New online exhibitions
The Crafts Council today, 8 January 2010, launched two new online exhibitions; An Exploration of Colour by Lina Peterson and Journey of an Object: Table=Chest by Tomoko Azumi.
The Crafts Council’s online exhibitions reveal the stories behind iconic objects in the Crafts Council’s own Collection. The two inaugural online exhibitions: Object in Focus: Chain & Red Chain by Christoph Zellweger and A White, a Blue, a Yellow, Red: poetry by Jeremy Reed attracted over 7,000 visitors from July to December 2009 and featured music files, poetry, new photography and online discussions between artist and curators.
Journey of an Object: Table=Chest by Tomoko Azumi
Tomoko Azumi first showed Table=Chest at her Royal College of Art degree show in 1995. The emphasis on cabinet-making skills to produce the flexible dual-use piece of furniture blurred the distinction between craft and design. Table=Chest has been acquired for collections at the V&A Museum, Geffrye Museum and Brighton Museum and is still in production in Japan and Switzerland. The online exhibition features a commissioned animation showing the piece in motion and an account by Azumi about the making of the piece and her current practice. An accompanying blog contains a collection of stories about the piece, including images and anecdotes from the various collectors (public and private) about the role the piece plays in their collections, as well images of the piece on display in the many exhibitions it has featured in.
An Exploration of Colour by Lina Peterson
In 2009 the Crafts Council acquired three of jeweller Lina Peterson’s ‘Dipped’ brooches from her graduation showcase at the RCA in 2006. As Peterson begins to use colour in a more deliberate and conscious way, the Crafts Council has invited her to explore the theme of colour in more detail. The exploration begins with a closer look at Peterson’s pieces in the Crafts Council’s collection and concludes with an entirely new piece of jewellery based on research into the colour pink. Peterson’s research and the making of the new piece is documented in a series of images and stop frame animations, unveiled exclusively in the online exhibition.
To visit the online exhibitions click here
Notes to Editors
• The Crafts Council’s goal is to make the UK the best place to make, see, collect and learn about contemporary craft.
We believe that craft plays a dynamic and vigorous role in the UK’s social, economic and cultural life.
We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to make, see, collect and learn about craft.
We believe that the strength of craft lies in its use of traditional and contemporary techniques, ideas and materials to make extraordinary new work.
We believe that the future of craft lies in nurturing talent; children and young people must be able to learn about craft at school and have access to excellent teaching throughout their education.
• 11% of the UK population visited a craft exhibition in 20089/09, and 17% participated in craft activity in the same year (DCMS/ACE Taking Part data update August 2009).
• More than 2.8 million visits were made to the Crafts Council website in 2009. To find out everything you need to know about where to make, see, collect and learn about contemporary craft 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.
