CCI-newsletter-1985-53-September-October

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1985

Crafts Council of Ireland Thomas Prior House Merrion Road Dublin 4

Telephone 680764 / 603070

Everyone taking part in Burren III has guaranteed work for this exhibition.

Will it show the progress which the other Burrens have drawn from participants?

The weather was fairly diabolical at times — some were quite undeterred and would have worked (almost did) underwater.

Comment and experiences perhaps in the next Newsletter.

THE GREAT CRAFTS FAIR II

BURREN III 21 participants gathered in Ballyvaughan for the first week of a two week Design and Development Programme. Leaders Ludmilla Kaprasova, Alison Wooten and Frank Boyden had spent the previous week familiarising themselves with West Clare, the Burren in particular, and the preparation of their approach to the week with 21 very professional craftsmen, potters, weavers, embroiderers, printers who would be seeking, through a shared experience with leaders of such international calibre and with each other new directions, new developments in their approach to design which plays such a vital role in each one's business if it is to remain viable and to grow, not merely in size but in quality and in the level of price applicable internationally to such quality.

It was early clear that many of the

The creative process. Ludmilla Kaprasova leading a bobbin lace module. Burren III.

participants were already pushing themselves beyond limits they had accepted and also that, in international terms, they were capable of a level which if it were to be valued outside this country would be many times the value on their work here.

As with such intensive workshops there were those who were prepared to work at it and draw from it every last, ounce of value — and this could be seen in the work books and will be seen in the months to come as the experience seeps into current work. There will also probably be some whose work six months hence may show no influence. April 7th in the Bank of Ireland Exhibition Hall will be an interesting coming together.

Applications well exceeded the number of stands. The Selection Committee passed thirty six of the new applications as being of the required standard and fulfilling the conditions. So. a full fair to look forward to with 150 exhibitors ranging over a wide number of disciplines from the ubiquitous pottery (20) to leather, woodware, glass, jewellery, casual wear and knitwear, including some new upmarket designs. While the mixture may appear much as before there are innovations and products which should catch the public's eye and hopefully its purse contents.

Watch out for a new range of dried products, beautifully produced, for cards and wrapping papers, for exciting designer knitwear, porcelain dolls and lots of other Christmas ideas.

Demonstrations will include tiffany glass, pottery, woodworking on a wide scale — turning, marquetry, small furniture and basketry, this time from Donegal. Country Markets will have a double stand and will be demonstrating a number of traditional crafts such as hedgerow basketry, rushwork and lumra.

There will be five exhibitions. Kilworth 4 is the current exhibition work of the majority of those who have passed Continued on back page

KILWORTH AND THE RCA September 22nd saw the arrival at Kilworth Craft Workshops of three young final year students of the Royal College of Art s two-year Master of Arts degree course to take part in an interesting development aimed at creating an intensive design stimulus for the participants in this Craft Council's initiative, backed

by AnCo. While, over the years, there has been very successful progress made at Kilworth, and the recent exhibition of the work of those who have taken part since the beginning, Kilworth 4, has shown the capability of those who have passed through, design has always been recognised as a weakness.

This has been most apparent at a stage in each year's throughput when the pressure to produce a range of products to a time schedule at a price limitation in quantities related to making a viable living is being exerted by the training management.

Many young participants who have graduated out of art college with a diploma or who have reached this general standard by apprenticeship or some other route and who have presented a portfolio and samples of quality high enough to earn a place at Kilworth, find that there is a big difference between the time and costing demands of real commercial life and relative timelessness of art college demands in arriving at a product. It is this pressure which makes a real demand on one's design capability and if that is a weakness then the pressure will mean that design elements may have to be sacrificed to commercial demands. Where it is strong, of course, it can be a positive advantage and should enable those capable to design their way out of trouble instead of into it.

As this general weakness was apparent in each year (some more intensively than others) and was not necessarily improving in that the intake from the colleges was no stronger in design competence, it was decided that what would have to be done was to initiate a crash course in design for each years participants.

