Barbara Nanshe

Barbara Nanshe Studio moved into a space in The City Arcade, 120 Hunter Street in November 2017. Barbara has paired with another silversmith to set up a workable studio and shop enabling production of her ideas into ethical jewellery pieces that are instantly for sale. Some pieces can be made in an hour or the same day, some will take longer depending on the brief.
Barbara has a background in Art and Fashion and Ecology. There is no surprise then that she uses recycled materials to support conservation principles.
Barbara specialises in mixed media jewellery which reflects her environmental credentials and the way her sculptural mind thinks. She will combine her fabricated and cast recycled sterling silver and copper, gold or brass elements with her hand cut or ethically sourced stones. She will also combine those elements with antique, found, vintage or recycled parts to produce environmentally ethical and wearable pieces of art, employing positive empowering symbols, for adornment.
Barbara established Nanshe Gallery (NG) in May 2012 to August 2016, promoting her own individual art and jewellery style and those of the local artists. She then went on to open Barbara Nanshe Studio in the Newcastle Precinct, in 2017, to focus on her work and present it for sale to the public.
Barbara has 10 solo exhibitions and more than 20 group exhibitions to her name since graduating from a BAVA from the University of Tasmania in 1991, including exhibitions of jewellery and sculpture in London and Berlin in a traveling show with another local artist in 2016.
Barbara taught Sculpture and Drawing at Newcastle TAFE and Jewellery Design through TAFE Global in the United Arab Emirates.
While working as a manager for an environmental, not for profit community organisation for 15 years, she learned about the ecology of local areas and found inspiration for her jewellery, collage and sculpture which continues to this day.