CCI-newsletter-1984-48-November-December

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1984

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Crafts Council of Ireland Thomas Prior House Merrion Road Dublin 4

Telephone 680764 / 603070

FINANCE MINISTER MEETS COUNCIL DELEGATES The Minister for Finance, Mr Alan Dukes, met a delegation from the Crafts Council on 8th November.

The main item on the agenda was that of V.A.T. concessions for the craft sector and the delegation made a forceful case for some amelioration of the 35% rate which applies to so many products of the sector, pointing out among other arguments that this was a tax on labour in a labour intensive sector and hence a disincentive to employment. A new initiative on V.A.T. was also proposed in the light of the Register of Professional Craftsmen (see elsewhere in the Newsletter).

Other matters discussed related to the Minister being requested to give to the crafts sector recognition as being at least equally important as the arts.

This applies in particular to section 32(1) of the 1984 Finance Act which allows donors of financial gifts to approved bodies in the field of art and design, to enjoy tax concessions but does not mention crafts; nor is crafts mentioned or included in tax free benefits applying to artists and authors.

The delegation which was led by the Chairman William D. Finlay, included Michael Jackson, Rudolf Heltzel and the Executive Officer.

The outcome? Time will tell. The reception was courteous and attentive.

Three turned bowls by David Ellsworth.

WOODTURNERS' SEMINAR David Ellsworth was the star attraction at this years annual seminar of the Irish Woodturners Guild held in the Letterfrack Craft Centre which, of course, concentrates on developing woodturning and woodcraft skills to young people. David Ellsworth, from the U.S.A., is noted for his particular skills in the production of bowls of almost paper thin walls with openings of small diameter, requiring special tools and considerable ability.

N.C.E.A. CHAIRMAN Professor Justin Keating, former Coalition Minister for Industry and Commerce and who was for.two years up to June 1984 Chairman of the Crafts Council, has been appointed Chairman of the National Council for Education Awards.

WOODTURNERS' DUBLIN SHOW The Irish Guild of Woodturners is a very active body. Not content with an annual seminar and the importation of speakers and workshop leaders of the calibre of David Ellsworth, Richard Raffan, Mick O'Donnell and Ray Keay, all

internationally respected figures, they have been planning a major exhibition for the spring of 1985 in the Bank of Ireland exhibition hall in Dublin. It will be interesting to see what new developments will be shown as the work of all members has been quite dramatically progressing in skill in the last few years.

THEBURREN The exhibition The Burren: Impressions of a Landscape by textile artists which was shown initially at The Great Craft Fair moved with Council support to The Bell Table Arts Centre in Limerick for a two week viewing at the end of October. It was a smaller exhibition as the clothing element was deleted and what remained was embroidery, graphics, collages, and other works making up a small, more compact exhibition. Further sales were made.

K.D.W. 21 Kilkenny Design Workshop's 21st Birthday was marked by an exhibition at the Kilkenny Shop in Dublin and by the publication of "Kilkenny Design: twenty one years of design in Ireland". The publication is interesting in a number of ways, not only in its design by the organisation which runs the annual Irish Book Design Award but in its contents which to many may be surprising for the number of familiar logos which have been designed by K.D.W. (P & T, Bord Telecom, Post, Irish Life, the Forestry and Wild Life tree symbol, P.M.P.A.) but also the many things which have not been associated as having been designed there: a Bell & Howell overhead projector, desk top computer terminals, litter bins, chef's paper hats, the Stag cluster pack and others. Of course there were also the early craft products — the candle holders, the silverware, the woodcare.

Its own history of itself may dispel some notions of it still having a craft base: "K. D. W. 's emphasis on craft-based industries during its formative years was deliberate and purposeful. An early catalogue of its work states 'Attention has been concentrated on traditional products. This is where innovation starts, where a country's cultural characteristics show themselves, and where the standard for its manufacturers is set.'

There were other reasons too. Among the era ft-base industries which already enjoyed a worldwide reputation there was some prior acceptance that design was a necessary ingredient of success. Although underrated and ill-defined, the designer's role was at least acknowledged, and thus there was a starting point, a basis to build on. Exploiting the opportunity for intervention and demonstration in these industries could open the door to others, a pragmatic approach which was typical of K.D. W. 's subsequent development.

