Arts Foundation Fellowships
Sir Nicholas Hytner, Artistic Director of the National Theatre, presented the 2010 Arts Foundation Fellowship awards ceremony at Pentagram in London last night to recipients including contemporary craft makers Julie Cook and Andrew Lamb.
Of the five Fellowships to be awarded, two were given to contemporary craft makers; textile artist Julie Cook and jeweller Andrew Lamb. Both Cook and Lamb are former Crafts Council Development Awardees and the Crafts Council is delighted that they have received this recognition for their work.
The Arts Foundation Fellowships are given to five fellows from five different creative disciplines; cinematography, graphic novels, jewellery design, puppetry and textile art. The £10,000 fellowships offer ‘creative breathing space’ for artists who have achieved some recognition for their work but for whom a time of creative development without the worry of where the next commission is coming from could be crucial to bring them forward in their practice.
Julie Cook still works in her former career as a part-time Night Sister, a role which informs her work and allows her the financial support to work as an artist. The fellowship will allow her to research a major new project in Venice in addition to providing more time for collaborative practice. Cook’s ‘Asentamiento Dress’ was acquired by the Crafts Council Collection in 2007 and was the focus of the 2009 touring exhibition Object As Muse.
Andrew Lamb plans to spend the award for further intensive research, experimentation and development of specialist jewellery and metalwork techniques. This may well add to his existing technique with gold which is unique in the field. Andrew has been a regular exhibitor at Origin: the London Craft Fair and in 2009 received the Association of Contemporary Jewellery (ACJ) Award for Jewellery.
The other Arts Foundation Fellowships were given to Ole Bratt Birkeland (Cinematography), Mervyn Millar (Puppetry) and Kate Brown (Graphic Novels). For more information on the Fellowships visit www.artsfoundation.co.uk
