Past exhibitions
Plain Stripe Check: Tim Parry-Williams and Ikuko Ida
23 March to 19 June 2010
Plain Stripe Check originates from a chance meeting between the English weaver Tim Parry-Williams and the Japanese kimono weaver Ikuko Ida in the summer of 2003. The exhibition opened at the Japan Folk Crafts Museum, Tokyo in 2007 and the presentation at the Crafts Study Centre is the first in a tour of the UK, Europe and America.
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My craft or sullen art: why study the crafts? Professor Edmund de Waal
The Crafts Study Centre hosted a 40th birthday celebration lecture by Professor Edmund de Waal and reception party on Wednesday 28th April 2010 at 5.30pm. Professor de Waal is a potter and writer. His interests in craft and place have seen major ceramic installations at Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, the Victoria & Albert Museum, Blackwell and for the National Museum and Gallery, Wales. He is the author of a groundbreaking book on Bernard Leach. Professor de Waal has been Chair of the Trustees of the Crafts Study Centre since 2005. His new book A Hare with Amber Eyes: a hidden inheritance is shortly to be published by Chatto and Windus.
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Peter Freeman Reflexive
1 October 2009 until 31 March 2010
4.30pm to 10.00pm
Peter Freeman recalibrated the colour sequence of his popular lighting piece Reflexive for the 2009-10 season. The work changes colour according to air pressure within the lobby of the Crafts Study Centre as well as by a movement sensor.
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Generously supported by the Foyle Foundation
Alice Kettle: Allegory
24 November 2009 until 13 March 2010
Alice Kettle's recent embroidery combines sensitivity with scale. Her keenly anticipated exhibition for the Crafts Study Centre reflects an abiding interest in the way that narrative can be expressed through the medium of machine-worked embroidery.
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Three by One: a selection from 3 public craft collections by Alison Britton
13 January - 19 December 2009
The Crafts Study Centre, together with the Crafts Council and the British Council, presents a major exhibition that focuses on the remarkable modern and contemporary craft collections forged by the three organisations.
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Design Week Review
Crafts Review
The calm before the storm
06 October until 14 November 2009
With a major grant awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to acquire modern craft collections, this exhibition, curated by Jean Vacher, the Centre's Collections Manager, reviews new objects acquired during the Centre's time in Farnham from 2000 onwards.
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Shelley James: printing with light
Until 24 September 2009
Shelley James explores new techniques and the creative possibilities of glass and digital imagery in a group of pieces made during her time as artist in residence at the University for the Creative Arts with new retinal scans generously provided by the School of Vision Sciences at the University of Cardiff.
ARTISTS TALK Wednesday 23rd September view more details
Ritual and setting: ceramics by Ashley Howard
04 August until 26 September 2009
A major new exhibition of monumental ceramics by Ashley Howard originally commissioned for an exhibition at Winchester Cathedral, now shown in the clean white space of the Crafts Study Centre.
ARTISTS TALK Tuesday 22nd September - CANCELLED DUE TO ILL HEALTH
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Shelley James New Work
9 June - 4 July 2009
Shelley James is an innovative glass artist, exploring new techniques and creative possibilities for glass and digital imagery. This ambitious series of new vessels is the outcome of an Arts Council-funded project.
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Gareth Neal: Made to View
2 June - 25 July 2009
Neal's current body of work derives from the aesthetic and conceptual experimentation of his earlier series. Gareth's work was shown as part of the urban FIELD project in 2007 and the exhibition develops the urban FIELD partnership between the Crafts Study Centre and Contemporary Applied Arts.
Artists Talk: Wednesday 10 June 2009
Drinks 5-5.30pm, Talk 5.30-6.00pm: tickets £5 to include a glass of wine or soft drink, booking essential.
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Halima Cassell Dreams Made Manifest
3 March - 23 May 2009
Pakistani-born Halima Cassell is regarded as one of the country's leading young ceramic artists. Her beautiful carved bowls, tiles and sculptures combine strong geometric elements with recurrent patterns and architectural principles.
