‘Electric’ @ Craft

It doesn’t happen often that I wander into an exhibition space not knowing what’s on there. Though it happened this weekend, when I was wandering Flinders Lane and thought to visit Craft, even though I couldn’t for the life of me remember what was showing.

‘Electric‘ is showing and it was something of a revelation.

installation photograph

Participating artists:

• Alterfact (Ben Landau and Lucile Sciallano) [website]
• Mark Edgoose [website]
• Douglas McManus
• Bin Dixon-Ward [website] with Jon Osbourne

Exhibition media: “Through a combination of artists, materials and ways of making Electric maps the collaboration of the handmade with digital technology. Crafted objects across metals, plastics, ceramics and textiles engage the body in participatory gallery experiences with installations referencing interaction, wearability and function.”

installation photograph; Alterfact

The exhibition may look sparse, but each of the four exhibits are amazing.

My favourite were the pieces by Alterfact (image above), which were 3D printed from Southern Ice Porcelain. Absolutely gorgeous! I wanted to take some home, but the ones I really wanted were all already sold. I especially liked the group that had some wiggly lines and were slightly wonky … as though they’ve been made from yarn that’s been worked and used and reused over and over again … perhaps the machine has a small kniption; they’re beautiful in their imperfection.

installation photograph; Douglas McManus

Make sure you read the exhibition page on Craft’s site, as it has a lot of detail from each artist.

There’s a lot to think about with the combination of technologies and making … it’s something I’ve been wondering about for a little while now, even though I haven’t quite figured out how I feel about it and what it means for ‘hand made’…

‘Electric‘ is at Craft until 3rd October 2015.

‘Victorian Craft Award’ @ Craft

The ‘Victorian Craft Award‘ exhibition is exceptional and important. Sounds pompous yes … I know, but I challenge you to tell me of better exposition of contemporary craft.

Today the award winners were announced:

• Lynne Kosky Jewellery Award : Natalia Milosz-Piekarska
• Jewellery Encouragement Award : Sun-Woong Bang
• Excellence Award : Manon van Kouswijk
• Decal Ceramic Award : Kate Jones

exhibition at Craft

This post is about the work showing at Craft. The exhibition is so comprehensive they’ve had to share is across a number of sites, including 45downstairs (post coming), Sofitel and 1 Spring St.

The 116 artists to participate are listed on the Craft website [I really wanted to link to the Victorian Craft Award website, but I just couldn’t get the darn thing to load – while it wouldn’t be fabulous if that means my computron is being silly, I kind of hope that’s the case and everyone else can see the site easily].

(anticlockwise from bottom left) Katherine Bowman, Vito Bila, Lene Kuhl Jakobsen, Anna Forsyth

There are many beautiful objects here … something close to overwhelming actually.

Those I particularly responded to, from the group at Craft, include:

• Elizabeth Kennedy’s ‘Stains and Memories‘; tender and evocative embroidery and jewellery works
  

  Elizabeth Kennedy

• John Dermer’s ‘Salt Glazed Porcelain‘; a gorgeous shape and beguiling glaze colours
  

  John Dermer

• Katie Jacobs’s ‘Wolf Head‘ has an impressive presence (in first image)
• Michael Wong’s ‘Jelly Legs‘ brooch is assured

I’ll write about the work at 45downstairs next.

‘Victorian Craft Award‘ is at Craft and other venues until 15th August 2015 … quick quick, that’s only two weeks!

‘Fresh! 2015’ @ Craft

Finally I’ve made it to Craft to see an exhibition; though I’m still sad I didn’t manage to see the previous show ‘White Goods‘ (boo).

So it’s ‘Fresh!‘ time again.

exhibition

I’m still getting my thoughts in some kind of order … but in reading the works list I noticed that all but two artists are RMIT graduates [there are ten artists; whereas previous years had 12]. I hope that doesn’t mean the Melbourne graduate craft scene is becoming RMIT-centric. Where are the other universities’ students? Are the courses just not there any more? Are the courses not of an equivalent standard (that’s a terrible question, but you can understand why it’s asked)? Are the selections simply reflections of this year’s judges preferences? Lots of questions.

exhibition

Selected/awarded artists are:

• Emma Blackmore (RMIT) – fashion (textile)
• Katie Collins (RMIT; website) – gold & silversmithing
• Leana Kim (RMIT; website) – ceramics
• Christopher Massey (RMIT) – gold & silversmithing
• Henry Madin (RMIT) – wood sculpture / furniture
• Scarlett Mellows (RMIT; website) – print image practice
• Jess Milne (VCA) – ceramic / furniture
• Thomas O’Hara (RMIT) – gold & silversmithing
• Tricia Page (RMIT; website) – trampoline!
• Kate Sylvester (VCA; website) – painting (textile)

For me the most outstanding are the jewellery pieces by Katie Collins (below).

exhibition

Mmmm … what did you think when you visited?

‘Fresh! 2015‘ is at Craft until 24th May 2015.

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Other posts:

• ‘Fresh! 2014‘ (May14)
• 2013 : this year the exhibition wasn’t at the end of the year but transferred to early in the new year; the year-naming changed over at this point
• 2012 : oh, I must have missed this exhibition
• ‘Fresh! 2011‘ (Dec11)
• ‘Fresh! 2010‘ (Dec10)
• ‘Fresh! 2009‘ (Dec09)

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Bin Dixon-Ward ‘Grids’ @ Craft

Bright colour abounds at Bin Dixon-Ward‘s ‘Grids‘ exhibition at Craft.

‘Small City’

I like that each ring in the above collection has its own stand. On the surface the forms may appear repetitive, but subtle differences are the reward for careful inspection.

Exhibition media: “Bin Dixon-Ward’s exhibition is a playful exploration of the grid as it appears in the urban form.

Grids are everywhere, in the layout of our cities and towns, in land divisions for agriculture and housing, floor plans and building facades; the urban grid has endless translations.  As a fundamental unit of our endeavours to manage and control our environment, we use the grid to protect us, to navigate our way and to mark and control our boundaries.  The grid maintains a structure that is both self-supporting and flexible. Its foundations remain intact even when the surface is altered and eroded through use.”

installation

My sense is that the wearable pieces are far more powerful on a body than still and on display.

I am interested in how this technology will impact future creation of adornment – perhaps even self-service jewellery, where a ‘designer’ makes their original design available online and a person can purchase it to have it printed themselves in whatever colour and material they desire.

Bin’s website has some wonderful images of her work. And the exhibition was rapturously written about by the ladies at HandMadeLife (with beautiful photographs).

Bin Dixon-Ward’s ‘Grids‘ is at Craft until 30th August 2014.

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Update (21st August): Bin’s work is featured in one of the glossies – check out Pieces of Eight’s blog.

And the eagle-eyed among you would have spotted that the works list says there are 10 pieces in the ‘Small City‘ collection, but there are only 9 on the table. When I visited I counted and recounted about five times to be sure – then wondered if perhaps one had sold (though it’s exceptionally rare, if not unheard of for a piece to be removed from an exhibition before its finished); then had a sinking feeling that some despicable [swearword] had stolen one. But thankfully, after checking the original photographs from Craft, it seems that there may have always been 9 … just a little typo. Phew.

Bin has also been mentioned in the following previous blog posts:

• Melbourne Now ‘Contemporary Jewellery‘
• ‘Close to Hand II‘ @ First Site Gallery
• RMIT ‘As Above, So Below‘ @ Victorian Artists Society
• ‘Bell Weather‘ @ £1000 Bend
• ‘in the city‘ @ City Library

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