Seriously good Craft in the UK's North West this December

Natural Makers, Touchstones Rochdale

A host of seriously good Craft exhibitions and events that span pondering the meaning of art, making, material, process through to brilliant possibilities for Christmas presents. And making stuff. Enjoy...

You can also see and (if you're an organisation) add new events in our publically available Google Calendar here

Opening this month
Modern Japanese Design at Manchester Art Gallery. 4 Dec to January 2017. http://manchesterartgallery.org/


The Pilcrow: launch. More about the pub that Manchester built (or is building, to be precise) here 4 December. http://www.thepilcrowpub.com/

Little Northern Contemporary Craft Fair. Altrincham Town Hall, Market St., 
Altrincham
 WA14 1PG (NEW venue!) 6 December.
http://www.greatnorthernevents.co.uk/1082#.Vl1Te3tv6dE

Natural Makers at Touchstones Rochdale 12 Dec To 27 Feb 2016. Stuart Cairns, Laura Ellen Bacon, Adam Buick, Sharon Adams.
www.link4life.org/centres/touchstones-rochdale

Sculpting Stories at Gallery Oldham, including studio ceramics from their collections. 19 Dec to Summer 2016
www.galleryoldham.org.uk/

On now

Art_Textiles at the Whitworth. To 21 Jan

http://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/upcomingexhibitions/

Back to Black. Contemporary jewellery at Manchester Art Gallery - extended to 31 January
http://manchesterartgallery.org/

Jarred: Ceramics from the Collection is on at Touchstones. To Spring 2016
http://www.link4life.org/whats-on/touchstones-rochdale/exhibitions/2505-jarred-ceramics-from-the-collection

'All Wrapped Up' & 'Esben and Wolfe Screen Prints' The Craft Shop at the Royal Exchange Theatre. To 3 Jan at   www.royalexchange.co.uk/craft-shop

All That Glitters at The Bluecoat Display Centre to 16 Jan 2016 www.bluecoatdisplaycentre.com

Exploring Wonderland at MCAD to 14 Feb
www.craftanddesign.com

Coming soon

New gallery space opens in January 2016 at MMU MarketPlace Studios, Stockport. Keep an eye out here

Buy authentic handmade craft gifts this Christmas in the North West!

Ring by Chris Boland at Little Northern Contemporary Craft Fair

Christmas is a wonderful thing, but it can feel a bit, well.....commercial.  Duck out of it all and you risk being branded an Ebernezer. Embrace it wholeheartedly and you feel a bit like a part of your soul is sucked into a black hole with every purchase.

But there are ways to negotiate the line between abstention and submitting totally to the siren call of the beautiful but treacherous consumer monster.

Buying handmade crafts is one way to do that. Crafts offer some of the most gorgeous and original gift ideas at any time, from jewellery to toys to gifts for the home. Plus by buying locally you support an artist, boost your local economy and pump energy into your community.

So circumnavigate the Christmas gift trap by buying local craft. What could be lovelier than buying something unique, handmade and buzzing with authenticity for your nearest and dearest? I think that's what you call a win-win situation.

The North West has many brilliant makers and plenty of places to buy their work. Here are just a few:

Little Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, 7 December 2014 at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys
An off-shoot of the wonderful Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair

Available at the Atkinson, Southport

The Atkinson, Southport
Their shop sells a range of delightful crafts for all ages

Manchester Craft and Design Centre

The Craft Shop at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester

Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool

Blackwell House - Cumbria
Sells lovely crafts in their shop  - all in the setting of a brilliant Arts and Crafts House. Part of Lakeland Arts

Gawthorpe Textiles Collection - Padiham, near Burnley
Closed for winter at the moment, but they sell fabulous knitting patterns inspired by the collections online via their Ravlery shop at any time. Great for the crafters in your life!

Harris Museum and Art Gallery,  Preston
Features a selection of small-scale craft pieces in their shop, usually by Preston-based makers


The NW Craft Network aims to promote and strengthen high quality craft in the North West. For more about the Network, click here.

