Bilston Craft Gallery is ten
Silver chip forks, Victoria Kershaw
Bilston Craft Gallery celebrates its tenth anniversary with an exhibition of specially commissioned work (until 26 August)
‘The fact that this show is made up of entirely new work makes it really exciting for us,’ says Bilston’s exhibition officer Natalie Cole. Makers interested in exhibiting were invited to make artworks on the theme of the number 10, and then 20 were selected from a long list of nearly 100. The result is a show with a good range of disciplines and exhibitors, including both young and more established makers. ‘As so many people were interested, we were able to select a good variety of work as well as pieces of really high quality’, explains Cole. Highlights include Charlotte Hughes Martin’s engraved glass bottles – inspired by the song Ten Green Bottles – and Miranda Sharpe’s necklace made using ten feet of silver wire.
As well as celebrating Bilston’s anniversary, the exhibition has an ulterior motive – to encourage more people to commission craft objects. Consequently the curators have arranged a series of exhibits designed to unpack the commissioning process, exploring the genesis of an object from preliminary sketch through to finished object. ‘We wanted to explain the process step by step so visitors can understand that they don’t have to buy objects off the shelf but can commission things themselves’, says Cole.
www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/bilston
