COLLECT 2012: line-up announced
Teasel, standing, Nuala O'Donovan, National Craft Gallery of Ireland
Presented by the Crafts Council, at the Saatchi Gallery, London 11-14 May 2012. The Crafts Council announces the exhibitors taking part in COLLECT: the international art fair for contemporary objects, which returns to the Saatchi Gallery, London, from 11 to 14 May 2012.
A stellar line-up of artists will be represented by 31 galleries, six of whom are new to the fair, from 11 countries around the world, including Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Sweden and China. These galleries will occupy the ground and first floor of the Saatchi Gallery and the Project Space area on the second floor will feature ten large-scale installations by individual artists with a focus on textiles and furniture.
Launched in London in 2004, COLLECT has become the leading international art fair for museum-quality contemporary craft, showcasing the very best ceramic, glass, jewellery, textiles, wood, furniture, silver and fine metalwork by both new talent and established artists.
Artists at COLLECT 2012 include; Italian master craftsman Giovanni Corvaja (Clare Beck at Adrian Sassoon), whose exquisite jewellery pieces can take several months to complete, Steffen Dam (Joanna Bird Pottery) showing his hand-engraved glass pieces evoking scientific specimen jars, bold ceramic sculptures by Wouter Dam, and jewellery by both Olympic medal designer David Watkins (Contemporary Applied Arts) and Paralympic medal designer Lin Cheung (Galerie Sofie Lachaert).
National institutions including the British Museum, National Museum Wales and the V&A make significant acquisitions at COLLECT and public collections in Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton, Exeter, Gateshead, Leeds, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford and Plymouth have all purchased work for their permanent collections.
COLLECT also gives private collectors equal access, alongside national galleries and museums, to buy new work from leading artists from around the world.
COLLECT 2012 marks the fifth year of Art Fund Collect, a partnership scheme from the Crafts Council and the Art Fund, the national fundraising charity for the arts, offering UK curators the chance to buy contemporary craft for their museums and galleries. Taking place on 10 May 2012, the preview day of COLLECT, shortlisted curators will have one hour to pick one object and then present their selection to a judging panel. To date, the Art Fund Collect has provided over £275,000 of new work for public collections across the UK.
COLLECT will also preview the Crafts Council’s next touring exhibition Raw Craft which will explore the renewed contemporary interest in raw craft process inspired by real life material and small workshop culture.
For more information visit www.collect2012.org.uk
Ends
For further press information and images about COLLECT, please contact Iliana Taliotis, Janine Limb or Matt Railton at Colman Getty +44 (0)20 7631 2666 / janine@colmangetty.co.uk
For further information on the Crafts Council, please contact Jill Read, Press Officer +44 (0) 20 7806 2549 / media@craftscouncil.org.uk
For further information on Art Fund Collect, please contact Philip Abraham, Art Fund PR Manager +44 (0) 20 7225 4888 / pabraham@artfund.org
Notes to Editors
COLLECT 2012 Principal galleries:
Antonella Villanova, Italy
Bishopsland, UK
Bluecoat Display Centre, UK
Clare Beck at Adrian Sassoon, UK
Contemporary Applied Arts, UK
Cultural Connections CC Gallery, UK
Exhibition Space, Japan
Erskine, Hall and Coe Ltd, UK
Galerie Louise Smit, The Netherlands
Galerie Marzee, The Netherlands
Galerie Ra, The Netherlands
Galerie Rob Koudijs, The Netherlands
Galerie Rosemarie Jäger, Germany
Galerie Sofie Lachaert & Caroline Van Hoek, Belgium
Galleri Format, Norway
Galleri Kunst1, Norway
Gallery S O, Switzerland
Hanart TZ Gallery, China
Joanna Bird, UK
Katie Jones, UK
La Cerámica Gallery, UK
Lesley Craze Gallery, UK
National Craft Gallery of Ireland, Ireland
Ruthin Craft Centre, UK
Sarah Myerscough Fine Art, UK
Sebastian Schildt+, Sweden
Terra Delft Gallery, The Netherlands
The Scottish Gallery, UK
The Wills Lane Gallery, UK
WCC-BF Gallery, Belgium
Yufuku Gallery, Japan
Project Space artists;
Vanja Bazdulj, Stacy Brafield, Lucy Brown, Rosa Cortiella, Elizabeth Callinicos, Crook & Jones, Louise Gardiner, Nahoko Kojima, Anna Ray and Maryrose Watson.