Also, since it was in crafts that the Irish public were most likely to come into contact with and understand the designer and his work, concentration on this sector of industry was seen as the quickest and least expensive means of increasing public awareness of design and of obtaining leverage towards that end through the popular media.

The revival of craft skills which were not in commercial currency was also seen as part of the new agency's role."

"From the outset K. D. W. made the distinction between craft-based industries and handicrafts. The latter, although now acknowledged as important to the 2

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economic health of a manufacturing country, were seen as stopping short where Kilkenny wished to begin, namely in the design of things primarily for multiple production."

"In the early seventies Kilkenny Design developed its craft-based manufacturing and this, paradoxically, helped to underpin the initial diversification into design work for non-craft industries."

"Convinced that its sporadic successes in design for non-craft industries were more than simply adventitious, and that its proven abilities to influence the craft-based manufacturers were transferable to other industries, it adopted longer-term plans for a change of emphasis. Between 1970 and 1980 it did in fact succeed in changing from a group of individual designer-craftmen, focussing their attention on traditional skill and /about-intensive industries, to a multidisciplinary design team active and influential in most sectors of industry".

Perhaps the writers take undue credit for the formation of the Crafts Council of Ireland, but K.D.W. did play a part, and the credit it gives to the Council suggests a greater role in the early 70's than in fact it had the funds to maintain.

Through the Butler House project there is still a link with craftsmen and the list of names of employees, consultants and students who have been part of K.D.W. includes a fair number of craftsmen and women: Geoff Healy, Michael Jackson, Nicky Mosse, Muriel Beckett, Niall Harper, Ruth Morris, Rudolf Heltzel, Rena Fleming, Des Byrne, Alice Roden,

Kilkenny Shop, Nassau Street, Dublin.

Sonya Landwee, Michael Rafter, Jack and Joan Doherty, Una de Blacam, Judith Lockhart, the late Cecil Hyde and others.

While at ÂŁ11.95 paper-back it may not be a must for every bookcase, it makes interesting reading in conjunction with the original Scandinavian report "Design in Ireland" published twenty two years ago.

"Ireland by virtue of her lack of sophistication in matters of design, has a unique opportunity, denied by circumstances to many more developed countries, of making a great contribution, not alone to her own prosperity and culture but to the culture of Western Europe. We believe that with courage and foresight the possibility can be realised". So said the report. "Good design is an undeniable necessity to the growth of our export trade, but standards cannot be raised for export goods only" so also said the report.

K.D.W. was part of the courage and foresight, but 22 years later there still remains a lot to be achieved, not least the conversion of a whole lot of people in this nation to an understanding of and a feel for good design.

WORLD CRAFTS COUNCIL A general Assembly of the World Crafts Council and of WCC-Europe was held in Oslo in September. Only delegates were invited. Ireland was not represented.

The meeting was very much a last ditch attempt to revitalise the WCC which has little enough in the way of money since the death of its founder/patron Aileen Vanderbilt Webb, and hence a declining influence' since it can offer little.

Leather fashion accessories at KDW Shop by Carmen and Edmond Chesneau.

9th NATIONAL CRAFTS TRADE FAIR Despite the move into the R.D.S. Main Hall and the number of extra stands which that made available, the fair was booked out before the closing date and extra stands had to be put on the balcony to accommodate all those who had successfully applied before the closing date. The Selection Committee had ruled out some 60 applicants on various grounds from poor design to poor workmanship, insufficient information, weak presentation and a general indication that some were just not ready enough to take part in a trade fair.

It was also fairly obvious that some applicants had only recently completed a training course and were hoping to use the Trade Fair to get their initial orders without having first laid the foundation of their prospective business the hard way by slogging around the buyers and getting their product on the shelves of at least some outlets. Having some track record of operating a production unit before taking part in a trade fair with all that demands would seem essential.

Nevertheless, there were some new comers that were selected because their products appeared to have potential, though small, and a New Faces Gallery will be the means of promoting them with the reservations apparent of small size, small capacity.

