The success of the exhibition Academic Choice combines the scrutiny and care of each individual selector and the persuasive reasoning each one has given to support their choice of objects from the Centre’s collections. The first exhibition focused on selections made by academic staff from the University for the Creative Arts. For this second exhibition, we have drawn from a wider academic constituency, including UCA staff, but also visiting International staff from partner Higher Education Institutions who spend time on their projects based in the Centre.
The intention remains to curate an eclectic and idiosyncratic exhibition that explores the deep reaches of the Crafts Study Centre’s collections and its remarkable archives. We are delighted that among the 2016 selectors will be Professor Simon Ofield-Kerr, Vice Chancellor of the University for the Creative Arts; Sharon Ting, Course Leader, BA Textiles for Fashion and Interiors, Jean Vacher, Curator of the Crafts Study Centre, Dr Victoria Kelley, Reader in the History of Design and Material Culture, UCA as well as independent colleagues such as Áslaug Thorlacius, Director of the Reykjavik School of Visual Arts and the Crafts Study Centre’s Founder Fellow in Modern Craft, Dr Stephen Knott and the emerging writer and researcher Kimberley Chandler.
The exhibition will also present Bernard Leach’s source collection of ceramics (chosen by the Director of the Crafts Study Centre, and the focus of his current research).