Various options were looked at and in each case there were some obstacles such as that it had to be borne in mind that the overall competence of the Kilworth participants was diploma level plus, but not B.A. and certainly not M.A. level.

The tutors for such a crash course, therefore, had to be such as would not be so far above the heads of those being tutored as to be largely incomprehensible nor so academic or lofty as to talk down, nor either so locked in into a particular 2

international design style as to ignore others. It would be harmful to have all the weight of the Italian School, of Sottsass, of Memphis, while ignoring what was happening in, say Finland. Or even to lose a balance between a strength in textiles in one country while the strength in ceramics could be happeing elsewhere.

Exploratory discussions with the Royal College of Art threw up an innovation the basis for which was that graduates chosen by that College to undertake its two year Master of Arts degree course would themselves have been subjected to many design influences as part of their years of study, and would be aware of the current situation, the current leaders, the trends. Not only that but would also be aware of the tricks of the trade, the short cuts, the techniques of designing.

It was this thinking, coupled with the fact that the age difference between R.C.A. final year Masters graduates and those at Kilworth would be much closer and therefore the rapport more likely to be better than that with a college lecturer, that decided on the course of utilising three such graduates chosen by the R.C.A. for their committment to this initiative as providing the crash course.

Kate Malone (ceramics), Paul Burgess (textiles) and Jane Adam (metalwork and

jewellery) have been described as "a splendid group, full of ideas as well as being sympathetic to what you are trying to achieve at the workshops".

A detailed programme has been worked out for the two seminar/sessions (one two week period in September and another in December). On the programme the meeting with the three was recounted as being "most refreshing to see how they' wanted to work together as an integral group, rather than be limited by their disciplines."

Those Irish students, including two from the North, lucky enough to have been chosen for a place at Kilworth are about to face an interesting experience and the results will be observed with equal interest.

Despite a very late arrival the night before, the three were already at work bright and early on the Monday and already by midday one could sense that the group was well chosen and there was clearly a seriousness and sense of purpose, a carefully thought out approach and at the same time a unity developing between the eleven participating at Kilworth, some of the previousalumni and the three from the R.C.A. Worsted dip dyed skirt, ribbon and worsted top and two fabric lengths by Jane Sorensen.

Kilworth 4 exhibition. Photo. J. Breivik.

CAROL McNICHOLL Jill Crowley for hopeful happy family reasons has had to cry off The Society of Cork Potters Seminar on Saturday and Sunday 16th and 17th November.

Her pJace will be taken by rising young star, ceramist Carol McNicholl who, like Jill Crowley, is essentially a sculptural potter. She has been given a major exhibition by the Crafts Council at its Gallery in London, which opened on 24th September and will tour.

1986 PATCHWORK TRIP TO USA Noted are plans by the Irish Patchwork Society towards a visit to the U.S.A. on a study/sightseeing tour this time next year.

Zig-zag patterned blue and pink bowl in white earthenware by Maxine Mearns. Kilworth 4.

The sort of itinerary it is hoped to achieve would be New York for a few days, likewise Washington to see the Textile Museum and the Museum of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

As the Quilting Congress takes place near Washington this would be the focus of the tour and the post congress plans would include a bustourthrough Virginia, on to Pennsylvania via the Blue Ridge Mountains, and to New York via Amish territory.

All at the idea stage. Those interested might drop an s.a.e. to Jane Almquist, 73 Marlborough Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4.

BOOKING OUT

Anna Kee, Porcelain Bowl, Kilworth 4.

At the time of going to press the flood of entries for the 10th National Crafts Trade Fair was still continuing and it is likely that the extra 8% of space will be filled by the closing date. Johnny-comelatlies may find they are disappointed again.

IRISH SPINNERS LIMITED Kiltimagh Co. Mayo Pure new wool bainin and coloured hand knitting yarns Telephone (094) 81156

FOR SALE L8ver spinning wheel and accessories Natural dye stuffs and wool fleeces "Hurler". A cast stoneware piece by John BUtt*r, Kilworth Craft Workshops exhibition Kilworth 4.

