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

30 June 2021

As we unveil the exhibition space and the world emerges from lockdown, we must put collaboration at the heart of everything we do, says the Crafts Council’s creative director

Natalie Melton

30 June 2021

What does it mean to be open? I have been grappling with this question in both literal and philosophical ways over the last few months. With several false starts behind us at the Crafts Council, after the pandemic halted our attempts to unveil our gallery on London’s Pentonville Road, and with everybody spending countless months restricted to their homes, the question has taken on increasing urgency as we emerge out of lockdown. We yearn for life to open, but a long period of isolation and confinement has challenged our ability to be so ourselves, making it an increasingly abstract concept.

Crafts Council creative director Natalie Melton

The question of what it means for the Crafts Council has been tested over the last 15 months. We know that at times the organisation has not been considered open and transparent, and we have explicitly recognised this, committing internally to changing it. We have significantly shifted our working practices to foster far greater collaboration, such as with members of Craft UK – a network of organisations, including museums, galleries and colleges, facilitated by the Crafts Council – and with a group of Black and Asian craft professionals, to create a Global Majority network. Sharing our own knowledge and insights is also a vital way to be open. It’s why we recently launched an online data tool for our Market for Craft report, published last year, giving craft businesses the chance to delve into insights from more than 5,000 consumers. With this information, makers, enterprises and galleries can now draw their own conclusions about their potential audiences.

Visit the new Crafts Council Gallery

The opening of our new gallery is an opportunity for us to demonstrate how fundamental an open spirit is to the Crafts Council as we look to the future. One small step towards this is the evolution of Maker’s Eye: stories of craft – the exhibition that was due to inaugurate the gallery in March 2020 (now open from 7 July - 9 October). It was originally conceived to shed new light on the Crafts Council Collection, with makers invited to select objects from it that encapsulated what craft means to them. The murder of George Floyd and the subsequent calls for social equality in all areas of life highlighted for us the craft world’s lack of diversity and accessibility, reinforcing the need for us to tell a richer and more inclusive story about making, while giving visibility to artists from a much more diverse range of communities.

Installation view at the Maker's Eye exhibition

We invited Christine Checinska – curator of African and African diaspora fashion at the V&A – to consider the question ‘What is craft?’ from a different perspective, looking outwards from the Crafts Council Collection. Her selection of works by contemporary UK-based makers for the expanded exhibition reflects the founding ethos of the collection: to acquire work as a resource, and to support and document innovative practice by emerging makers.

Anya or Anum, by Anya Paintsil, 2020, acrylic, wool, human hair, Kanekalon hair on hessian. Courtesy: the artist and Ed Cross Fine Art

Among the works she has chosen are pieces by Anya Paintsil (Crafts’ cover star for no. 286, Jan/Feb 2021), who creates sculptural textile wall-hangings laced with human hair and debates about gender and race, and Shawanda Corbett (see Crafts no. 283, Mar/Apr 2020), whose ceramic sculptures, glazed with gold lustre, refer to the human figure and are at the centre of an interdisciplinary practice that spans performance, painting and film. Also included are three paper vignettes by Mary Evans, whose cut-out silhouettes and architectural forms recall tragic and violent moments in history. We hope that Checinska’s additions stimulate conversations about the value of public collections, what stories are told, who they are for, and who tells them. These discussions must involve many and varied voices and not just take place behind closed doors.

Vignette No. 6, by Mary Evans, 2015, cut paper
Knee high to a grasshopper, by Shawanda Corbett, 2020, glazed stoneware. Photo: Marcus Leith. Courtesy: the artist and Corvi-Mora, London

When thinking about the future of the craft world, the voices of the young are vital. The flourishing of our Young Craft Citizens – a collective of 16-30-year-olds interested in shaping the future of craft, design and making – over the last year shows how keen young people are to get involved. A virtual consultation session we held earlier this year about their interests and aspirations for our gallery was energising and profoundly insightful.

Over lockdown we have seen how quickly and impactfully people have been able to come together in digital spaces over a shared cause, from social justice issues to environmental concerns. The physical limitations imposed on us have created opportunities for a greater democratisation of culture, bringing new audiences and new voices together. As we reopen public spaces and restart cultural programmes, we must ensure the same equality of access.

This article first appeared in Crafts’ July/August 2021 issue

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

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