See/ New Directions in Contemporary Craft/ 1 December 2012 to 27 January 2013
Nr Romsey
General Information
New Directions is the first exhibition of contemporary crafts to be staged in Mottisfont’s acclaimed new gallery. It celebrates the astonishing diversity and originality of today’s artist-makers, with innovative ceramics, jewellery, textiles and glass by leading makers and rising stars. Its aim is to present exciting, possibly unexpected work to new audiences, to intrigue, delight and inspire, and to challenge preconceptions about the crafts today.
Materials and their transformation is one of the central themes of the exhibition. In the work of ceramicist Carina Ciscato, for example, porcelain is wheel-thrown, then cut and reconstructed to create vessels of immense fluidity and visual impact. In the hands of Valeria Nascimento the same material, porcelain, becomes a scattering of delicate hibiscus flowers across a wall or a cluster of paperlike bells.
Basketmaking has been transformed in recent years from an age-old craft to a sculptural art. Exhibitor Mary Butcher – Crafts Council maker in residence at the V&A in 2009 – has been at the vanguard of this new approach, creating sinuous, woven forms and calligraphic willow wall-pieces, while remaining respectful of basketmaking’s traditional roots.
Contemporary jewellery, the ‘wearable art’, draws on an amazing variety of materials, from paper and parchment to carved Perspex. Exhibitor Jane Adam is generally hailed as the pioneer of coloured aluminium, which she uses with infinite subtlety to create stunning bangles and pod-like brooches. Nora Fok transforms humble nylon monofilament into ethereal neckpieces, while Elaine Cox uses precious stones in their raw, unpolished state, questioning the traditional ‘preciousness’ of jewellery while celebrating the natural surfaces of the land, her inspiration.
A highlight of New Directions is a collaborative piece by textile artist Ismini Samanidou and ceramicist Sharon Blakey, in which textured ceramic spoons by Blakey are quietly, brilliantly echoed in Samanidou’s woven cloth. Also on show are Ptolemy Mann’s unmistakable, vibrant textiles – a contemporary take on the traditional art of ikat.
Alongside these established makers the exhibition presents the work of recent graduates already blazing a trail in their chosen discipline. Louisa Finch makes kiln-cast glass sculptures in glowing, matt colours. Giedre Vadeike creates dramatic neckpieces in mixed media, and Rob Casson’s ‘Weapons of Mass Amusement’ – kinetic pieces crafted in silver – add humour to the mix.
