GEORGINA COBURN is impressed with the craft work in this important exhibition
MADE IT! showcases Highlands and Islands-based artists working in contemporary craft, involving them in the selection of works from The Craft Council Collection which have inspired them, displayed alongside their own pieces.
The quality of work throughout the exhibition is extremely high, presenting a wider context for Highland-based work and demonstrating the fluid and dynamic relationship between Design, Craft and Fine Art disciplines in contemporary practice.
As part of Making Progress, a HI~Arts Craft initiative of mentoring and business support, four makers from the Highlands, Jenny Deschenes (Spean Bridge), Laura West (Isle of Skye), Lucy Woodley (Tain) and Daniel Kavanagh (Glenferness), worked with mentors Eileen Gatt and Gilly Langton and with HI~Arts Craft Development and the IMAG Exhibitions Unit with view to creating new work for a series of Craft Spotlight Exhibitions.
The first of these exhibitions in the small gallery at IMAG began in May with an exhibition of work in textiles by Jenny Deschenes and will continue until September with work by Laura West, bookbinding (5 June-3 July), Lucy Woodley, jewellery (10 July-7 August) and Daniel Kavanagh, Ceramics (14 August-11 September).
In addition a series of recordings by Distance Lab designed to immerse the viewer in the experience of making can be viewed as part of the MADE IT! Exhibition, and will also be available through the HI~Arts Crafts webpage, artist’s web pages and through the Distance Lab website.
With a camera presumably mounted on the artist’s head these videos give insight into the techniques, processes, care and attention to detail used to create handmade and hand-finished objects of the finest quality by makers in the Highlands and Islands.
Works from the Craft Council Collection such as Claire Heathcote’s large scale stitched portrait Andrew (2007), challenge expectation of craft practice and widen our frame of reference to the genre of portrait painting in a successful engagement with Craft and Fine Art disciplines. The treatment of threads left dangling and the use of stitching-like drawn marks convey the subject in a pattern which feels immediately and tangibly human.
The public scale of the work in relation to the intimacy of stitching sets up an interesting dialogue. Andrew Wicks' Sotto Breakfast Set (2001), a beautiful combination of man-made and organic forms, present both a functional and aesthetic collection of everyday objects that stimulate the imagination.
Sally Fawkes’s Measured Moments (2001), a superb piece of glass bisected by opaque fragments, creates a tantalising and fluid refraction of light and movement into the space behind. The simplicity of form in clear and opaque glass heightens our appreciation of the material and creates a strong visual statement.
Daniel Kavanagh’s Vessel Form in Ceramic and Bronze on Bog Oak Stand also displays an appreciation of pure form and treatment of materials, creating a wonderful interplay of textures in highly polished bronze, black and scored white ceramic. The vessel reads like a three dimensional drawing, an almost calligraphic mark clearly influenced by Asian Art.
Junko Mori’s adjacent Silver Organism (2002) is alive, with its beaten textured interior and tendrils in a submerged state of suspended movement. The craftsmanship of this and many other pieces in the exhibition is consistently impressive. Both Mori and Fawkes’s work chosen by Kavanagh are an example of the engrossing dialogue between works in the exhibition with commentary from the artist’s on their choice of works drawn from the Craft Council Collection.
Further highlights include Graine Morton’s intriguing works featuring found objects; Orange Gerbera Petal Cartwheel Brooch (1998), with each of its compartments isolating the slowly decaying material presents a provocative piece of human adornment. 64 Compartment (1998) engages with the unexpected beauty of discarded objects, precious tokens from the everyday, a wearable museum of human memories and associations. Every small piece within the work is fascinating, like an intimate display cabinet potentially worn on the body.
Laura West’s Craft Spotlight exhibition currently in the small gallery highlights the link between Scottish craft skills past and present. Inspired by mid-18th century binding practices the cowhide, hand-dyed then hand-tooled with metallic foils illuminates a historical tradition and creates a uniquely hand-crafted object. The playful display of West’s Butterfly pieces, suspended before a series of mirrors, widens the scope of reference in relation to functional objects.
Whilst the Highland Capital still lacks a venue to see any permanent collection of contemporary craft, MADE IT! is a step in the right direction. Looking at the empty shop space opposite the museum did cause me to wonder why such a premises could not be used to enable the wider public to purchase contemporary craft works.
Outside isolated shows visibility and access to contemporary craft is generally poor. Museum shops and visitors centres consistently fail to present locally produced work and outside local privately owned galleries there are no central outlets to consistently raise awareness or provide an alternative consumer pattern to the high street or retail park. The inspired pieces in this show demand more consistent visibility and public access for appreciation and acquisition.
© Georgina Coburn, 2010
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