Word up

This year, Craft Victoria turns the big four-oh (as in 'oh yes!' rather than 'oh no...') and we've lined up a whole slew of special events and projects to celebrate this.

Anthea and client at the 2009 L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival

First up is a series of four essays commissioned as part of Craft Word, a collection of essays celebrating Craft Victoria. To get things started, fashion designer Anthea Van Kopplen (of the envelope project) has penned a most excellent article on the subject of excess in fashion.

Click here to have a read.

What a way to kick off the week!

A word from Kevin Murray...

You've heard about Emma's exhibition Morphed, and shortly after that about Alana's show Visible Knitting: New Markings, so today CLOG is proud to present a word from The World of Small Things curator Kevin Murray!

Aside from being a past Director here at CVHQ, Kevin is the eloquent and articulate voice behind Craft Unbound, which is something that you definitely have to check it out if you haven't already!

For today's CLOG post, Kevin has written up a wonderful piece on his exhibition which is currently residing in Gallery 1. The World of Small Things is on for 2 more weeks until Saturday 25 July, so be sure to catch it before it ends!

We do have more photos of the exhibition on the blog, and to view them please click here.

An exhibition is always ends up being more than some beautiful objects sitting on plinths. It's also a conversation about the broader context in which those works sit. In the case of the World of Small Things, this conversation has been about how to best work with artisans from less well-off countries, both to alleviate poverty and to introduce fresh new creative energies into urban cultures like our own.

Part of this conversation is conducted in the 'After the Missionaries' issue of Artlink, which follows a number of artists as they seek to work with communities on the other half of the world. One of the highlights for me has been Connie Zheng's launch of the magazine at Craft Victoria, where she spoke about the misunderstandings between Chinese and 'foreign devils' like us - she should be working for Rio Tinto right now!

But one of the constant frustrations is language. We have certain terms for talking about the two worlds. There's the 'developed' and 'developing', the 'first' and 'third worlds'. I tend to prefer Global South and Global North, as it's less evaluative but the geography is dubious. According to the World Bank, you should say Higher-Income and Lesser-Income countries. Producers and consumers? It's a continuing challenge and I welcome suggestions for better terminology.

The forum about craft practice 'across the great divide' was wonderful. There was such a wealth of experience in the people who came to share their views and experiences. It's surprising to see the number of people already working in this area, as well as new retail stores opening that will stock the work produced. It seemed such as shame to stop this conversation that we've started a group 'Craft without Borders', which can be found at http://www.crafttalk.ning.com/. It's just starting out, so you are welcome to drop in and see if you'd like to contribute.

The area of world craft has trouble fitting into existing structures. It is certainly an abiding concern in many makers - from pilgrims who visit sites of traditional craft to entrepeneurs seeking to create an ethical product. Like other craft, it is committed to the handmade, but its sphere of interests is quite broad. It's not for everyone, but it seems an important source of engagement between the two worlds (see above for appropriate terminology).

I always admire artists who go off the beaten track. It involves great risk, but it seems to have been the driving force of change in craft. Where would Australian ceramics be today without the few who had gone off to Japan in the 20th century. Where would Australian jewellery be today without those who blazed the trail to Germany. Perhaps World of Small Things is a glimpse of our craft future?

One of the pleasing elements in the South Project was to see opportunities for local artists to establish new craft conversations. Craft seems much more conducive to equal exchange than fields like architecture or even visual art, where there is clear Western dominance. That's why to assist this exchange that the World Craft Council are working on a Code of Practice for Craft-Design Collaborations.

You'll notice one glaring omission in the exhibition - there is nothing from Latin America. There is actually a sequel called El Mundo de las Cositas (Spanish translation of 'world of small things'). This is because the 'cosita' is a very special source of craft across the Pacific, associated particularly with carnival and street culture. The idea of the Latin sequel is to include something that is a little more playful, though with serious politics underneath.

I'm heading off to Chile at the end of the month to visit some studios, including the amazing horse-hair weaving. This time I hope that there will opportunity for some workshops so that we can all think about the kind of 'cositas' that might enchant our world.

Viva world craft!

Liz Low's diary (16 to 21)

And the final day, right on schedule:

Read all about it!

The lovely and very articulate Daniel Neville, author of The Theory of Nevolution blog has written a most wonderfully insightful review of CVHQ's current exhibition roster featuring Simon Lloyd, Natasha Dusenjko and Liz Low.

Do have a read! It's really very good. Thank you very much for this review Daniel.

In other news, Karen of Melbourne Jeweller blog dropped by CVHQ sometime last week to say hello, talk blogs and visit the exhibition (of course). Karen has also reviewed Natasha's exhibition babel and it too is another splendid read.

As we all know, good things come in threes and Soren from Buro North design studio has also written a post about babel in the Buro North blog.

Be sure to check these blogs out. It's always lovely to read about ahem, yourself isn't it?

And we promise there weren't any bribes involved... we swear!

Liz Low's diary (days 8 to 15)

Liz Low's diary (days 3 to 7)

Here are some more shots of Liz's progress log from days 3 to 7. Don't forget, click to enlarge the image and to make reading easier!

Days 8 to 14 coming soon to a CLOG post near you, so stay tuned.

Summer reading...

With our last day of trading almost here (CVHQ closes next week, on Saturday 20 December) and CLOG going on hiatus, we thought we'd make sure our wonderful readers had something else to read during the upcoming Summer months. We're always thinking about you, dear reader!

Recently published was our annual publication, Craft Culture. Instead of its usual hardcopy format, this year Craft Culture goes digital! Hurrah for technology. Craft Culture features a selection of 22 thoughtfully-written and thought-provoking essays by respected writers such as Kevin Murray, Robyn Phelan, Ramona Barry and of course, CVHQ's very own, Nella Themelios.

You can access Craft Culture by clicking this link. With 22 articles to read, if you read one a day it'll be just in time to welcome Craft Victoria back when we reopen on 20 January!

For our voracious readers out there, we've got another recent publication up our sleeves for you. Notions of Space is a hardcopy magazine that was jointly organised by Craft Victoria and RMIT School of Architecture and Design. Available in digital format as well, click here to access this wonderful publication.

Also up for your viewing is the RMIT Design Archives Newsletter, which is accessible here, and last but not least, Janelle Dunstan, our wonderful Library Intern, has put together a catalogue of the contents of our library! This is great news for all you students and knowledge-hungry people, the Craft Victoria library (which was established in the 1970s) is a great resource for all things to do with craft, art and design.

In 2009 we will be upping the ante on our collection, so expect many new and fabulous publications. To use the library, you will need to make an appointment to visit during weekday open hours. Please note that publications may only be viewed at Craft Victoria. This is because we are not set up to lend, though of course, yours truly would be very pleased to assist you!