Rate My Professor Zoe Venness

Dr. Zoë Veness is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Art & Design, Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture at the University of New South Wales. Specializing in contemporary jewellery and object design, her research explores the aesthetics of time through craft-based methodologies, framed by ideas of movement, materiality, and place. Veness holds a Diploma of Dance from the Australian Ballet School, Naarm (Melbourne) in 1991, along with a Bachelor of Design in 1998, Master of Design (Research) in 2005, and Doctor of Philosophy in 2015, all from UNSW Art & Design. Her background in classical ballet shapes her practice, employing a dichotomous approach between experimental and systematic processes in paper and metal media. She operates at the intersection of contemporary craft, design research, and material inquiry.

Veness joined UNSW Art & Design in 2018 and has held senior academic leadership roles, including Deputy Head of School (Design), Director of the Bachelor of Design and Master of Design programs from 2022 to 2024, and Director of Education from 2021 to 2022. As Academic Lead for the Object disciplinary studio, she led curriculum development in jewellery and ceramics for the Bachelor of Design. She serves as Chief Investigator on a 2024 Australian Research Council-funded Linkage Project examining sustainable approaches to repurposing textile waste into contemporary jewellery and objects. Her achievements include numerous awards such as the winning prize in the 2023 Contemporary Wearables Biennial Jewellery Award Exhibition, 2024 Australian Research Council Linkage Project Grant, 2023 UNSW Art & Design Research Grant, and 2019 Exhibition Development Fund from Contemporary Arts Tasmania. Key publications encompass 'Post-COVID reflections on material-making for design students at Art & Design, University of New South Wales' (NiTRO, 2021), 'Sky Series: Painting the heavens with glass' (Garland Magazine, 2025), 'New Terrain in an Old World' (Frangipani: Garland Compendium Three, 2020), and her PhD thesis 'Towards Autonomous Jewellery: Examining the loop between jewellery and the body through a sculptural dimension' (2015). Veness has presented ten solo exhibitions, including 'Still Point' at Gallery Funaki (2024) and 'The Stream of Time' at Woollahra Gallery (2022), and participated in over forty national and international group exhibitions. Her works reside in prominent collections such as the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, and Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Paris), highlighting her impact on the field.