Photos by J Breivik

Supplied by Mary O'Rourke Glenasmole Dublin 24.

COLLECTING THE CONTEMPORARY FASHION

by Elizabeth McCrum, Ulster Museum.

In November 1976 the Ulster Museum's entire collection of costume and textiles was destroyed in the fire following the bombing of Malone House, on the out­ skirts of Belfast, where it was then stored. This was one of the worst cultural losses which Northern Ireland has suffered during the recent troubles. It was resolved immediately to recreate the collection as far as was practical and possible. We could not obviously [eplace what had been unique, and did not wish to replace some of the oddities that had come in before mid 20th century concepts, such as collecting policies, were thought of. Historical accident had given us an oriental costume collection, brought back by Ulster's many mission­ aries to China. With the source dried, up we decided not to try to replace this apect of costume. Again, we could not hope to replace what had been one of the three best linen collections in the world, and should not, since the Lisburn Museum is now the specialist linen museum in Northern Ireland.

As far as fashionable costume was concerned however, our position was relatively simple. Clothing is collected by the Art Department as an applied art and as one of the most vital reflectors of changing tastes and preceptions. We acquire mainstream fashionable costume of men and women and children from as early a date as possible until the present day.

We obtain new specimens through gifts, always most welcome, and purchases.

On the whole donations are of late 19th and early 20th century items, and purchases are of earlier items, where the recent price rise in antique costume is particularly notable. We mostly buy the latter from auction houses in London, now one of the most important world centres for old costume. By buying at auction we are saved problems of valuation which arise because sellers often have no accesss to information about current prices of costume and museums are forbidden to financially evaluate any item. We would of course feel an obligation to give a donor some indication if an offered gift was especially valuable.

Good late 19th century to mid 20th century costume is also bought occas­ ionally at auction, but also from a variety of other souces, mostly local. Organis­ ations such as War on Want and all types of second hand and nearly new clothes

shops give us first refusal of interesting pieces. We keep the collection in the public eye as much as possible to make contact with as many potential donors and sellers as we can.

Very fortunately we have a healthy purchase fund for costume thanks to government compensation for the loss of our former collection. This puts us in a very singlular position in relation to most other museums in Ireland and Great Britain. At a time when most other curators are desperately short of money for their collections, we are able to bid against transatlantic and continental dealers, with reasonable chance of success, for items which we particularly want. Hence we have been able to secure quite spectacular and very appropriate pieces such as the suit and rod of the Black Rod of the Irish Parliament of 1751.

In the years since 1976 we have, therefore, made good progress in recreating a valid historic costume collection. We found however that our acquisitions of post 1970 costume were alarmingly sparse. Several factors account for this. People on the whole do not see that their clothes have any intrinsic value after they go out of fashion until at least fifteen years have passed. Donors who might now give us a 1950s cocktajl dress would often have to be prompted to offer an equally interesting garment of the 1970s. The relatively cheap price of clothes and the general tendency to smaller houses encourages the disposal rather than the storing of unfashionable garments. Our greatest difficulty derives from the way in which clothes are now worn. In the 1880s, a disctinctive day dress, or walking dress or dinner dress would have been worn if the wearer was required to look smart, or casual or dressy, to use 20th century terms. In the 1980s, to achieve these looks, a woman could wear the same pair of trousers worn with say, a jacket and tailored blouse in the first case, boots and jumper in the second, and sandals and frilly blouse in the third. Most of these separates would be bought individually and there would be no reason to give away a complete outfit. One very typical item of the relatively informal clothing of the seventies; a pair of trousers, would there­ fore tell us a great deal less about what people of that era wanted to look like than, for example, one equally typical item of the fifties such as a dress which needed only very predictable neat accessories to be an outfit.

Incidentally, in describing increased versatility of contemporary garments I am by no means echoing that most

dreaded and incorrect phrase of the bad fashion journalist 'This season anything goes'. That is not and never has been the case. Any apparent freedom of choice in the sphere of mainstream fashion only operates within prescribed margins. There are a limited number of options.

