Scottish jeweller Kelly Munro has been announced winner of Rising Stars 2014 during the opening of the annual award for new craft and applied arts graduates at New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham.
Munro, who is a 2013 graduate from Edinburgh College of Art’s Jewellery and Silversmithing degree, receives a prize of £1000, a solo exhibition at the New Ashgate Gallery and mentoring support from a-n The Artists Information Company.
Munro’s works take inspiration from the north coast of Scotland’s historical fishing industry. Deploying wood and metal techniques, the jeweller references fishing equipment, nets and lobster pots through ‘weathering’ wood, intricate saw piercing, loose paint strokes and pyrography.
“My inspiration is drawn from my heritage and homeland,” said Munro. “I am surrounded by small abandoned ports around the coast, and have had a particular interest in fishing equipment used in the past and present. My work aims to portray the rustic look of items found near harbours and tide lines.”
The judging panel for this year’s Rising Stars exhibition was: Maureen Bampton, director of the Bluecoat Display Centre; Lucy Day, an advisor for a-n and independent curator with Day + Gluckman; and designer-maker Rebecca Skeels, subject leader for the Post Graduate School of Craft and Design, University for the Creative Arts. The winner was selected by Skeels and Outi Remes, director, New Ashgate Gallery.
Rising Stars and a-n
Rising Stars is a curated selling exhibition organised by New Ashgate Gallery in partnership with a-n and University for the Creative Arts, with support from Arts Council England and Billmeir Charitable Trust.
a-n have partnered with Rising Stars to support emerging crafts and applied arts practitioners through a series of AIRTIME professional development events in Farnham, Milton Keynes and Bury St Edmonds during April and June. These sessions will run alongside the touring exhibition, which showcases new work from the full shortlist of graduate makers.
The full list of exhibiting makers is: Élodie Alexandre, Elizabeth Ashdown, Juliette Bigley, Rachel Britch, Jessica Coleman, Polly Collins, Brittany Delany, Eva Farkasova, Joanna Fronczak, Jessica Frost, Kerstin Haigh, Ruth Harrison, Anna Collette Hunt, Mirka Janeckova, Anum Khan, Lisa Larcombe, Beatrice Larkin, Anne Laycock, Beth Lewis-Williams, Agnieszka Maksymiuk, Elise Menghini, Kelly Munro, Izzy Parker, Anastasija Pjatnicka, Hajnalka Rezes, Charlotte Stockley, Julia Webster, Simon Wilks, Penny Wheeler, Hannah Rose Whittle, Cristina Zani and Sevak Zargarian.
Rising Starts 2014, 8 March – 19 April, New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham; 26 April – 31 May, Milton Keynes Arts Centre; 7 June – 12 July, Smiths Row, Bury St Edmunds.
AIRTIME events, 2 April, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham; 30 April, Milton Keynes (venue tbc); 25 June, Smiths Row, Bury St Edmonds.
Also on a-n.co.uk:
Rising Stars 2013: Edinburgh jeweller is a Rising Star by Susan Jones
