Moon Landing by Margo Selby x Cynthia Corbett Gallery @ COLLECT 2024 – Photo by David Parry/PA Wire, courtesy of COLLECT Fair.
Crafts, Design – Presented by the UK’s Crafts Council at The Somerset House in London, COLLECT 2024 has celebrated its 20th anniversary, showcasing the work of over 400 artists and 40 galleries. “Within our contingent of gallery directors at the 2024 fair, the vast majority of them are women or form part of the senior ownership, representing 83% of all the galleries taking part.” Fair Director Isobel Dennis told Archipanic. The Crafts Council itself has a majority of women among its staff from the top down. COLLECT has always been led by women.
- RELATED STORIES: Read more about COLLECT on Archipanic.
Anne Athena @ COLLECT 2024.
“Women in craft today stand on the shoulders of giants with key figures from the 20th century like Anni Albers for textiles, Lucie Rie for ceramics and Wendy Ramshaw for jewellery. Women in craft will always be, and remain, a critical voice in the market with many female leaders amongst collectors, gallerists and critics alike.” Says Isobel Dennis.
“However, it continues to be more subtle than this. In the most recent iteration of the fair, we heard more female stories: Some fabulous work as the voice of neurodiversity as a woman on the autism spectrum via Anne Athena, the playful but poignant ‘Menopause in Maiolica’ by Katrin Moye, and the South African Indian identity, culture, and queerness from Talia Ramkilawan.”
Joanna Bird, a COLLECT veteran
Halima Cassell x Joanna Bird Contemporary Collections – Courtesy of COLLECT Fair.
Joanna Bird Contemporary Collections has attended every fair edition over the past twenty years. “Our role in the crafts world of today – not only craftswomen but also gallerists, curators, collectors and professionals at large – is as multi-faceted as multi-tasking,” gallerist Joanna Bird told Archipanic. “Over the last twenty years, women have become bolder in their thinking, stronger in their work, and by so doing – building their confidence and power of communicating – it is great to see.”
Among the artists she brought to collect is Halima Cassell, who presented intricate ceramic vessels. “Our role can bring joy into every day of our lives; stimulate discourse; amaze us with an unembarrassed creative spirit; make us deeper thinkers and more aware of who we are and what we can achieve.”
Exploring identity and sexuality, Emily Gibbard @ Collect Open
Photo by David Parry/PA Wire, courtesy of COLLECT Fair.
Female empowerment, prehistoric sculpture, pottery and personal body discovery are the key ingredients of Emily Gibbard’s craft. At Collect 2024, the Bristol-based ceramist presents biomorphic sculptural forms exploring body perception, identity and sexuality. The artworks were among the selected pieces of Collect Open, the fair’s platform for experimental proposals and installations by individual artists and collectives.
Migrants’ narratives by Divya Sharma @ Collect Open
Photo by David Parry/PA Wire, courtesy of COLLECT Fair.
Drawing from her own journey as a migrant, London-based artist Divya Sharma finds herself irresistibly drawn to the exploration of narratives that transcend boundaries and geographies. At Collect Open, she presented a monumental tapestry with narratives that explore possibilities to re-imagine the notion of belonging.
Lilyfoot by Shona Heath
Photo by David Parry/PA Wire, courtesy of COLLECT Fair.
Shona Heath, the Academy Award-winning production designer for the female-empowering movie Poor Things [read the interview], has unveiled Lilyfoot, a debut collection of ceramics made from stoneware, wood, and opalescent glass. Initially conceived for a fantastical set and crafted in collaboration with 1882ltd, the quirky, fragile, and playful series “stays true to the delicate, breakable nature of ceramics,” Heath told Archipanic.
‘Menopause in Majolica’ by Katrin Moye
Courtesy of COLLECT.
“Our generation is the first to talk about menopause, and we are only just beginning to represent it through our culture.” Ceramic artist Katrin Moye addresses this subject through the historical lens of the apothecary jars by producing and displaying a collection of large-scale vessels, each illustrating an aspect of the menopause experience.
Moon Landing by Margo Shelby
Photo by David Parry/PA Wire, courtesy of COLLECT Fair.
British textile artist Margo Shelby – presented by Cynthia Corbett Gallery – knitted a site-specific installation reflecting the five floors of the Stamp Stair at Somerset House. Visitors could ascend and descend the spiral staircase, taking in the full detail of the 12.5m handwoven piece. “Moon Landing is a celebration of the mathematical and technical possibilities of weaving and the crossovers of pattern, tone and rhythm found in both music and woven textiles.”
Talia Ramkilawan explores female identity, culture, and queerness
Photo via IG, follow @taliaramkilawan.
“Transformation does not require that we suffer or torture ourselves. It can happen in quiet moments of peace and stillness too,” believes Talia Ramkilawan. Presented by Galerie REVEL, the South African visual artist and teacher uses wool to visualise the complexity of one’s relationship to her and her world. Talia’s work serves as a personal exercise in both reckoning and healing: needling through her relationships with self, family, friends, lovers, queerness, South African Indianness, indenture, and a chain of social and historical complexities that follows.
Neurodiversity through Crafts by Anne Athena
Courtesy of COLLECT.
Ceramic artist Anne Athena – presented by Alveston Fine Arts – expresses her unmasked ‘true voice’ as a female creative diagnosed with Autism Spectrum disorder. Her hand-thrown vessels are decorated with intricate hand paintings and mark-making, employing figurative and surreal symbolism to reveal the depths of human nature. “My mind works in images, symbols and colours. This is my language. This is how I understand the world and process life.”
