After a seemingly never-ending year of cultural deprivation, it seemed we might tip into our very own 21st century version of the Dark Ages as galleries closed, then opened, then shut again more times than we care to remember. Lockdown hysteria aside, museums are finally able to reopen and our summer just got a whole lot brighter and busier. Here’s our bumper pick of craft exhibitions to see across the country.
Ilana Halperin: There is a Volcano Behind My House
For a major new commission at Mount Stuart, artist Ilana Halperin turns her focus to the geology of the island of Bute where she now spends much of her time. ‘The first time I visited Mount Stuart, many years ago, I was struck by the deep geologic nature of the house,’ says the artist, ‘from the core samples of marble which travelled up from Sicily – immigrant rocks settled in their new home – to the petrified seas found in the fossil-rich limestone of the vast stairwell in the Great Hall.’ Works in the exhibition include a series of watercolours, textiles woven in collaboration with Bute Fabrics, and laser engraved mica (a mineral also used in the ceiling of Mount Stuart’s drawing room).
Until 15 August, Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute