Shift : What is the Work of Art?

Last night I went to the preview of “Shift : What is the Work of Art?” at the Black Swan Arts Centre in Frome  where I have the pleasure of being one of the artists chosen to take part.

Curator, Kim Wood, picked my animations “The Storm” and “Rain” .

Outside a glass blower was making a shape with the words art and craft written on it just to get us in the right frame of mind!

Upstairs in the gallery the exhibition consists of work by 7 of us ranging from Max Jacquard’s iconic recycled glass figure “Albion” stitched with bronze wire to Tom Bayliss‘s structures as “hobbyist model maker”.

Kim writes that our work ” sits on the fluid boundaries between what could be perceived of as ‘art’ and ‘craft’”

Johanna Dahn, Senior Lecturer in Critical Studies in Art and Design at the Bath School of Art and Design gave a short talk which highlighted the art/craft debate and the relationship to the work on show. She talked about how craft is process driven and how it has been seen in recent years as the inferior partner to art. She suggested how the pieces in the exhibition question our notions of what is art or craft, how the artists have played with the materials, integrated art forms, challenged our perceptions, and have extended the design process and made something else.

Johanna finished her talk with words to the effect of “Art or craft? Or is it something else? …and who cares anyway as long as it is an expression of the artists intent”  

 I think her last words were the best answer.

Come and see the exhibition and see what you think. It runs until the 16th February.

See more information about the exhibition here and here on Facebook

Can’t get to the exhibition and want to see my animations?

Click here