Born from the mist, light and shifting colour of a Northland landscape before sunrise, The Hour Before brings together a one-of-a-kind pair of fine jewellery earrings by Christine Price and an original painting by Richard Cranenburgh.
There is an hour before sunrise when the landscape seems to belong entirely to itself.
The roads are still. The birds have not yet filled the air with sound. Familiar hills soften into shadow and the colours of the land become difficult to name.
It was during one of these mornings that The Hour Before began.
Beyond Christine Price's Northland studio lies a native bush-clad hill range she has watched for years. It is a familiar presence, but never quite the same view twice. Weather moves through it. Mist gathers and disappears. Light catches one ridge while leaving another in darkness.
Most mornings pass gently. Every so often, the landscape offers something extraordinary.
On this particular morning, a ribbon of mist lay suspended across the hills. Beneath it, the bush shifted through sage green, deep shadow and muted lavender. Above it, the first warmth of the approaching sun began to touch the edges of the land.
It was a brief and unexpected sight. The kind that makes everything else stop.
Artist Richard Cranenburgh of Art Northland knows these hills too.
From a different vantage point, Richard looks towards the same range, experiencing its changing light, weather and atmosphere through his own daily relationship with the landscape.
That shared view made him a natural collaborator for the first work in For The Art Of It.
Christine invited Richard to begin with the same morning, not to reproduce her memory of it, but to respond through his own instincts and artistic language.
The two works developed independently. Christine worked in gold, natural sapphires and diamonds. Richard worked in paint, colour and gesture. Neither artist knew precisely where the other would arrive.
Their connection began with the landscape. What followed was a conversation between two different ways of seeing.
Artist name
Richard Cranenburgh
Artwork Medium
Original painting - Art Northland
Jewellery Piece
One-of-a-kind sculptural earrings in white and 18ct yellow gold, set with 100 natural sapphires and diamonds
Christine's response took the form of a one-of-a-kind pair of sculptural earrings, handcrafted in white and 18ct yellow gold and set with one hundred natural sapphires and diamonds.
The earrings were designed in layers. A curved ribbon of white gold and diamonds sits across the front of the earlobe, while the coloured sapphires fall behind it. When worn, the ear separates the two elements, allowing the diamonds to appear as though they are floating above the sapphires.
The structure transforms the earlobe into part of the composition. The diamond ribbon becomes light and mist. The sapphires form the depth, colour and movement of the landscape beneath. Small glimpses of 18ct yellow gold appear among the cooler tones, echoing the first warmth of sunrise as it begins to reach the hills.
The earrings mirror one another without being identical. Their forms correspond, but the sapphires move through different colour sequences, just as the landscape itself never repeats a moment exactly.
Green, violet, blue and lavender shift from stone to stone. Diamonds catch the light across the surface, while the darker sapphires create the shadow needed to give that light meaning.
The result is not a literal picture of the hills. It is Christine's memory of how that morning felt.
The scale of the setting is easy to overlook at first. One hundred natural gemstones are held within the pair, each chosen and positioned as part of the larger composition.
Some create movement. Others introduce a pause, a change in colour or a flash of light. Together, they form a surface that continues to reveal itself as the earrings move.
The gemstones were not selected to create perfect symmetry. They were chosen to evoke the unevenness and subtle variation found in the natural landscape. No two stones hold precisely the same tone, depth or character. That individuality is part of the work.
The intricate hand-setting was completed by master stone setter Paul Cosson, whose meticulous craftsmanship helped bring the design to its finished form.
Richard Cranenburgh's original painting offers a second response to the same morning.
Known for his expressive use of colour and his ability to capture the atmosphere and emotion of place, Richard approached the landscape through his own experience of it.
The painting does not attempt to mirror the earrings, just as the earrings do not attempt to reproduce the painting. Instead, each work holds its own interpretation. Connections appear through mood, colour, movement and the shared presence of the hills.
Seen together, the works reveal how differently a single moment can live within two creative minds. One response is intimate and worn close to the body. The other holds space within the home.
The earrings were created to be worn, but not necessarily every day. They belong to evenings, celebrations and occasions that allow something extraordinary to be brought into the world.
The painting allows the inspiration to remain present between those moments. It carries the atmosphere of the work into daily life, offering another way to live with the landscape, colour and emotion from which the collaboration began.
One work waits to be worn. The other continues the conversation on the wall. Together, they allow one fleeting morning to have two enduring lives.
Created together. Collected together.
The Hour Before consists of one original painting by Richard Cranenburgh and one one-of-a-kind pair of fine jewellery earrings by Christine Price. The two works are offered only as a pair.
This is essential to the spirit of For The Art Of It. Neither work is an accompaniment to the other. Each stands confidently in its own right, while together they offer a fuller expression of their shared beginning.
The painting and earrings will remain together as the first realisation of the project.
One landscape. One passing moment. Two artists. Two original works.
A morning that lasted only briefly, held in forms designed to endure.
Some works are best understood in person.
The Hour Before can be viewed privately by appointment at Christine Price Goldsmith's Northland studio, where the original painting and one-of-a-kind earrings are presented together as they were intended to be experienced.
The subtle colour of the natural sapphires, the changing light across the diamonds and the conversation between the two works reveal themselves most fully when seen first-hand.
Private viewings are welcomed by appointment.