Eve Bennett at Manchester
Work by Eve Bennett, winner of the Manchester Craft and Design Centre’s Graduate Exhibition Award, is on show at the Centre until 1 August
‘We awarded the prize to Eve as her work was very unique and very individual’ says MCDC’s Tamara Shneck, ‘also the there was a real narrative side to her work that appealed.’
Quirky is probably the right word to describe Bennett’s work; her degree show was a ceramics installation depicting a group of dead birds and was inspired by the family tragedy caused by her mother accidentally gassing her uncle’s collection of exotic birds. These are included in the current exhibition alongside a family of ceramic frogs – a homage to her mother’s collection of frog statures which Bennett only discovered hiding in her garden after her death. Other pieces refer to similar personal memories – sometimes funny, sometimes sad and often a combination of the two – and Bennett has also used personal stories MCDC visitors have shared with her as a starting point for her mini installations.
The artist is also working on an installation of larger ceramic birds for the Centre’s front stairs. She will start work on it at the beginning of the show and visitors will be able to watch and join in workshops as the work progresses.
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