Artists Talk: Wednesday 20th May 2009 - Drinks 5-5.30pm, Talk 5.30-6.00pm: tickets £5 to include a glass of wine or soft drink, booking essential. NOW SOLD OUT
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Reflexive by Peter Freeman
8 October 2008 - 28 March 2009
Peter Freeman, based in Cornwall, has established an international career as a lighting artist. In this new piece for the Crafts Study Centre's atrium lobby he explores the transformative power of light. The lighting sculpture will be visible Tuesday to Saturday 4:30-9:30pm.
Peter Freeman's LIGHT: craft symposium presentation, October 2008
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Matthew Burt: idea to object
4 November 2008 to 21 February 2009
Matthew Burt's furniture designs are rooted in his respect for the raw material and wood's organic possibilities, as well as care for the long tradition of arts and craft design. The exhibition features new works and archive materials demonstrating the transformation from idea to object.
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Makers & Movers
13 December 2007 - 13 December 2008
This exhibition focuses on the remarkable creative achievements of twelve Trustees of the Crafts Study Centre since its foundation in 1970 who are or have also been practising artists.
Czechmade: a new generation of glassmakers
26 August - 25 October 2008
An exhibition of glass made by leading Czech glass artists and their students on tour from London's Flow Gallery.
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LIGHT craft symposium
8 October 2008, 2-5pm, Tickets £10
A half day urban FIELD international symposium focused on the use of light in craft and art related practice, curated by the new craft consortium urban FIELD and was held at the University for the Creative Arts. A drinks reception followed.
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Sandy Brown: the still point and the dance
1 July - 16 August 2008
This major touring exhibition was held at the Crafts Study Centre and the James Hockey Gallery, Farnham. Large scale sculptural ceramics, huge painted canvases and performances of the Japanese Tea Ceremony featured.
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Carole Waller: Meeting Place
8 April - 21 June 2008
Artist Carole Waller, known for her bold and colourful painted textiles and her fusion of textile and glass in large scale sculptural work, exhibited her work at the Crafts Study Centre in her new exhibition Meeting Place. A touring exhibition and collaboration between Hampshire County Council Museums and Archives Service and the Crafts Study Centre, Meeting Place received generous support from the Foyle Foundation.
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Makeba Lewis: weave
15 January - 29 March 2008
The first museum exhibition of the acclaimed and highly successful woven textile artist and designer. Recent and new work (woven jewellery, pleated scarves and neckpieces) with a special emphasis on hand woven fabric with 24-carat gold and sterling silver threads. These reflect her research into the use of copper yarn and Bakuba textiles, and the exploration of the healing properties of the metal in the context of functional art objects for the body.
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The textiles of Rezia Wahid
25 September 2007 - 5 January 2008
A new exhibition of graceful and subtle woven textiles marked the start of an ambitious and significant national exhibition initiative: The shape of things. New examples of Rezia's signature cloths: translucent hangings expressing the symbolic attribute of 'woven air' featured alongside some of her earlier works.
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Simon Carroll: suggestion & statement
12 June - 15 September 2007
Simon Carroll is one of the few potters working in Britain who occupies, with apparent ease, the difficult and contested ground between painting, sculpture and ceramics. Unconcerned with the traditional boundaries and definitions within art and craft, Carroll moves between painting practice and ceramics, drawing freely upon a wide range of sources. The exhibition was part of a national tour starting at Tate St Ives.
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urban FIELD
10 April - 2 June 2007
This new significant collaboration between three leading crafts venues from London to Devon, plays on the idea of the rural and the urban in the making of contemporary craft.
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Janet Leach: a retrospective
3 February - 31 March 2007
This was the first critical retrospective of the career and work of Janet Leach (1918-97), one of the leading potters of the second half of the twentieth century. The Janet Leach Symposium was held 7 March 2007 chaired by Alison Britton and with lectures by Emmanuel Cooper and Edmund de Waal.
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Modern Craft from the British Council
13 - 31 January 2007
Exuberant, colourful and dazzling, this new exhibition of jewellery, textiles and wood objects featured items recently donated by the British Council from their touring show All that Glisters: New Jewellery from Britain.