At the time of going to press there is

still a long list of studios and businesses hoping that a stand may become available. There are even some who come along blithely two months after the closing date expecting to get a stand.

The advice given is that if for any reason one has not received an application form by the first of September don't wait — ring up or write for another one. By the third week of September it is too late already.

BRIGHTER HOMES The organisers of the Brighter Homes and D.I.Y. Exhibition '85 at the R.D.S. 12th-18th March 1985 advises the Newsletter that it is planned in 1985 to have a feature section devoted to crafts with a homes theme: rugs, wall hangings, patchwork, bedcovers, cushions, pictures, lamps, glass, candles, ceramics, patioware etc. It is intended to make a special attraction of this craft section in what is a very well attended exhibition which attracts some 50,000 visitors.

In the craft section, which will be on the Main Hall balcony, shell stand cost which will include name sign, table and chair, carpet and lighting will work out at not much more than ÂŁ1 per square foot.

Stands will be roughly 50 square feet (5' x 10' or such).

Details from: John Palmer (Exhibitions) Limited, 3 Woodbine Park, Stillorgan Road, Blackrock, Co. Dublin.

(01-694022)

The WCC has hitched its wagon to UNESCO since its beginning and has consistently depended on UNESCO funding, all with an air of unreality as the miserable 13,000 dollars subvention it gets from that international body would not pay the salary and expenses of a secretary in an international institution, not to mind hoping to get a secretarygeneral out of it. We note again in a letter from the new President of WCC Swedish Anders Clason, that the word UNESCO is used thirteen times. If the best that UNESCO can do is a paltry 13,000 dollars perhaps WCC should think again.

The new president hopes for a joint effort from the Nordic governments through the Nordic Council for Cultural Cooperation to fund a WCC secretariat in Copenhagen, since the office in New York has had to be closed for lack of funds.

Obviously Anders Clason, who is Director of the Swedish Institute and a very busy man, feels strongly enough to give his time to WCC which has been a valient endeavour in international goodwill and in bringing together craftsmen into one international body, but the original enthusiasm and idealism was not well insured against the drying up of patronage when the founder died. Ireland has always paid its dues as have a number of other countries, but they do not balance the many countries who have never funded the WCC yet hoped to participate in its benefits, nor has there been at national craft institute level in many countries a broadly based enthusiasm for the WCC that would ensure a measure of funding greater than that of some nationally unrepresentative groupings.

Meanwhile the secretariat is being transferred to Copenhagen under the wing of John Vedel-Rieper.

WCC-Europe has also undergone changes and the new Chairman is Jan Walgrave of Belgium with the remainding members of the European WCC board as Czeslaw Sawiki, Poland; Tetta Kannel, Finland; Ove Thorsen, Sweden; Tony Ford, UK.

PATCHWORK

hope to earn at this time (when there was Eibhlm Dhubh Nf Chonaill, (an aunt of work available).

Daniel O'Connell) for her husband. In this Caoineadh Airt Ui Laoghaire c. 1773 The Commissioners did not say whether she offered to: the widow Halloran's quilt was patchwork, but it is not improbable that "make you up a bed it was, as patchwork was extremely with bright sheets upon it popular at the time. Sir John Barrington's and fine speckled quilts slightly earlier comment on the tents at to bring you out in a sweat" Donnybrook Fair illustrates this. There he delighted in the sea of colour (Translation of Thomas Kinsella) produced by the tents, as they were covered with "quilts which were generally When cheap printed cotton became of patchwork comprising of scraps of all commonly available patchwork-making the hues in the rainbow — cut into remained no longer the prerogative of the every shape and size, patched on each wealthy. There were of course the other and quilted together". These he families who made their own coverlets or claimed, had been appropriated from who helped their neighbours to make Yet, as has been said, so regularly, that "any cabin, alehouse or other habitation early work in wool is quite different from theirs. Laura Jones mentioned in Irish wherein quilts or bedclothes were used, Patchwork that there were also children the patchwork of the eighteenth century or could be procurred by civility or in Co. Armagh in the 1830s who made onwards which may have been introduced otherwise (except money, which was patchwork bedcovers which they from Britain by the upper classes. not current for such purposes)". exchanged for good for the family. This is Jonathan Swift's advice to ladies' of special interest since the King's Lynn "waiting maids" in his Directions to Museum, England, has a patchwork The National Collection of patchwork Servants would seem to agree with this dressing-gown made about 1818 by the quilts is held between the Folklife and as he said in 1746 that mistresses/ladies children of the charity school for the the Art and Industrial Division in the no longer gave their cast-off to their local lord, Sir Charles William ffolkes.

