Archives for Britain

West Dean College Supports Red List For Endangered Crafts in UK

Posted May 16, 2017 at 9:42 am in Design, News

HERITAGE crafts such as making clogs, pianos and blocks for millinery are still produced in Britain – but only just. Recent research by The Heritage Craft Association (HCA) reveals that many of Britain’s traditional craft skills are in decline and in some cases, no longer practised.  The Radcliffe Red List of Endangered Crafts is the title of the new project launched by HCA, supported by the Radcliffe Trust, which endeavours to oversee the viability of heritage craft skills on a regular basis. Their research reveals that the emergence of new technologies and an ageing workforce affect the viability of some craft practices but a lack of affordable workshops, training courses and business skills compromise others.

Heritage Craft Association, West Dean College, heritage crafts, Red ListWest Dean College student, Stacey Hibberd. Photograph courtesy of Christopher Ison

At present, Britain is one of the few countries that have chosen not to back UNESCO’s convention regarding the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage which supports craft skills. Greta Bertram, who led the research, has highlighted the need this month for increased government funding said, “For too long we have been bounced between heritage – which means historic buildings and museums – and arts – things that you can put on a shelf and admire.”

Heritage Craft Association, West Dean College, heritage crafts, Red ListWest Dean College student, Francesca Levey. Photograph courtesy of Christopher Ison

West Dean College in Chichester, who support the new Red List proposals have launched a brand new foundation degree in Historic Craft Practice which teaches metalwork, furniture, musical instrument-making and horology. The horology course includes a project for making an 18th century clock.

Heritage Craft Association, West Dean College, heritage crafts, Red ListWest Dean College student, Fons Vogel. Photograph courtesy of Christopher Ison

Apart from teaching crafts practice and tool-making, the course also endeavours to equip students with valuable business skills. Francine Norris, the Director for Education at West Dean College which specialises in conservation and creative arts education and is validated by the University of Sussex, said, “We hope the List will raise awareness of our rich craft heritage and encourage people to consider learning traditional skills many of which are still relevant today.”

by Miranda Charalambous

Front page image: West Dean College horology student. Photograph courtesy of Christopher Ison

 

 

 

 

Martin Parr New Show at Photographer’s Gallery, London

Posted February 26, 2017 at 2:51 pm in Art, News

MARTIN Parr, the British documentary photographer, photojournalist and avid observer of social class has captured the foibles and absurdities of the general public for three decades. His droll and uncompromising images of Britain in the ‘90s exposed a brash nation of resolute flag-wavers, voracious fast-food addicts and overcooked walruses broiling on Benidorm’s beaches.

However, a new exhibition which opens at the Photographer’s Gallery in London next week reveals Parr’s earlier work to be more observational and far less derogatory. The show, entitled The Ceremony of Life: Early Works by Martin Parr displays rare black and white prints from the photographer’s first major series which document the people and places he encountered in England and Ireland during the ‘70s and ‘80s.

 

Martin Parr, The Photographer's Gallery, London
Martin Parr, Steep Lane Baptist Chapel buffet lunch, Sowerby, Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England, UK, 1977.
From the series “The Non-Conformists”, Courtesy of Martin Parr/Magnum Photos/Rocket Gallery

 

After graduating from Manchester Polytechnic in the 1970s, Parr moved to Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire where he set up a workshop with two fellow students. Fascinated by the traditional way of life around him, he immersed himself in the local scene and with camera in hand, assumed a familiar presence at church services, street parties and village fetes. The writer, Val Williams described Parr’s as “a cunning photographer, sidling his way into situations where he shouldn’t always be, looking as ordinary as the people he photographs.”

Offbeat and eccentric for their time, these works display the quirkiness that would later hallmark his distinctive style.

Martin Parr, Photographer's Gallery, LondonMartin Parr, Morecombe, Lancashire, England, UK 1976, Courtesy of Martin Parr/Magnum Photos/Rocket Gallery

 

Parr’s early scenes seem nostalgic and poignant like this windswept beach at Morecombe, recorded at a time when Britain’s pleasure parks were in full swing and bouncy castles were a novelty. Ballrooms like this one at Drumshambo in Ireland became regular venues for showbands but later, their entertainment provided a welcome respite from the farming crisis that hit the communities around it.

