Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
Manchester Craft and Design Centre, Manchester
26 January – 31 March
Reviewed by: Lucie Davies
Banished to the village fête for good, doilies and embroidered cushions are no longer the objects we associate with craft. Now a myriad of selling websites and newspaper features means everybody’s at it. Whether it’s knitting, hand-making soap or amateur attempts at carpentry, making has gone mainstream. Tucked away as it is in the city’s Northern Quarter, Manchester Craft and Design Centre is a hotspot for those seeking inspiration for such undertakings (or purchases, if you’re lazier). Though imitating the contents of latest exhibition ‘Raw’ might prove a little ambitious for most DIYers.
As the title of the show suggests, jeweller and first time curator Alena Asenbryl has attempted to capture the rawness and charming rough-hewn nature of the five professional makers’ work. For her contribution to the gallery as part of Art Council England’s Setting Up Scheme (which allows the maker free studio space from which to sell her wares) Asenbryl has amassed an impressive collection of ceramics, embroidery, jewellery and sculpture, albeit one that hangs a little awkwardly together.
Laura McCafferty’s wobbly-lined illustrative textile wall hangings are the most visually arresting in the centre’s too tiny exhibition space. Depicting everyday scenarios (golden oldies taking a turn on the dancefloor, a pair of purple rinses sat in an amusement arcade), her cartoonish work captures the essence of particular situations and characters by using carefully selected vintage fabrics (florals, patterns) overlaid with child-like embroidery. The effect is bold and uncompromising, belying her craft’s old-fashioned roots.
Similarly, Hanne Mannheimerís’ chunky ceramic cylinders have seemingly careless appeal, each half fitting together with an obvious seam. The effect is fabulously rough and stout-looking, though perhaps a little domineering next to Cathy Miles’ delicate wire bird sculptures and their cutesy speech bubble grumbles.
Dribbled with gold glaze on their edges, Bethan Lloyd Worthington’s delightfully wonky porcelain bowls and cups are covered in scrawled fanciful illustrations with witty titles – from anti-capitalist jibes to Paula Rego-esque subverted nursery rhymes. These stealth tactics – concealing a sort of gentle ideology behind an appealingly functional object – is echoed too in the organic metal pieces by North West-based jeweller Beth Hughes, the dull material giving an almost iron-like appearance to delicate buds and flowers. Her brash yet beautiful statement piece – a huge collar of twisted metal stems – hints at what Asenbryl might have achieved here with a little more space and experience.
Lucie Davies
Writer detail:
Lucie is a Manchester-based writer, who works for various newspapers and magazines. She knits and creates her own jewellery from buttons, but in her reviewer capacity enjoys all forms of contemporary art, video art and illustration in particular. She is currently considering taking up tap-dancing.
Venue detail:
Manchester Craft and Design Centre
17 Oak Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester M4 5JD
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