National Museum. The latter, in which maids, but as the craze of the time Apart from the work of school-children, I work, retains only four true patchwork dictated, they used their old clothes to coverlets were made for sale also by coverlets, all mosaic and quite modest in make "patchwork for Skreens, Stools, expert plain sewers. The Assistant execution but with the redeeming virtue Cushions and the Like". As such Commissioners examining the plight of being early nineteenth century. The patchwork would have been made from of the destitute classes in 1835 found in earliest, which is dated 1812 is made of dress silks, dress velvets and silk brocades County Clare, "the widow Halloran hexagons of printed cotton and linen but the result would have been quite employed in making a quilt". She had the central panel has a long "Ode to splendid. This hobby was practiced not contracted to make it for one shilling Sleep", and the popular rhyme, only by the Anglo-Irish families but by (5p) although she calculated it would "Margaret Agnes Tommins is my name, the pure Gaels as is seen in the lament of take her a week as she could only work Ireland is my nation, Dublin is my the eight daylight hours. However the dwelling place and Christ is'my salvation.

Commissioners pondered, if she could When I am dead and in my grave and all "The Royal Table Cover" by Stephen have afforded a candle . .! Compare this my bones are rotten Christ I hope will Stokes. Detail of the capture of the payment with the one shilling a day remember me when I am quite forgotten.

French Standard of the 105th Infantry which equally destitute and equally The grass is green the rose is red. Here Regiment at the Battle of Waterloo. dexterous dress-maker from Mayo could lies my name when I am dead".

Courtesy of National Museum of Ireland.

When you think about it, it is not surprising that an early representation of costume includes a dress made of stripes of fabric (tablet woven?) sewn together in alternating colours. That illustration is in a cave painting in Catalonia. It is possible that this form of constructing a garment through sewing different coloured pieces together continued in Ireland for many centuries as we know that in the late twelfth century Giraldus Cambrensis commented on the small close-fitting hoods of the I rish monks which were generally made of particoloured strips sewn together.

Another coverlet dated July 27, 1827 has also got a central panel coarsely embroidered with the surrounding patchwork in squares, triangles and strips.

Another of hexagonal flowers outlined with white linen hexagons, was worked by the sisters of Samuel Gerrard of Tallyhoe, Co. Meath on the accasions that they were "resting" at Bath between 1820 and 1845. The fourth coverlet in this collection is also of flowers made of hexagons of printed cotton with the white hexagon outline and each flower inside a honeycomb of printed blue cotton also in hexagons.

The Gerrard coverlet has a twilled cotton backing, the others are of linen.

needlework to any lady who will be able to point out the exact manner in which it was done". This might be an early case of casual reporting as Stokes' granddaughters, Mrs. Eileen Parker and Miss Stokes-Chapman, who presented his masterpiece to the National Museum, have a newspaper cutting with this offer scored out! The leaflet explains that this was "constructed with small bits of Cloth fine-drawn together "during the leisure hours of 26 years and that it illustrates the "Life of a Soldier". It then lists thirty scenes each of which either happened during Stokes' life (as the Battle of Waterloo and the clash at Ballingarry, Co. Tipperary in the 1848 rebellion) illustrate scences with which he was familiar during his military or constabulary life, illustration of popular literacy and historical events and famous contemporary music-hall and operatic stars. Some of the scences particularly the Battle of Waterloo, Queen Victoria and her family on horseback and Jenny Lind seem to be based on popular contemporary prints.

Of interest to patchwork enthusiasts, though, must be the massive wall-hanging which is described in a contemporary privately printed descriptive leaflet as "The Royal Table Cover of Mosaic Cloth Work". It was designed and made .in felt by Stephen Stokes (1820-1900).