Our solution to the risk we appeared to be running of missing the chance to acquire the right type of contemporary fashion is to buy two complete outfits for spring/summer and autumn each year.

One outfit is a designer outfit i.e. by a successful designer whose work reflects one of the key looks of the coming season's fashions. The other is a 'High Street' outfit, bought in a Belfast shop, which reflects what is popular and available and actually worn here. This means that we can encompass coming fashion and present fashion, or two distinct but complementary looks, or an extreme and a diluted version of the same look.

The choice of the 'High Street outfit' is the simpler of the two. We can buy from various ranges, each reflecting the fashionable interests of slightly differing classes and ages. We can choose a range which seems particularly good one season, such as In-wear, our Summer '85 choice without too much heart-searching, knowing that another facet of Belfast fashion can be represented the next season, or next. We are concerned, I should stress, with High Street fashion rather than street fashion. We keep documentary evidence of the clothes of the various Belfast youth peer groups, but haven't yet ventured into collecting them. That may yet come.

The choice of the designer outfit is more problematic since it involves deciding on key developments now, and the immediate is always hard to view with clarity. The difficulty is solved in other institutions such as the Museum of Costume in Bath by asking a fashion journalist to choose the outfit of the year. Here we lack sufficient of these animals to give continuity to the device. My colleague Elise Taylor and I make each season's decision ourselves.

We come to accord in what is, we flatter ourselves, an informed opinion. We know our collection and collecting policy better than anyone, and can ensure a balance of emphasis from year to year.

Despite the above complaint, some years the choice of designer is easy. Last winter for example, we bought Paul Costelloe's clothes. His work was particularly successful internationally that season, his own interests and skills in designing for tweed coinciding with very general interest

Outfit by Paul Costelloe. Autumn/Winter 1985.

Photo Ulster Museum.

in that cloth. His large loose coats, Aran sweaters and long slim skirts featured widely in fashion journals. Added to this he is an Irish designer with a factory in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone. Another bonus was that Paul Costelloe put the outfit together for us so we know that our combination of garments conforms with the designer's intentions.

One bonus of buying contemporary costume is that we can be sure that we are not unwittingly buying a dud garment which has survived without signs of wear because no-one wanted to wQar it.

To counteract this risk we try on any potential acquisition if possible before purchase or acceptance and have thereby been saved the embarrassment of refusing a dress of superb cut because of its unspectacular colour or accepting a bad dress whose eccentricity has been disguised by interesting trimmings or colour. Still, costume museums must inevitably remain, to take one example, the world's greatest repositories of ill fitting shoes. The further back in time one goes, the more historical accident has to do with the material available to any collection. Buying contemporary keeps the free will in collecting.

Karl Lagerfeld outfit. Summer 1983. Photo Ulster Museum.

Kilworth 4. The exhibition at Kilworth.

Subsequent locations Ballycasey, Dublin Cork. Photo J. Breivik.

Red and yellow crepe dress. Mary Quant.

C. 1967. Photo Ulster Museum.

THEY'RE LOOKING FOR THE HAIRIES.DEAR We were in West Cork. We were looking for Thomas and Heidi Marie Springledorfer. We were not having much success in the finding of them.The house at which we enquired was not likely to contain them — a nice little chunk of W.C. (West Cork) transformed into a piece of California - the arches, the five cars. I left the car, moored stoutly in the wettest of west rain, frightened the Afgan hound — string shaped from the wet, and made it to the edge of luxury. I explained to the good woman, perhaps wife, of the house who we were looking for. A voice beyond her growled a question and she answered "they're looking for the hairies dear".

I made a mental note of those words.

As retailers, we really should not have been there. The only thing that was of benefit was the rain; it was restoring us to our original size after a long period of being pinched, painfully, between the producer and the customer. We should have absorbed much more rain.

