Place Makers: Craft ACT Member showcase

This year's member exhibition, Place Makers, is an absolute blockbuster, attracting attention from all quarters. With 75 artists, all of whom are professional members of the organisation, and over 130 works, it showcases activity across all of Craft ACT’s membership mediums: Ceramics, Textiles, Wood, Metals, Design, Paper, Mixed Media, and Glass. The exhibition highlights Canberra’s distinctive identity, distinguished by design, experimentation and craftsmanship. It was opened by Canberra businessman and arts philanthropist Malcolm Snow.

The mix of work is exciting. Established artists like ceramicist Bev Hogg mix with emerging contemporaries such as Richilde Flavell, whose ceramics production business, Girl Nomad, is used by many of Canberra’s hippest restaurants. There are international stars like industrial designer Tom Skeehan, and a plethora of glass artists – nine, to be exact – who were recently shortlisted in the prestigious Hindmarsh prize. Glass is one of the strengths of the Canberra craft community, and when you see the work on offer, those shortlists are no surprise.

Kirstie Rea, From a Still Point 2, 2018. Digital print on glass. Photo: David Patterson. 

The exhibition even spills out of the building with Paper/textiles artist Marilou Chagnaud showing her dazzling installation, The Wave Machine, downstairs in CMAG’s outdoor gallery. This collaboration with Canberra Museum and Gallery also showcases Craft ACT’s other huge contribution to the region’s cultural calendar: DESIGN Canberra.

Marilou Chagnaud, The Wave Machine, 2017. Screenprinted Japanese paper, Tasmanian oak frame and installation (Wood frame, Shaun Duggan). Installed in the Hindmarsh Project Space, CMAG. 

Place Makers runs in the Craft ACT gallery until 20 October. There's an accompanying season of floor talks by participating artists, clustered by medium: 

13 September, 12:30pm: Mixed Media 

22 September, 12:30pm: Textiles

6 October, 12:30: Ceramics

11 October, 12:30: Metals/Glass

Check our Facebook page for more details. 

All unacknowledged images are by 5ft Photography.