Cleo Mussi at the Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool

Cherry Blossom Dreams, Cleo Mussi

The Bluecoat Display Centre is currently playing host to one of the UK's most significant Mosaic artists. With just a few days left until the show finishes, it's worth making the trip to mighty Liverpool to see the work of Cleo Mussi.

Cleo Mussi solo – Strange but Kawaii

12 September – 8th November 2014

This new show in Liverpool is a development of a joint show Cleo, 50:50 Inspired by Japan: Mosaic Textiles and Paper which was the result of a trip to Japan with her husband, the textile artist Matthew Harris, in 2010.

Mosaic mutants with teacup bodies and parrot heads, inspired by the Japanese mania for mobile phone charms, sit alongside more traditional wall-mounts of kokeshi dolls and shrines. ‘Japan is such a modern culture, and yet it’s got such an ancient culture within it. I loved all the mass-produced imagery,’ she says.

Cleo Mussi is an established Mosaic Artist and respected within the Applied Arts both Nationally and Internationally. Originally training at 
Goldsmiths in the late 80s she graduated from the textile department run by and a team of practicing artists and technicians who were knowledgeable and passionate about materials techniques and process. This quiet evolution in her working practice shows how the processes in her work have developed and matured with an obsessive emphasis on ‘Making and Materials’. Her interest in recycled fabrics, knowledge of pattern, print, weave and stitch translates easily into reclaimed ceramic.

Cleo Mussi is known for her humorous twists and attention to detail as observed in her solo touring installations: ‘The Crowd’, ‘A-Z- a hand book’ and ‘Pharma’s Market’-A live stock and produce show’.

She has also completed a number of large commissions for public spaces including The John Lewis Partnership in Solihull and The BBC Asian Network in Leicester.

For further information contact Samantha Rhodes by email at crafts@bluecoatdisplaycentre.com

Bluecoat Display Centre
The Bluecoat
College Lane Entrance
Liverpool
L1 3BZ
Tel : +44 (0)151 7094014
www.bluecoatdisplaycentre.com

Admission Free
Open Monday – Saturday 10am – 5.30pm. Sundays noon – 5pm

The Bluecoat Display Centre is a member of the North West Craft Network

Cleo Mussi at the Bluecoat Display Centre

Director of Bluecoat Display Centre reviews Symposium: 'Building the Market for Collectors of Contemporary Craft in the North West'

Saturday October 11 6-9pm at the
The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair 2014

Angela Mann, Co-Director of GNCCF opening the evening

Bravely billed to take place from 6-9pm on a Saturday evening, the organisers of the recent symposium accompanying the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair risked the pull of the sofa from the ubiquitous X Factor and Strictly, and instead challenged the brain cells of the invited 50 professional art world attendees to concentrate on the topic of “Building the market for collectors in the North West.”

The setting was the Old Granada studios where over 150 individual contemporary designer makers stands showed over the long weekend. The space itself was huge and cavernous, with a slightly industrial “New York” loft feel -and while it was occasionally just a little chilly, it offered an enviably spacious way to view the incredibly diverse range of exciting individual work by established and emerging makers. The symposium was further complemented by the Ornament exhibition curated by Kelda Savage, who worked with leading North West based galleries to show collectable contemporary craft along with key pieces drawn from the collections or recommended artists.

Stimulating presentations by James Beighton, the former curator of MIMA, Jo Bloxham, a collector and curator and Louise Gardiner, a practicing artist and maker, set the scene and opened the questions and discussions regarding the collectors market. My neighbour remarked how clearly and cleverly Beighton explained the way the context of a craft piece changed once it became part of a public collection in response to a question raised from the floor.
 
The final summary of the night by the Chair of the Crafts Council, Professor Geoffrey Crossick, impressed me personally. In it he referenced the regular euphemisms of “the collectors market” and emphasised instead the importance to individual artists survival rates from the sale of work. Crossick also made the relevant point of the role of the gallery in achieving these, and suggested that a useful addition for future similar events could be the perspective of a contemporary craft gallery with retail 
expertise.

Dr Maureen Bampton
Bluecoat Display Centre

Images: Chris Payne

Networking

The audience

James Beighton, former curator at MIMA