For this wall-hanging Stokes won a bronze medal at the Great Exhibition, London 1851 and when it was exhibited at the International Exhibition, Dublin, 1853 it was given a prominent position at the end of one of the Galleries. On Queen Victoria's first visit to Ireland this wall-hanging was put on special exhibition for her and she spent quite some time examining it minutely.

Having had the advantage of seeing the back of the felt before sewing the cotton backing into place it would seem to me that Stokes used a system based on the Resht or North Persian method. He drew together the felt shapes, which he had cut-out to the required shape

In the catalogue of the London exhibition Stokes was described as an inventor because he made this by inlaying felt in marquetry style. It was done so perfectly that The Freeman's Journal of May 19, 1853 said "Mr. Stokes, we understand, offers to make a present of this unique specimen of

Detail from "The Royal Table Cover by Stephen Stokes. Included are Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and some of their family at a Review with the Royal Artillery firing the salute "Long Live the Queen". Courtesy of National Museum of Ireland.

previously, by sewing the edges with fine, almost invisible stitches. It is not impossible that he learnt this technique when he was-a drummer boy attached to the 2nd Royal Veteran Battalion who defended the Island of Madeira against Napoleon. He was sent there when he was eight years of age and returned to his father's home in Wiltshire about the time of the Battle of Waterloo, 1815. When he was seventeen years of age Stokes joined the regular army and was quartered with the 63rd Regiment in Ireland. When the Dublin Metropolitan Police was established in 1836 Stokes left the army and became a Sergeant in the force.

He was later made Inspector in command of the Mounted Police here. An active man he became Superintendent of the Turkish Baths, Lincoln Place, Dublinwhen he retired. Throughout his life Mr. Stokes leisure pursuit was "sticthing" — principally this resht work, applique and embroidery in coloured wdols. Miss Stokes-Chapman recently presented to the Museum an ornamental slipper for holding spills which her grand-father made when he was ninety years of age. This is of cardboard neatly covered with cream satin and decorated with applique felt shapes and coloured embroidery.

There were two similar exhibited "hangings" exhibited at the Great Exhibition. One also described as a "table cover", was by a Scotsman who allegedly spent eighteen years working on it, and which consisted of 2,000 pieces of cloth (possibly of soldiers' uniforms) arranged into 23 historical and imagined characters. The other, by a Lancaster man was a "counterpane of mosaic needlework, twelve feet long by ten feet wide" divided into forty-four compartments each representing a popular print. These three examples seem to have started a fashion for making "mosaic resht-style patchwork" in the 1850s.

Stephen Stokes work is a masterpiece in primitive art as well as needlework. For curatiorial reasons it is on temporary display only, in the recently re-opened Textile Study Room of the National Museum.

Mairead Reynolds

THE REGISTER During the series of consultative meetings in various venues around the country in 1983 when the Council was drawing up its Plan Strategy for the Craft Sector 1985-1990 one of the key suggestions to come from the meetings was that of a Register of craftworkers.

This desire for and indeed the wisdom of a Register was built into the Plan and part of section 2.2.3 reads:. . . "a Register of craftsmen is seen as an absolute necessity, as is a clear decision on what constitutes the limits of the sector and its constituents and quality demands. . ."

Linked to two further sections of the plan that "resources should be concentrated on full time professionals" and "encouragement given to those part time professionals who may advance into full time professional status" and the Minister of State's interest, it was clear that action had to be taken and the nettle grasped.

And the stinging part of that particular nettle related to whether a craftman should or should not be defined, whether the list should be exclusive or not, whether the exclusion should be on quality grounds, and finally who or what is a craftsman and what is craft and why or why not is a craft a craft.

In the final analysis it was agreed that the Register should be a definition of the Crafts Council's area of responsibility or its constituency and those on it should be its constituents and benefits accrueing from membership should apply only to them.

Such definitions are of course necessary because should there be benefits such as might relate to V.A.T. and the like of it would be important that the rush to get on the bandwagon could be stemmed and the thousands who would suddenly claim to be craftsmen, who up to then had been gombeen men and proud of it, could be excluded.

