Author: Liz Cooper London
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The Artists in “Make it OK”
DOROTHY CALDWELL Dorothy Caldwell’s practice is shaped by differing landscapes. “My work is a map of land and memory. I am interested in the landmarks that give a sense of place and how humans mark and visualise the land they were personally drawn to. Identifying my own personal landmarks, through gathering, touching, and recording is…
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What Do I Need to Do to Make it OK? An introduction
I launched a new touring exhibition in 2015 entitled “What Do I Need to Do to Make it OK?” The exhibition includes specially commissioned work, using stitch and other media, to explore damage and repair, disease and medicine, healing and restoration, to landscapes, bodies, minds and objects. The title is taken from a 2013 talk…
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Transplantation: touring international jewellery show 2012-2015
One of the larger touring projects I managed for The National Centre for Craft & Design was “Transplantation: a sense of place and culture”, conceived of and curated by jeweller Norman Cherry and focusing on stories of movement and migration. It featured six UK based and six Australian based makers and toured to 15 venues…
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Making and Mending – the original exhibition in 2009
The project came directly out of my research in early 2008 for the Michael Swaine ‘Door to Door Darning’ project, and was an eclectic mixture of textile artists engaged in use of the actual darn, and other visual artists whose concentrated on community engagement projects, attempting to make things better for members of the public.…
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Door to Door Darning with Michael Swaine, 2008
Michael Swaine darns at the Alexandra Palace bus-stop, October 2008. Photo by Rob Kennard. This is an important project for me, in two ways. It was the first for which I received direct Arts Council England support, rather than via an organisation (although it was a feature at 2008 The Knitting and Stitching Show, and…
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Renate Keeping: Ripeness and Age 2014
Image: Windfall apples from Renate’s garden on top of the family piano with her drawing materials. In 2014 I developed a survey project for The Knitting & Stitching Show, of work by textile artist Renate Keeping. This exhibition was initially developed as a retrospective after consultation with Renate, a former member of the 62 Group,…
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Working with the Twisted Thread portfolio (an historical view)
Image: Work by Alice Kettle at the Spring Knitting & Stitching Show 2013. I was freelance installation manager for “Twisted Thread” from 2003 to 2018, and also researched and curated a number of shows for them. This organisation ran The Knitting & Stitching Shows in England, Scotland and Ireland, and The Festival of Quilts (now…
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Installing ‘Beauty is the First Test’ at Bilston Craft Gallery
This touring exhibition was at Bilston Craft Gallery in Wolverhampton from 7 September to 2nd November 2013. The space is a similar size to the main gallery at NCCD but architecturally it works in a very different way, as internal partitions divide into three zones. The space can be very bright with its integral fillets…
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“Growing” – celebrating The National Centre for Craft & Design’s 10th birthday
This exhibition was on show in the main gallery of The National Centre for Craftt &Design at Sleaford from 20 July – 29 September 2013, to mark NCCD’s 10th anniversary. Co-curated by my colleague Laura Mabbutt, then NCCD’s exhibitions manager, and me, and showing work by over 35 artists and designers nominated as future stars,…
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Beauty is the First Test – film by Electric Egg
Part of this project involved a new film commission made by Lincoln-based Electric Egg. They took as their starting point my sentence: “In craft we seek to explore the relationship of the process to materials, of hand to form, of eye to object.” The film, conceived of and created by Neil Baker and Steve Hatton,…
Liz Cooper 