Back in our accustomed spot, beside the till, surrounded by the product, we have a fine lucrative sale on hands. Mrs. K. Virgil MacConway of 3000000 Hiatus Chase Cinncinati has made a selection and wants to, well — she wants to do something She presents a credit card of the Chance Bamboo Breakfast Club, Kowloon. She wants to know the rate of the dollar.

We will check the day's rate as soon as we have rung for authorization of her card. It is 2 a.m. in Kowloon and they are still in last month. Can she have a V.A.T. refund chit? Yes, when we have made contact with Kowloon. Will we mail the purchase — not to her own address, to this other one. She searches, and I see in her wallet approximately six fifty pound notes and numerous singles.

She has now forgotten which items are hers and which belong to others. "Oh jeeze! my husband is waiting in another shop — I gotta go". Elapsed time, twenty four minutes.

By and large the product is excellent, if iyou would subscribe to the view that craftwork is what was a necessity of bygone days now turned to something of a luxury of the present day. Oh sod! I went and used it! —that word: Craftwork!

A quick little word that makes a subtle screen of mental glass descend between the worker and the 'Mr. Average' it makes the ... worker a bit special, a bit remote.

Mr. Average shakes hands, tries to understand, his teenage daughter would surely know if the "stuff'was good — no — no conferring, what was it Michael Ryan said

on the T.V. on Friday, so urbane, so knowledgeable, so good, the word won't come "er thank you, er thank you, er we'll er — my daughter — very grateful — byee".

If a little flux, just a pinch of it, mind you, were introduced between many Mr. and Mrs. Averages and the comparatively few ... workers I'll hazard a prophecy, the home market would increase by at least 331/4%.

Oh! a rosy dream indeed! All could be involved, a rapturous Breughelesque stampede for Mr. and Mrs. Average and their children. Now, there'*s a peculiar effect manifests itself at this point.

Just once I will risk being dogmatic (no offence to Linus, Borage and Isaac, good friends all) and make this secret knowledge secret no more.

When large numbers of the public (Mr. Mrs. Averagex 60,000= "THE PUBLIC") become interested, they lose interest in purchasing and start at "the work" themselves, flood the market, squeal about lack of grants, facilities etc. — and finally, totally dis-commode the goose that was attempting to lay the golden egg, and scare it clean across the Atlantic to lay with profligate abandon, in America.

It happened in the sphere of picture painting.

Excuse me, I'll just use that word again, pop out on an unsuspecting Mrs. Average and bellow"CRAFTWORK". She will be likely to tremblingly suggest "POTTERY".

Why have we so many potters and, I think, only one glass-blower. Dare I toy Detail Zodiac Sign hanging. Bobbin Lace, Ludmilla Kaprasove. Burren III. Photos by F Sutton

with the heresy .. . have we one or two too many potters?.No, we probably haven't. Anyway, they, like the goose are beginning to look towards America and court with Lady Fortune through the medium of exports.

One of the pitfalls of the retail game must surely be overstocking with pottery.

What can be the fascination of this particular pursuit; how do they stand all that cold clay as they mud-wrestle their solitary way through each day?

Another pitfall must surely be supply and delivery of this cursedly heavy commodity, the packing material all over the shop, Japanese visitors wondering if we are selling it (the packing); endless numbers of boxes to be karate chopped and kicked into submission. I think that honours in this field are about fity-fifty.

Oh how tempting to drop the untidy fifty and call the good fifty one hundred per cent.

The leather workers are great, and the wood workers, and the glass blower — there he is, blowing silent symphonies of superb skill . . . we did have other glass, cut (and badly wounded), but this is the 'real thing.'

From here I clearly see the end of this article/tirade/discourse and, of course, I know what it was I meant to say: It's handwork, isn't it? It's not craftwork — it's handwork.

Laurence Hutson

BURREN III EXHIBITION The leaders of the joint Crafts Council AnCo Design and Development Programme Burren 111 each brought with them examples of their work which were mounted as a very interesting exhibition at the Ballycasey Craft Workshop Gallery during early September.

