporary Jewellery as her medium for its wearability offers interactivity. In her work she explores alternative ideas of value in jewellery by capitalising on the bonds between jewellery and wearer, propounding jewellery as wearable forms of archive, or using it as a platform to make sociopolitical statements.
She has received the following awards in New Zealand:
- Fingers Gallery, Graduating Students Award, 2014.
- Objectspace Gallery, Annual Emerging Practice Award, 2016.
- "Kairangatira" Excellence award for outstanding achievement,
MIT Jewellery Department, 2016. - Molly Morpeth Canaday Awards 3D Finalist, 2018.
She has participated of the following exhibitions:
- “2014 Graduating Students Award Show”, Fingers Gallery, July 2014, Auckland, New Zealand.
- “Raw”. Show; Reactions After Wunderruma, Ironbank Building K. Road, May 2015, Auckland, New Zealand.
- “SET” Masterworks Gallery; MIT Diploma Students, June 2015, Auckland, New Zealand.
- “Wearable”; MIT jewellery students, Royal Jewellery Studio, December 2015, Auckland New Zealand.
- “The way of Matter”; Annual Emerging Practice Show, Objectspace Gallery, April 2016, Auckland, New Zealand.
- “Show_Sell_Shift”; Fundraiser Show, Objectspace Gallery, June 2016, Auckland, New Zealand.
- “No matter what they say, you don’t have to stay in the lines”, April 2016, NorthArt, Auckland, New Zealand.
- “Color therapy”, Quoil Gallery, July 2016, Wellington New Zealand.
- “Playthings” The Refinery art space, August 2016, Nelson, Zew Zealand.
- “International Graduate Show 2016” Galerie Marzee, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, August 2016.
- “2016 Annual Group Show” Fingers Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand.
- "Links", Quoil Gallery, April 2017, Wellington , New Zealand.
- "Link Night", The National, August 2017, Christchurch, New Zealand.
- "Out Of Order" Arthaus, October 2017,Auckland, New Zealand.
- "Alumni Revisited" Fingers Gallery, October 2017, Auckland, New Zealand.
- "Dog Show" Whau Studio, October 2017, Auckland, New Zealand.
- "2017 Annual Group Show", Fingers Gallery, November 2017, Auckland, New Zealand.
- "LINK NITE", Muse Gallery, November 2017, Havelock North, New Zealand.
- "Marzee for Starters Show" Coda Museum, November 2017, January 2018, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands.
- "Marzee for Starters Show" Qade Art Fair, 7-11 February 2018, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
- "Molly Morpeth Canaday Awards 3D" semifinalist, 17th February, 8th April 2018, Whakatane Library and Exhibition Ctre, New Zealand.
- "IWA:NZ Makers" curated by Peter Deckers, Frame Galleries, International Handwerkmesse, Jewellery Week, March 2018, Munich, Germany.
- "Marzee for Starters" Frame Galleries, International Handwerkmesse, Jewellery Week, March 2018, Munich, Germany.
- "Rom: read only memory", DSA Gallery, Otago Polytechnic School of Arts, Dunedin New Zealand, submitted in partial fulfillment of the Master of Visual Arts.
- "These are a few of her favorite things. Jorunn Veiteberg’s jewellery collection" , Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum (National Museum of Decorative Arts and Design) , September 2018, Trondheim, Norway.
- "2018 Annual Group Show", Fingers Gallery, October 2018, Auckland, New Zealand.
- "Royal Pacific", Royal Jewellery Studio, November 2018, Auckland New Zealand.
- "Link Night II ", The National, November 2018, Christchurch, New Zealand.
- The National at Frame Galleries, Handwerkmesse March 2019 Munich, Germany.
- "2019 Annual Group Show", Fingers Gallery, October 2019, Auckland, New Zealand.
- “33rd edition of the Marzee International Graduate Show” Galerie Marzee, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, October 2019.
- "Creating with Kauri", The Kauri Museum, Matakohe, NZ Sept 2020
- "Schmuck/Schmok", TempContemp, Melbourne, Autralia, March 2020.
- "Show us your Rona" Exhibition projection, TempContemp and Bridget Kennedy Project Space, Sydney Australia, December 2020.
- "Signing In", Hanshake 6, Te Awaha, Wellington NZ, October 2020.
- "2020 Annual Group Show", Fingers Gallery, October 2020, Auckland, New Zealand.
- "ChainReaction", The Refinery Art Space, March 2021, Nelson, New Zealand.
- "The Neck II" Craft ACT; Craft +Design Centre, Canberra, Australia, May 2021.
Her works can be found in the following Collections:
- Maria Jose van der Hoult, private jewellery collection, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, Est 2018
- Jorunn Veiteberg’s private jewellery collection, Norway, Est March 2018
- Musee des Arts Décoratives, Paris France, permanent contemporary jewellery collection, Est 2018.