27 April 2011

A NATIONAL CELEBRATION OF CRAFT IN SCOTLAND


Craft Festival Scotland 2011 turns the spotlight onto craft in Scotland during the month of May with more than 40 exceptional exhibitions, workshops and open studio events happening across the country.

The national festival is an opportunity to enjoy the diversity of craft in Scotland and create an inspirational memory from visiting artists’ studios in Fife, Dumfries & Galloway and West Kilbride. It offers the chance to see and buy quality work by leading international artists working in glass, silver, textiles, wood and metal. It also presents fun ways to learn about making and, stimulating interactions with beautiful objects.



The festival, now in its second year, aims to showcase the imagination and inventiveness of craft in Scotland. The 2011 programme includes a unique exhibition of glassworks inspired by Perth museum’s reserve collections.  It is a ground-breaking collaboration with the Scottish Glass Society and a number of contemporary glass artists have produced new creations for display alongside the original artefacts. Other exhibitions include solo shows by artist and maker Lizzie Farey and her extraordinary work with Scottish willow, Alison McConachie, glass, Sara Keith, textiles, Patricia Niemann, jewellery, Jeanette Sendler, textiles, Annica Sandström and David Kaplan, glass, mixed shows at the Collins Gallery, Gallery Q and Roger Billcliffe Gallery, and work by the latest graduates from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design University of Dundee, Edinburgh College of Art and Gray’s School of Art, Robert Gordon University.


There are fascinating objects and experiences to be discovered across the country, such as Ballet to Remember by Maria Militsi in Inverness Art Gallery, which is on loan from the Crafts Council Collection and featured in the BBC’s popular A History of the World in 100 Objects. 

Festival attractions include:

·      A Passion for Glass at National Museum of Scotland is a dazzling selection of 140 objects by over 100 glassmakers spanning more than four decades, from the 1960s up to 2009.  The works are part of a collection of modern glass recently gifted to National Museums Scotland by Alan J Poole and the late Dan Klein, world authorities in the field of 20th century studio glass.  A number of objects will be used to explain many of the different processes involved in studio glass. 20 May - 11 Sept 2011

·      Turned & Twisted at Inverness Art Gallery is an exhibition of international works from the Craft Council Collection where thoughts, ideas and materials, have been twisted and turned to create amazing, unusual, unsettling, surprising, amusing and unexpected objects.  The choice of work was influenced by the use of techniques and materials by four Highland makers – Jennifer Cantwell, textiles, Caroline Dear, fibre, Patricia Niemann, jewellery, and Nick Ross, product design – who will show new experimental work in a series of solo exhibitions at the same venue. Turned & Twisted: 30 April – 2 July 2011. Patricia Niemann - Making Progress Spotlight Exhibition 30 April - 28 May 2011

·      Dundee Degree Show 2011: 21 - 29 May 2011;
Edinburgh College of Art Fashion Shows: 4 - 6 May 2011;
Intervention at Provost Skene’s House by third year students, 3D Design, Gray’s School of Art: 7 May – 30 June 2011

·      Metalworks! at Aberdeen Art Gallery showcases the versatility of metalworking with historic silver and modern metalwork from their collection and the Goldsmiths’ Company Collection featuring leading British makers such as Gerald Benney, Junko Mori and Chris Knight. 19 March 2011 – 3 March 2012 Free

·      Open Studio Events - Angus Open Studios: 26 - 30 May 2011, Spring Fling: 28 - 30 May 2011, Open Studios North Fife: 6-8 May 2011, West Kilbride - Craft Town Scotland Studios: May

·      Trove, an exhibition by the Scottish Glass Society, in partnership with Perth Museum and Art Gallery, shows new artworks by 25 glass artists that reveal the hidden treasures of the museums reserve collection.  28 March - 31 December 2011


Craft Festival Scotland is a new national initiative led by Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, University of Dundee and in 2011, it is supported by HI-Arts Craft Development in partnership with Highland Council Exhibitions Unit and RIO (Really Interesting Objects).

Full festival programme at:                  www.dundee.ac.uk/djcad/cfs2011/events
For updates on new events in May:    www.facebook.com/CraftFestivalScotland
                                                            http://twitter.com/craftfestscot

No comments:

Post a Comment