Frank Boyden, the potter was unable to bring samples of his pottery for obvious weight reasons but brought lithographs and since he is, in many ways, an illustrative potter, who sometimes uses pottery as a medium as an artist would use canvas, his lithographs reflected his style and philosophy.

Above Lithograph. Frank Boyden. Burren III. Below Zodiac Sign hanging. Bobbin Lace, Ludm ilia Kaprasova. Burren III.

Printed textile, detail. Alison Wooten.

Burren III.

\

Ludmilla Kaprasova's delicate bobbin lace hangings were superb examples of expression in this medium, pushing it beyond the confines of tradition, exploring both method and textures. To see her create a mini masterpiece — freehand in lace where others might draw or plan it out firsi — was to marvel at her skill and to wish that our own lacemakers, albeit working in, say, crochet, could shake off the dogmas and restrictions and become creative rather than repetitive.

Alison Wootens' textile pieces were great riots of colour, all so carelessly carefully contrived in shape or colour that one has to think for a moment before realising how difficult the seemingly simple is.

through the Kilworth Craft Workshops. It is a juried exhibition, and there are 80 exhibits. The exhibition was originally opened at Kilworth in July by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Peter Barry T.D., and will travel to Clare and to Cork subsequently.

The Irish Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers will have another exhibition along the lines of the very successful one mounted at the Great Crafts Fair last year.

If the Irish Patchwork Society matches the magnificent selection of work seen at its annual exhibition in the Bank of Ireland earlier in the "summer", their exhibition at the Great Crafts Fair II should make an even greater impact than last year when their sales were so good and the public so interested.

An innovation is an exhibition from Loughborough College of Art and Design of experimental projects carried out on their B.A. 1st year textile course. The course concentrates on aesthetic problems and provides exciting possibilities for the promotion of an artistic and intellectual curiosity within the frame work of Textiles and Fashion. The key is to help students to make an appropriate choice of specialisation (capable of later development) and they are encouraged to base that selection on an understand ing of the inherent characteristics of their talents rather than the limited, often arbitrary technical experience which results from initial attempts to print, weave and embroider. Certainly it will be of great interest to students of design and indeed should also have lessons for the designers of training courses in the area of textiles.

The Craft Potters Society of Ireland will mount a limited version of their annual exhibition again. Interestingly, this approach was very successful last year at this fair and made, in some critics judgement, a better exhibition than the original.

It certainly sold as well.

So, the Great Fair II will offer a varied selection of goodies to interest everyone and, of course, its only 35 shopping days to Christmas!

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DOUBTS DISPELLED ARNOTTSFAIR IS ON There was some dismay among the faithful when rumour spread that the Irish Craft Fair at Arnotts was not taking place as the Irish Goods Council in September, decided not to continue the subsidy and organisation of this fair which it had hand held for a number of years.

Too late also for the Crafts Council to be involved. !t had its own fair, and had no budget to match that of the Irish Good Council's anyway. But it did give advice, and with professional guidance and the cooperation of the North Dublin Craftworkers Association who stepped in to act as coordinators, as well as the enthusiasm of Billy Kelly of Arnotts, the Fair will take place to sighs of relief from those who regularly participate.

The dates we are advised will be from Friday 6th December to Saturday 21st December inclusive, and the number of exhibitors will be limited to last years total to ease the administrative burden.

The Newsletter understands that there \s considerable satisfaction among exhibitors that the position of the fair has been maintained for another year and the many Arnotts customers who had, apparently, been enquiring can now be advised of this Christmas treat.

PATCHWORK EXHIBITION From December 3rd to Christmas Eve the Cork 800 Patchwork Show will be at the Crawford Municipal Gallery in Cork. As the show is being organised by the gallery with Evelyn Montague, those interested should get in touch with her at 25 Grattan Hill, Cork as soon as possible for an entry form. She would certainly wish to know name and address and full details of the quilt or wallhanging.

ARE YOU MISSING OUT WHEN YOU'RE NOT IN? An unanswered 'phone means loss of business The telephone is now the most vital link in business Make sure your 'phone is properly manned seven days a week by using a quality telephone answering machine.

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