It has been agreed that the grounds for exclusion should not be related to subjective matters such as quality but relate to facts such as whether or not one is a craftsman — in fact the word craftworker was considered a better description. If at a later date a subdivision on quality grounds should be seen as desirable then that is always possible and a set of rules can be devised to cover it.

For the moment simplicity seemed the main essential.

If inclusion should be applied to craftworkers then that necessitated defining

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a craftworker for the purpose of the Register. By the same token it was necessary to define what is considered to be a craft.

The Council had already taken a decision some time ago that it should devote its concern to professional and part time professional craftsmen and not to hobbyists.

The definition of a craftworker finally concerned individuals, and not organisations, full time or consistently producing part time professionals.

The definition focuses more finely than merely being a professional — one must also possess and use the necessary skills, including the skills of designing.

This will distinguish the mere copyist (an out worker for instance) from the more creative. For the same reason the definition of a professional craftworker shows that worker not only making things by hand, not only excercising in the making a direct control over the materials (which manufacturing and machines cannot do) but the definition also demands that the craftworker offers what is made for sale. It thus excludes those who have a skill and are employed but who are not in total control of the whole process from start to finish.

Having made the definitions it became

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Rush work Basket by Mary Landy in the Crafts Council's collection. Photo by David Cripps.

necessary further to define the crafts which would be recognised crafts in the context of the Crafts Council of Ireland.

For instance it was important to exclude as craftworkers people like fitters and painters who in trade union terms are craftmen but who should not be able to claim to be on the Crafts Council's Register. So the crafts were listed from basketmaking to woodturning, and a clause inserted in the Register document to allow any individual to apply to have a craft added to the list.

Whether in the end the Management Committee of the Council would accept it as a craft is a matter for conjecture but it would be well debated before decision.

The decision once made would, however, be binding.

It was seen as important that additions, deletions or alternations should only be made by the Council's Management Committee.

So now there are definitions and the final stage will be to match, the craftworkers to the craft and there is a Register, useful for any number of purposes.

There may be many who will argue that they should not have been excluded, that somehow or other they have been disenfranchised but in the main the logic of the situation will predominate. It is the craftworker who is being registered, not the promoter of a business unless in his/her right professional status can be claimed. It is the individual who will be on the craftsman as a creator who will be on the Register not a mere copyist or machine substitute, or someone merely reprinting someone's else's work.

And inclusion or exclusion may have no bearing on certain of the Crafts Councils work such as the Trade Fair, where there are many marginal situations and where there are many companies or partnerships taking part which in anycase cannot be on the Register.

The Register is a register of individual craftsmen, not of companies or co-ops, of full time professionals, not hobbyists, of those directly contributing to the creativity and economic development of the craft sector.

NEW CORK C R A F T CENTRE

CRAFTWORK Two Cork promoters are behind the new Cork craftshop Craftworks which has opened in the premises formerly occupied by the Cork Craftsman Guild in the Savoy Arcade. Weaver Mary O'Donnell and her partner Vivienne Foley have created a reasonable lookalike to what was a popular venue, though there obviously has been a considerable shakeout of craftsmen. The overall product level and variety looks good and many familiar products are featured.

For the first time in many years there are two genuine craft shops in Cork City — neither is large but both are quite comprehensive in their range and in general complementary.

The Newsletter has already wished "Crafts of Ireland" success, it wishes "Craftworks" equal success. It is shops like these which will promote to the public the best in crafts.

COUNTRY MARKETS AT THE FAIR Space in the September/October edition of the Newsletter did not quite permit us to comment on the part played by Country Markets during The Great Crafts Fair in early September.

Midleton Lodge, a set of fine old stone buildings in Midleton, County Cork, is to be the new headquarters of the Urban District Council. There are six units in the building which are being developed for crafts in a broad sense. Three are occupied. One of the craftworkers there is Elizabeth Corcoran, the potter who was one of the first year's graduates of the Craft Council's Kilworth Craft Workshops which is "just up the road". Primary Prints, Ger and Connor O'Brien, also graduates of Kilworth are working close by in a converted school house and it is clear that the influence of Kilworth is being felt in the towns from Kilworth to Fermoy and down to Midleton and Carrigtwohill.

