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Crafts CouncilStories

12 craft exhibitions to see in the UK this May


28 April 2022

Discover this season's most exciting shows


28 April 2022

  • Exhibitions

Hidaka Omhu, a seaweed pavilion by Julia Lohmann. Photo: Aalto University / Mikko Raskinen

Spring has well and truly sprung, bringing with it a bumper crop of new shows nation-wide. Here's our pick of what not to miss this month.

Tideline

Life’s a beach at Messums Wiltshire, as its 13th-century barn becomes the centre for a summer programme of activities exploring the seashore. At the centre of activities is the exhibition Tideline, which includes Julia Lohmann’s dramatic kelp sculptures and Ros Burgin’s hand-crafted surfboards.

14 May-3 July at Messums Wiltshire, Salisbury

London Craft Week

It’s back – and this year’s programme brings together more than 400 makers from 25 countries across at least 300 events, with exhibitions, workshops, pop-up stores and talks (including Crafts’ own, ‘Gaining Ground: How ancient craft knowledge can shape our future’ on 10 May at 6.30pm at the Crafts Council Gallery). Unsure where to begin? Browse our edit of the top things to see, hear and do at LCW.

9-15 May across London

Design for our Times

From construction waste to biodegradable mycelium, innovative materials and design solutions to over-consumption are taking centre stage in this show at Scotland’s V&A Dundee, featuring a range of forward-thinking ideas.

Until 19 June at the V&A Dundee


Temple by David Best, 2015. Produced by Artichoke in Derry/Londonderry. Photo: Matthew Andrews 279.jpg

Sanctuary

The American artist David Best is building a memorial to collective grief for the pandemic in Coventry, titled Sanctuary. He told Crafts magazine: ‘Sanctuary will be a beautiful, ornate plywood structure about 60 feet tall, which looks a little like a Balinese temple, and in which people can leave personal messages or objects.’ After it has been in situ for two weeks, the monument will be ceremonially burned.

21-28 May at the Miners’ Welfare Park, Bedworth

Gaining Ground

To celebrate making processes that work in symbiosis with nature, curator Ligaya Salazar has turned the Crafts Council Gallery into a library of indigenous knowledge. The exhibition explores work by artisans from Bangladesh, the Philippines, India, Argentina, Nicaragua, Guyana, Brazil, Indonesia, and elsewhere.

Until 25 June at the Crafts Council Gallery, London

Jane Perryman: From Light to Dark From Dark to Light

Ceramic artist Jane Perryman is presenting a collection of burnished ceramic vessels alongside poetry, text and a soundscape in this exhibition at Ruthin Craft Centre, which explores the way daylight changes across one year, from solstice to solstice.

Until 10 July at Ruthin Craft Centre, Denbighshire


  • The Lost Garden by RSN degree graduate Livia Papiernik, 2018. Photo: courtesy the Royal School of Needlework

  • Silk Shaded Magnolias by RSN Head of Workroom Margaret Bartlett in 1940s. Photo: courtesy the Royal School of Needlework

150 Years of the Royal School of Needlework: Crown to Catwalk

The venerable embroidery house is celebrating a landmark birthday with this exhibition at London’s Fashion & Textile Museum. (If that gets you eager to try your hand, the Royal School of Needlework are also offering a summer-long programme of in-person and online courses, too).

Until 4 September at Fashion & Textile Museum, London

Another Crossing - Artists Revisit the Mayflower Voyage

After its US debut at the Fuller Craft Museum (read our expert's verdict on the show from Crafts no. 290), this show exploring colonial history and its legacies through craft has travelled to The Box in Plymouth. While you’re there, be sure to stop by their other exhibition, Zadie Xa: Long ago when tigers smoked, for technicolour textiles and sculptures inspired by Korean folk tales.

Until 5 June at The Box, Plymouth

Jesse Darling – Enclosures

The artist is taking over Camden Art Centre in London with the results of their Freelands Lomax Fellowship: a residency designed to support emerging artists working with clay. Expect thought-provoking sculptures designed to interrogate the frailty of being human and the fact that clay can outlast us all.

13 May-26 June at Camden Art Centre, London


Artefact at Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour. Photo: courtesy Artefact

Artefact

The contemporary craft fair with a focus on interior design returns for its second iteration at the Design Centre in Chelsea Harbour, London, featuring 20 handpicked galleries and collectives taking part.

10-15 May at the Design Centre, London

Heallreaf 4

Pronounced 'hair-ll-reff', an Old English word meaning ‘a tapestry hung in a public place’, Heallreaf returns for its fourth edition. The exhibition of contemporary handwoven tapestries opens at Farfield Mill, Sedbergh in May, before heading to the Oxmarket, Chichester (13-24 September) then to RBSA in Birmingham (1-12 November).

19 May-10 July at Farfield Mill, Sedbergh

Kensington Dollshouse Festival Summer Showcase

If you’ve been inspired by The Great Big Tiny Design Challenge with Sandi Toksvig (a new reality TV series spotlighting miniature-making), this one’s for you. Kensington Town Hall in London is hosting this two-day festival of all things teeny to celebrate the art of dollhouse-makers.

13-14 May at Kensington Town Hall, London


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