- Venue
- Ruthin Craft Centre
- Location
- Wales
The current exhibition at Ruthin Craft Centre is a major survey of the work of 15 senior influential makers. The makers were brought together by guest curator Mary La Trobe-Bateman. These are the makers who influenced a generation of makers and designers in the 1980s and continue to redefine what it means to be a crafts related artist / maker / designer. Some of these people are the reason we had so many lively discussions in the late 70s to late 80s about “What is art and what is craft?”. I particularly like the fact that what Mary La Trobe-Bateman has done is show the “breadth of possibilities in the field of “making””. I for one do not feel the necessity to position one person’s work in a particular field unless they appear to ally themselves to a particular artform. I’m thinking about an artist like say, Freddie Robbins, who uses knitting as a way of expressing ideas.
So often I find that people who make the decisions are obsessed with what fits into which box. Does it really matter the context in which work is presented or shown. I would refer to Suki Chan, currently on show at Mid Pennine Gallery in Burnley, who has previously shown at the Crafts Council Gallery, Grayson Perry, or the current exhibition at the Brindley in Runcorn, curated by the editor of Embroidery magazine.
Within this exhibition the most interesting contribution is a site-specific work by jeweller turned multi disciplinary star Caroline Broadhead. The work on show here is so beautiful. It is simple and complex, metaphorical and representational. When you enter the space it’s almost as if the work isn’t there. You notice the threads, the rivulet line of pins snaking its way along the windowsill, the subtle shifts in colour. The work references a curtain, floating in the breeze and yet it is not solid, it’s a ghost of a curtain, a memory of sunlight falling through the windows.
It is always good to see work by artists who have continued to evolve their art or hone their craft. There was a gallery within the exhibition that took me back to “real” craft from the 1970s and 80s. The incredible pots of Svend Bayer, the weaving of Peter Collingwood, a bridge by the late Richard La Trobe-Bateman, and willow baskets by David Drew. Each shows the delight of the maker in a craft process that they have refined and redefined over years, developing a close relationship with materials.
I was also interested in Richard Slee’s contribution to the exhibition. He has used objects from his local hardware shop, buckets, brushes, and brooms along side small figurines to explore the concept of “Britishness”. There is something of the eccentric about this work, which in itself acts as a metaphor for Britishness. The other makers on show are Gordon Baldwin OBE, Michael Rowe and David Watkins, Christopher Williams, Annette Meech, Fred Baier, Walter Keeler, Elizabeth Fritsch CBE and Mary Restieaux.