The Crafts Council was very conscious of a number of factors during the planning of that new venture which would not impinge on planning for the National Crafts Trade Fair. These factors included the Council's own concern, as policy, being with full time professional or part time professional craftsmen and not with the amateur; the Fair being aimed at the general public for the first time; the sort of questions the public would ask which would not necessarily be those for which the Council would have all.the answers, because they would be at a hobby level.

We are aware of what has happened around Kilkenny over the years where craftsmen have gradually set up studio in a wide area around the Kilkenny Design Workshops. The developments in Midleton may be the beginning of this sort of association with a design workshop centre.

The cooperation of Country Markets was sought as they are a member organisation of the Crafts Council and, in the final analysis, they were given a free exhibition stand, and free hand to manage this as they thought fit for the particular exercise, and bearing in mind the public they so often deal with.

Another enterprise recently set up in Midleton is that of upmarket expensive hand crochet for the home and export markets which is being made by a group of young people organised by local Presentation nun Sister Una Burke. They will be among the new enterprises in the New Faces Gallery at the National Crafts Trade Fair in January.

Country Markets rose to the occasion with their usual enthusiasm and five full days they had of it and no free weekend either. It would be invidious to name names but the likes of Kay Hogan and Rita Rutherford were in there working as hard as only they can, answering questions from the public about courses, raw materials, the whole "how can I"

and "where am I" and "what can I" which is so much the average public's concern. There is as we all know a huge interest in crafts, but a lot of it is in the traditional area of crochet, lacemaking, rushwork, spinning, and so forth in which areas the competence of those on the Country Markets stand in the crafts in question enables them to relate so well to the visitor.

Hedgerow basketry was demonstrated in contrast to the other demonstrations of basket making by Catherine Hayden at the far end of the hall. Rushwork was demonstrated — all the practical visual answers to "how do I?" were there.

A fine exercise in cooperation, well executed.

WEAVERS' EXHIBITION '84 The Bank of Ireland Exhibition Hall was again the venue for the 1984 Exhibition of the I rish Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers. The Crafts Council was pleased to help with limited sponsorship.

As with previous exhibitions it was an impressive display if somewhat inevitably overweighted with rugs. The standard of the over fifty textile artists involved was uniformly good as should be expected and the mounting divided up the exhibits well enough around the periphery but, perhaps, less so in the centre.

Theresa McKenna's Tapestry in six Pieces was a striking work, reminiscent of dry stone walls of the west and must surely be destined for a public place. Her Tapestry in Four Pieces was less successful, possibly because of its two dimensional hanging. Michele Hilare's untitled wallhanging utilising grasses and other elements was subtle and vibrant. Allie Kay's Midnight Blues, a dress in handwoven wool was essentially well bred in the balance of colours and the soft style — well designed in the truest sense. In clothing also Jill Wright's handspun pullover caught the eye as did Marion Jackson's nightdress. Anne Marie Moroney-Eberle's cotton belts were bright, competent and fun and the same might apply to Cathy MacAleavey's two twill wall hangings with their sampler simplicity. More low key was Patricia Way's White Meadow, while there was nothing low key about Canara Murphy's Blanket.

All very competent if not exactly mind blowing in originality.

ODUNDOIN C L A R E Clare Craftworkers Guild deserve congratulations for organising a workshop and lecture on 10th September by the noted Kenyan potter, Magdelene Odundo in Max Hallidays studio at Ballycasey Workshops.

Sixteen craftsmen participated with local craftsmen Max Halliday, Maria Hannon, Gail Courtney; among them Judy Greene, Niall Harper, Peter Wolstenholme, Michael Jackson, Geoffrey Healy, as well as apprentices, two students from Limerick Art School and two Kilworth Craft Workshop participants.

special awards. The major prize will be an acquisition prize and the galerie will own the work. A catalogue will be issued.

The general conditions are as follows: 1.

Applicable to ceramists working in Salt Glaze. Work may be functional or sculptured, made since 1982.

Three works are to be submitted.

2.

Application may be made at once.

