Crafts Council acquires Arcady

The Crafts Council have just acquired an important new work by potter Edmund de Waal. With the help of a £10,950 grant from The Art Fund, the UK’s leading independent art charity, it was bought for a total £26,250. The work, titled Arcady, was part of Edmund de Waal’s first major solo exhibition.

Arcady consists of 18 porcelain pots with De Waal’s trademark celadon glazes ranging from white to pale yellow, held within a steel case. The 1.4 metre high case has a narrow vertical opening at the front revealing a glimpse of the stacked pots. This impressive piece forms part of a new body of work that moves away from De Waal’s earlier small domestic objects to pieces that explore the use of multiples and installations.

The acquisition heralds an exciting new era for the Crafts Council’s acquisition policy which includes exploring the relationship between craft and other creative disciplines. De Waal is particularly interested in the interface between ceramics and architecture and is “completely thrilled” that the Crafts Council, with the help of The Art Fund, have bought Arcady for a public collection.

The Crafts Council enables public access to the Collection through a range of initiatives including loan schemes to exhibitions and permanent displays in museums, galleries, schools and university collections across the UK. Arcady will be available for loan, and in the meantime can be seen in the Crafts Council Resource Library, which is open to the public on Wednesdays and Thursdays by appointment.

Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director of the Crafts Council, said;

“We are thrilled that The Art Fund has recognised that this wonderful piece should be on show to the public and through our new programme of loans and touring exhibitions we will make sure that as many people as possible can enjoy Arcady.”

David Barrie, The Art Fund’s Director, said;

“Edmund de Waal is one of the country’s leading ceramicists and Arcady is a fascinating marriage of architecture and pottery. I am delighted that The Art Fund has helped the Craft Council add this important new work to its collection.”

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For press information and images please contact Jill Read, Press Officer, Crafts Council, T: 020 7806 2549 or E: media@craftscouncil.org.uk

Notes to Editors

• Edmund de Waal was born in Nottingham in 1964. After an apprenticeship with potter Geoffrey Whiting, he studied English at Cambridge, worked in the Cwm Pottery in Herefordshire and a studio in Sheffield. He later studied Japanese and worked at the Meijro Ceramics Studio in Tokyo before setting up his own studio in London. De Waal is also a writer and Professor of Ceramics at the University of Westminster.

• The Crafts Council’s Collection is one of the leading contemporary craft collections in the UK with over 1400 objects. Started in 1971, it encompasses all the main media and features work by new and established makers.

• There are five works by Edmund de Waal in the Crafts Council Collection: a teapot, two espresso cups and saucers, a pourer and a lidded jar. These thrown porcelain pieces with celadon glaze were bought directly from the maker in 1995 and are the first of De Waal’s pieces to go into a public collection.

• The steel case for Arcady was made by sculptor Alex Goacher.

• The Crafts Council Research Library can be accessed by booking a visit with the Research and Information Team on 020 7806 2502 or by emailing r_brockhurst@craftscouncil.org.uk.

• The Art Fund is the UK’s leading independent art charity. It offers grants to help UK museums and galleries enrich their collections; campaigns on behalf of museums and their visitors; and promotes the enjoyment of art. It is entirely funded from public donations and has 80,000 members. Since 1903 the charity has helped museums and galleries all over the UK secure 860,000 works of art for their collections. Recent achievements include: helping secure Anthony d’Offay’s collection, ARTIST ROOMS, for Tate and National Galleries of Scotland in February 2008 with a grant of £1million; putting together a unique funding package to ensure Dumfries House in Ayrshire and its contents were secured intact for the nation in July 2007; and running the ‘Buy a Brushstroke’ public appeal which raised over £550,000 to keep Turner’s Blue Rigi watercolour in the UK. For more information contact the Press Office on 020 7225 4888 or visit www.artfund.org