Exhibition space I am very pleased to have just joined ‘Made by the Hands of Britain’. I think the site gives small designer makers such as myself a great opportunity to reach an audience our individual web sites would be unlikely to attract. I still feel however that as someone making things from wood whether the furniture or a small serving board that people really should be able to see and touch the pieces. When you do a show it is really interesting to see how compelling it is for people to reach out and touch the item. The items I make are hopefully tactile and people have an emotional response to them. However good the photography is you can’t give people this experience online. I am therefore on a mission at the moment to find somewhere where people can see and touch the furniture. Shows are fine whilst one day markets are not suitable for furniture - it needs to be a gallery type space and this isn’t easy to find. I approached a local art society regarding membership this week as they have shows. This raised the question with them of whether furniture is craft or art. They have members that are sculptors and I would argue that there is a sculptural element to my work and that some of it is artistic but I can understand the problem as my work is not purely functional nor is it purely art but a tricky mixture of the two. This then leaves you as a furniture maker with a problem because most art galleries tend to be interested in what is purely art and craft galleries tend to favour small items. I was told a couple of years ago by another furniture maker that anything they made over £300 during the recession tended to remain in the gallery they used for a long time and the few specialist ‘wood’ galleries that I am aware of are essentially full. I’m not sure if Somerset is better or worse than other counties but it seems that there is a shortage of gallery space which you assume must reflect economic reality. I just wonder how many other designer makers there are who need the same kind of outlet. My vision would certainly be of a fairly noisy place once you had combined furniture making with blacksmithing and other ‘dirty’ crafts but it would be a lively and creative place to visit. I am going to explore the idea or dream further as if nothing else the recession has also left a lot of unoccupied spaces. I would love to hear from anyone else who is already involved in such a project or looking for space in this sort of place.
Posted on: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 15:05:09 +0000
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