Devon Guild of Craftsmen
The Devon Guild of Craftsmen is a large contemporary crafts centre, with gallery, shop and café (Open daily 10am – 5.30pm)
We support over 240 Members based in the South West who combine traditional craft media (such as glass, ceramic or wood) with innovative design approaches including use of digital technology or sustainable methods.
We want to enable a wider understanding of craft techniques and we do this through our educational charity ‘Big Hand, Little Hand’.
We arrange for qualified craftspeople to work with local schools on projects teaching practical creative skills also relating to the curriculum.
We also organise regular talks, field trips, tours and demos for the whole community to learn about craft-making.
Most events relate directly to our programme of contemporary craft exhibitions which features international designers, Guild Members, graduates and emerging makers. Our exhibitions seek to prompt critical thinking in the viewer and challenge expectations about how craft is defined. We provide supporting notes to help interpret the work as well as other contextual resources and activities for students, teachers and families.
Our gallery aims to provide a positive ‘learning outside the classroom’ experience and can help arrange group visits (please pre-book) also offering guided tours and introductions to the exhibition. Let us know if the exhibition will inform a key area of learning or if the group requires any special provision.
KEY EXHBITIONS FOR LEARNING 2012:
14 January – 26 February 2012
VOICES - expressive approaches to quilting by the international Quilt Art group.
See how current makers are working differently from past traditions, especially in how they use other media.
Explore how different cultures of today are making work that questions ideas about ‘customs’ and crosses the boundaries of function and art-form.
Featuring exhibitors from the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and USA.
Project ideas: studying customs, local history/records, artefacts and stories, textile art, mixed-media approaches
Workshop: Digital imagery in stitched textiles,
Saturday 11 February 10am - 4pm
A workshop by Sandra Meech in stitched collage using mixed media materials including printed and/or painted paper and fabric. £50 (£40), Phoenix Hall, Bovey Tracey. 01626 832223.
Saturday 10 March - Sunday 22 April Blue - a Flow Gallery touring exhibition
Why has the colour blue been so important in craft history? The theme is traced in work by global artists mainly working in textiles and ceramics. How does this new work refer to past traditions of blue and white decoration, or heritage and use of blue pigment in Europe and the Far East? Do the techniques and media found here change our view of how cultures craft their histories?
Also see our associated exhibition: ‘Tracing the Blueprint’ (24 February - 26 March 2012).
Project ideas: history and tradition - art/stories/rituals and objects, historical costume/fashion, decoration in religion, colour palette, pattern in design, industrial design, trade and economic production
Saturday 5 May - Sunday 17 June 2012 Engaging the Senses
An collection of multi-media work that challenges the conventional gallery experience. The installations and soundscapes are all interactive and prompt responses from different or multiple senses, such as touch and smell. Investigate how new ideas, thoughts or feelings can be triggered and expressed. What is synesthesia? What’s it like having mixed or limited sensory responses? How are these objects’ design approaches different from simply visual? The exhibits offer greater access and enhanced experience of shape, form and material to visitors, with specific consideration to individuals who are physically or neurologically impaired, have limited mobility or learning issues. We are encouraging continuing partnership-projects inspired by this exhibition. Braille information and soft-activities available.
FREE. Open daily. 10am-5.30pm. 01626 8322233
Saturday 15 September - Sunday 4 November Rivers and Streams: Photography by Jem Southam 
Jem, respected UK photographer, presents a 3-year investigation of the River Exe’s network of streams, confluences and estuary. Large-format prints show sites revisited over long periods using techniques capturing seasonal variation, atmospheric conditions and effects of time on this natural resource. This work encourages enquiry about documenting environmental change and what reality is, according to the photographer’s eye. Viewers can discuss its difference from other artistic mediums and why digital or film photography can be presented as a ‘craft’.
Jem talks about his practice on 18 Sept.
Project ideas: view-finding/perception, geographical and historical exploration, navigation, environment, value of natural resources, waterways, story-telling/recording landscape and nature.
KEY AREAS OF LEARNING (schools and colleges): Art & Design, Resistant Materials, Design & Technology; Technology, Media Studies, Graphics, Textiles, Fine Art, Design & Craft, Creative Media, Fashion & Textiles, Photography, Art History, 3-D Design, Spatial Design, Interior Textiles & Surface Design, Applied Arts, Contemporary Design, Contemporary Crafts, Ceramics, Glass, Metals, Printmaking, Drawing, Illustration and Print, Silversmithing and Jewellery, Curatorial Practice; Art and Environment, Arts Management.
ALL EXHIBITIONS ARE FREE. Open daily. 10am-5.30pm. 01626 8322233
FOR RELATED EVENTS TALKS AND WORKSHOPS: http://www.crafts.org.uk/events.aspx
CONTACT: 01626 8322233 phil.deburlet@crafts.org.uk www.crafts.org.uk
Devon Guild of Craftsmen,
Riverside Mill,
Bovey Tracey,
Devon
TQ13 9AF
Please visit our website for more details of exhibitions, events and our education policy.
