Crafts Council Development Awards
Arcing by Jasmin Rowlandson, Photo Jasmin Rowlandson 2008
The Crafts Council has awarded 12 Crafts Council Development Awards throughout 2008. The award offers new makers a grant of up to £7,500 and professional development support from the Crafts Council for a year. The award enables makers to invest in equipment to set up their practice for the future.
The 12 recipients of the Crafts Council Development Award in 2008 cover many different disciplines ranging from bookbinding to neon glasswork. They are;
• Jo Bird (bookbinding)
• Hans Borgonjon (ceramics)
• Linda Florence (textile and surface design)
• Teri Howes (jewellery)
• Ikuko Iwamoto (ceramics)
• Rebecca Joselyn (silver)
• Aimee Lax (ceramics)
• Olivia Lowe (silver)
• Christian O’Reilly (furniture)
• Jasmin Rowlandson (ceramics)
• Richard Wheater (neon and glass)
• Maria Wojdat (ceramics).
The Crafts Council Development Award has been given to over 1,500 makers since 1973 enabling recipients including Tom Dixon, Thomas Heatherwick, Junko Mori and Pottinger & Cole to lay the foundations of successful careers.
Many of the recipients have already started to reap the benefits of the Crafts Council Development Award in 2008 including;
• Jo Bird: Jo is a bookbinder who creates tactile books to be explored and enjoyed. Jo uses traditional bookbinding materials alongside more contemporary materials including plastics, carbon and foils. Jo exhibited in group shows at Contemporary Applied Arts and Flow Gallery in 2008.
• Ikuko Iwamoto: Ikuko makes delicate ceramic tea-ware inspired by natural organisms and has featured in shows this year that include the Contemporary Applied Arts’ Christmas showcase and exhibitions in Japan and the Netherlands.
• Jasmin Rowlandson: Jasmin creates sculptural ceramics that explore femininity, eroticism, sexuality and beauty through the symbolism of flowers. She combines traditional ceramic processes and digital technologies by applying complex pattern transfers onto ceramic. Jasmin has recently been selected to exhibit at the 5th World Ceramic Biennale in Korea in 2009.
• Richard Wheater: Richard creates installations and site-specific work using neon and glass and is exploring new ways of working with neon. Richard was selected as one of three emerging glass artists to represent the UK at European Glass Context that was held in Denmark in September and October 2008.
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For more information and electronic images please contact Jill Read in the Crafts Council Press Office on Tel: +44 (0) 20 7806 2549, Email: media@craftscouncil.org.uk
Notes to Editors
• The Crafts Council is the national agency for contemporary crafts. It aims to position the UK as the best place in the world for making, seeing and collecting contemporary craft.
• For further information about the Crafts Council visit www.craftscouncil.org.uk
• The Crafts Council is supported by Arts Council England. Arts Council England works to get great art to everyone by championing, developing and investing in artistic experiences that enrich people’s lives. As the national development agency for the arts, it supports a range of artistic activities from theatre to music, literature to dance, photography to digital art, and carnival to crafts. Between 2008 and 2011, Arts Council England will invest £1.3 billion of public money from government and a further £0.3 billion from the National Lottery to create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country.