Final delivery date in Koblenz 30/9/85. All costs of transport/ clearance to and from Koblenz for participants account.

The organisers address is: Magdelene's lecture in the evening was also well attended.

Despite the large size of her smooth handbuilt coil pots the essence was of serenity. Her workshop manner was one of charm and patience and, despite her international reputation, she is unassuming and, indeed, in conversation with her the point could be taken that the conditions under which many grant aided studios here are set up are a lot better than in the U.K. Not that that is any fault, but should give a head start to talent.

The Crafts Council's aid to workshops such as this and that run by the woodturners is quite small, considered adequate in the main, and the dividends to participants well overweighing the costs.

Unfortunately it is this sort of area of expenditure that is often threatened by budget cuts — the area in which so much can be achieved for an insignificant amount.

S A L T G L A Z E '86 Galerie Handwerk Koblenz, in Germany, advise us of their international ceramic competition Salt Glaze '86 to take place in the spring of 1986 at their gallery. This is the second Salt Glaze exhibition and international competition, the first being held in 1983.

Participation will be by invitation and the Crafts Council has been asked to advise on suitable exhibitors. Those in whom the organisers are interested are individual ceramists and production workshops, and the products covered will include from bowls to liberal design forms and glaze experiments.

There was an age limit for the prize of DM 6,000 but this has been abolished and the Jury will choose from all participants. As well, the jury may make

Handwerkskammer Koblenz, Rizzastrasse 24-26, Postfach 9 29, D - 5400 Koblenz.

Entry forms are available from the Crafts Council.

MR. PHILIP BROOKS Mr. Philip Brooks of the legal firm Hickey Beauchamp Kirwan & O'Reilly and of the Royal Dublin Society who has recently died, played an important and sympathetic role in the development of the Crafts Council of Ireland in his professional capacity. It was he who drew up the Memorandum and Articles of the Council when it became a Company on receipt of its state grant. His advice in its formative years was wise and valuable. His interests in crafts and the progress of the Council was sincere and informed. To those he leaves behind, both family and colleagues the Council extends its sympathy.

STUDIO WORKSHOP AND HOME Artists/craftworkers studio work­ shop opening and extended into custom built attic in three bedroomed, lounge and fitted kitchen residence.

Passive solar energy heating system supported with gas fired central heating. In 1980 a special energy conservation award was presented to the owner by the Department of Energy. Property situated in a choice location in Glenageary, Co. Dublin. Mature gardens, scenic views back and front. Offers over IR £51,000 considered. For appointment to view ring: (01) 714653 between 10.00 a.m. and 12.00 noon.

Monday to Friday.

C R A F T POETRY We were recently asked for a poem written by an Irish poet on the subject of crafts: weaving, spinning, dyeing, potting, silver-smithing or whatever.

Reference to craft in poems worldwide are thin on the ground. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, that bible of instant revelation on the quote that escapes one to solve an argument was little help, craft being equated with cunning mostly and the individual disciplines hardly mentioned.

The Newsletter not being big into Poetry may be missing something obvious that is common currency: there may be a Heaney or a Kinsella or a Boland or another who has written evocatively about the real traditional crafts of basketmaking or weaving or spinning or wrought iron, or have they?

We may be wrong but there's hardly a yeat of evidence that the poets of Ireland were deeply affected by the crafts.

So what about the craftsmen and women of Ireland — are they deeply enough affected by poetry to unearth for the Newsletter a stanza or two written anywhere between the medieval and today about a specific craft. £10 for the best example by 1st January.

Quote the poem, the poet with date references, the publication to the Editor.

Connemara — Traditional stone cottage, beautifully renovated, 3 bedrooms, pine kitchen, wood ceilings, fitted carpets, central heating, sun lounge, etc. On 414 acres freehold, with commonage rights, car-port, roadside car-park.

Also on property separate 3 roomed studio or Holiday Chalet.

Early sale needed. Contact Eibhlin ui Chearbhaill, Baltydaniel, Mallow, Co. Cork.

Irish Spinners Ltd. Kiltimagh, Co. Mayo Pure new wool bain inland coloured hand knitting yarns.

Telephone (094) 81156