Martin Parr, Photographer's Gallery, LondonMartin Parr, Mayflower Ball, Drumshambo, County Leitrim, Ireland 1983.
From the series “A Fair Day”, Courtesy of Martin Parr/Magnum Photos/Rocket Gallery

 

Martin Parr is a full member of Magnum Photographic Cooperative and has exhibited widely including the Barbican Gallery and the National Media Museum in Yorkshire. He has also been guest curator at the New York Photo Festival, the Brighton Photo Biennial and Artistic Director for Rencontres D’Arles.

by Miranda Charalambous

The exhibition, The Ceremony of Life: Early Works by Martin Parr opens at The Photographer’s Gallery, 16 – 18 Ramillies Street, London W1F 7LW

Telephone: +44 (020) 7087 9300

Email: info@tpg.org.uk

Website: www.thephotographersgallery.org.uk

Front page image: Martin Parr, Steep Lane Baptist Chapel buffet lunch, Sowerby, Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England, UK, 1977, From the series “The Non-Conformists”, Courtesy of Martin Parr/Magnum Photos/Rocket Gallery

 

 

 

 

Victoria and Albert Museum Remembers John Lockwood Kipling

Posted November 18, 2016 at 3:45 pm in Art, Design, News

THE designer and architectural sculptor, John Lockwood Kipling is the focus of a new show at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London which opens early next year. An influential figure of the Arts and Crafts Movement of the Nineteenth Century, Lockwood Kipling is perhaps better known as the illustrator of Jungle Book and Kim, stories written by his son, Rudyard. Motivated as a young man by the fabulous displays of Indian craftwork at the Great Exhibition of 1851, Lockwood became a keen advocate of Indian craft which he later taught at the Mayo School of Industrial Arts in Lahore, India (now the National College of Art).

Overlooking the John Madejski garden at the Victoria and Albert Museum is an interesting mosaic plaque commemorating Godfrey Sykes’ decorative terracotta work for the South Kensington Museum, as it was formerly known. Lockwood, who took part in the project, is shown carrying a scroll followed by Henry Cole, the first director of the museum.

Mosaic panel after Godfrey Sykes, c.a. 1866, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Far from being an imperialist, Lockwood was concerned with the decline in traditional craft skills, a consequence of the cheap European imports infiltrating India during the Industrial Revolution. As an architectural sculptor, Lockwood inclined towards natural forms which inspired new designs for industrial art, in combination with the historical works at the Lahore Museum of which he was curator. Writing in 1880, he recorded, “I have observed that very little is popularly known of the fishes of the country; many are curious in form and beautiful in colour.”

Wood Carver from a collection depicting craftsmen of the North West provinces of
British India by John Lockwood. Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum

The exhibition, Lockwood Kipling: Arts and Crafts in the Punjab will show original displays first seen by Lockwood at the Great Exhibition of 1851, artefacts chosen by Lockwood for the Victoria and Albert Museum and furniture he designed for Queen Victoria’s homes at Bagshot Park and Osborne House. Lockwood’s fascinating collection of sketches depicting Indian wood-carvers, metallurgists, ceramists, jewellery and toy makers will also be on display. Other exhibits include a piano decorated by Edward Burne-Jones played by Lockwood’s wife, Alice Macdonald and her embroidery for the Red House, the home of William Morris.

Bracelet shown at the Great Exhibition made in Rajasthan, India, c.a. 1850, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

by Miranda Charalambous

The free exhibition, Lockwood Kipling: Arts and Crafts in the Punjab, made in collaboration with the Bard Graduate Center, New York opens from January 14 until April 2, 2017 at The Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7942 2000
Email: contact@vam.ac.uk

Front page image: The Great Exhibition, India No.4 by Joseph Nash, c.a. 1851, Royal Collection Trust, Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2016