13 craft exhibitions to see in the UK this September

3 September 2021

Shows not to miss

3 September 2021

Exhibitions

Artist Annie Morris in her studio. Photo: © Idris Khan

With lockdown closures now a thing of the past, this autumn offers a rich crop of cultural happenings. Here, we bring you the best craft shows to see around the UK this month.

Annie Morris: When A Happy Thing Falls

For artist Annie Morris’ first solo museum exhibition, Yorkshire Sculpture Park is featuring a series of sculptures and tapestries – what Morris calls ‘thread paintings’ – in its Weston Gallery. Each tapestry is created by the artist with support from Fine Cell Work, a charity which enables prisoners to build fulfilling lives by training them in needlework.

25 September to 6 February 2022, Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Together – The Power of Collaboration

Earlier this year, Gallery Fumi’s founders invited designers and artists from across the world to team up in collaborative pairs. The result of these new creative partnerships – conducted largely on WhatsApp and Zoom – are now on show in their Mayfair space.

16 September to 12 November at Gallery Fumi, London

British Ceramics Biennial

It’s that time again – the five-week festival celebrating all things clay is back. This year, the British Ceramics Biennial will take place in a new venue: The Goods Yard, a 19th-century warehouse in central Stoke-on-Trent, and will also feature an online programme of films, tours and events. Discover the ceramic artists rethinking the humble plate at BCB inside the Sept/Oct issue of Crafts – and sign up for our talk, Spinning Plates: How artists are shaking up the dining table, chaired by BCB artistic director Clare Wood.

11 September to 17 October, The Goods Yard, Stoke

Hannibal’s Pond: Tom Atton Moore

This solo show at Maximillian William in London features woollen rugs by Tom Atton Moore, created in response to a lockdown spent in rural England, watching nature’s rhythms at work. Observing the ecosystem of a garden pond inspired the spiralling, sculptural form of these new rugs.

Until 2 October at Maximillian William, London

Theaster Gates in his studio in 2016. Photo: courtesy Whitechapel Gallery
Portrait of Simone Fattal in 2021. Photo: Europium (Julia Andréone and Ghazaal Vojdani)

Simone Fattal: Finding a Way

Theaster Gates: A Clay Sermon

This autumn, London’s Whitechapel Gallery is presenting a clay-themed double bill: solo shows by Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates and Lebanese-American artist Simone Fattal. The former takes in two decades of Gates’ clay-based work – from thrown pots to large-scale ‘Afro-Mingei’ sculptures – while the latter will see a kiln-like space filled with ceramic figures undergoing metamorphosis.

Fattal: 21 September 2021– 15 May 2022 at Whitechapel Gallery, London

Gates: 29 September 2021 – 9 January 2022 at Whitechapel Gallery, London

Halima Cassell

Artworks by multi-talented sculptor Halima Cassell are currently dazzling audiences in the gardens at Glyndebourne opera house in East Sussex. In ‘Carving a niche’ (Crafts #290, Sept/Oct 2021), Cassell reveals how she uses clay, stone, wood and glass to sculpt monumental works with hypnotic geometry.

Until 31 October at Glyndebourne, Sussex Downs

Quilt on show at the Bowes Museum. Photo: courtesy the museum

North Country Quilts
Here’s a real reason to visit Barnard Castle: the Bowes Museum’s exhibition celebrating 200 years of quiltmaking traditions in northern England, showcasing historical and contemporary quilts acquired by the museum.

Until 9 January 2022 at The Bowes Museum, Teesdale

London Design Festival

London Design Festival returns to the capital with a packed programme scattered across 10 design districts. Highlights include Medusa, a mixed reality project by architect Sou Fujimoto and tech whiz Tin Drum at the V&A, 10 commissions by emerging designers working in sustainable American red oak, and the debut of Design London: a new fair on Greenwich Peninsula (22-25 September).

18 to 26 September, various locations, London

Chris Day

Glass artist Chris Day has filled All Saints Church at Harewood House with a dramatic installation that holds up a mirror up to our colonial past, evoking the suffering of enslaved people. Discover more in Crafts’ latest issue.

Until 31 October, Harewood House, Leeds

Making Nuno: Visionary Japanese Textiles by Sudō Reiko

After its debut at London’s Japan House, this popular exhibition is travelling north to Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh. The show features five large-scale installations that creatively combine textiles by design firm Nuno with art projections by technological designers Rhizomatiks.

17 September to 8 January, Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh

Tiles from the Kashi and Kashan series by Abbas Akbari, 2019. Photo: © Victoria and Albert Museum

Contemporary Ceramic Art from the Middle East

A new show at London’s V&A shines a light on artists from the Middle East and North Africa who are working primarily in clay. Highlights include Turkish artist Elif Uras’ Pregnant series of round-bellied pots, and British-Egyptian artist Ashraf Hanna’s new Asyut series of burnished and carved terracotta vessels.

Until 17 October, V&A, London

Hapticity: A Theory of Touch and Identity
This exhibition of works by 11 artists and designers using tactile materials to express themes of race, gender, sexuality and class, will go on show at east London gallery Lychee One. Look out for tufted rugs by Crafts’ former cover star Anya Paintsil, ceramic sculptures by Renee So, and work by Loretta Pettway Bennett of The Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers.

16 September – 30 October at Lychee One, London

13 craft exhibitions to see in the UK this September

Read more

8 UK outdoor sculpture trails to explore this summer

Anna Ray’s colourful textiles take over London’s former silk weaving district

The new Crafts Council Gallery: what it says about our future

The craft destinations in Cornwall you can’t miss