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Muriel Rose
31 October 2006 - 3 November 2007
This exhibition considered the life and career of Muriel Rose (1897-1986), a founder, Trustee and a leading advocate for 20th century British craft practitioners. A new book Muriel Rose: a modern crafts legacy, edited by Jean Vacher, with essays by Linda Brassington and Barley Roscoe and foreword by Kate Woodhead is available from our shop priced £5.
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Guy Martin: Whole Life Cost
3 October 2006 - 6 January 2007
On tour from the Devon Guild of Craftsmen in Bovey Tracey, the exhibition focused on issues of sustainability, ethical production and a sense of locality. Work featured spanned furniture, interior design and architecture.
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Ewan Clayton: Practising Contentment
11 July - 23 September 2006
One of the UK's most highly regarded calligraphers, with an international reputation. Ewan's work is both grounded in a deep understanding of the 20th century tradition of calligraphy, and yet it is also experimental and innovative.
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John Hinchcliffe: recent work
7 March - 1 July 2006
John Hinchcliffe's first solo exhibition brought to the fore a life-long interest in the texture and surface of the craft object. His versatility and fascination for surface decoration were revealed in this display of new work.
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Jilly Edwards: Off the Wall
5 December 2005 - 25 February 2006
Drawing inspiration from travel and her fascination for landscape, everyday sights, and a special affection for Japan, the woven textile artist Jilly Edwards revealed these elegant new creations.
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Transformations
11 October 2005 - 15 October 2006
This Crafts Study Centre Collections exhibition looked at 20th century and contemporary craft makers and their source collections. The exhibition examines the relationship between maker and object.Work by Bernard Leach, Ethel Mairet, Peter Collingwood, Magdalene Odundo and Ewan Clayton will feature in the new show. It will focus on the great richness of the permanent collections of the Crafts Study Centre from the craft pioneers through to some of today's most distinguished craft practitioners.
Deirdre Wood: straight & narrow
17 September - 25 November 2005
Deirdre Wood is acclaimed for her interest in, and use of, strip-woven fabrics, a technique still widely practised in Africa. This exhibition presented her recent work, where curving strips of fabric are place in carefully controlled arrangements, enhancing the surrounding architectural space.
Sophie Roet: textiles
14 June - 2 September 2005
This exhibition of Sophie Roet's new collection of woven textiles celebrated the refined, highly sophisticated craft skills still practised in India.
Emmanuel Cooper: stoneware and porcelain
5 April - 3 June 2005
Emmanuel Cooper is highly respected as a potter and as a writer. He explored colour and texture in this exhibition with vibrant yellow glazes, and a new red glaze in this work created specifically for the exhibition.
Takeshi Yasuda: on celadon
11 January - 25 March 2005
This exhibition for the Crafts Study Centre introduced new work in celadon-glazed porcelain. The subtle off-green glaze enhances the emphatic and idiosyncratic forms, delicately drawing attention to the hollows and edges of the pots, as well as their overall mass.
Gwyn Hanssen Piggot: caravan
5 October - 17 December 2004
This first exhibition in the UK of translucent porcelain by the acclaimed potter, Gwyn Hanssen Piggot, was on tour from Tate St Ives.
David Leach: 20th century ceramics
20 July - 24 September 2004
A comprehensive survey of work by one of the UK's best known potters, this exhibition toured from the Devon Guild of Craftsmen in Bovey Tracey, situated close to Leach's Lowerdown Pottery.
Magdalene Odundo: time and again
1 July - 9 July 2004
This rare British show of vessels by Magdalene Odundo was marked with the launch of a new publication on the distinguished maker's work by Lund Humphries.
Crafts in the 20th Century:
a review of the first Crafts Study Centre exhibition, 1972
1 June 2004 - 24 June 2005
This Crafts Study Centre Collections exhibition, held in the new Tanner Gallery named after Robin and Heather Tanner who donated important collections to the Centre from its outset. This major, year-long show focused on the permanent collections recalling the opening exhibition held at the Centre's first home in the Holburne Museum, Bath.