Making It

About

The selected makers comprise those who  have recently changed careers from across all sectors as well as recent graduates. Included in the varied works on show, many of which will be for sale, are abstract textiles based on tea leaf readings; furniture created from moulds formed from cereals, bread and mashed potato; 3D printing inspired by scar tissue to restore everyday items; and ceramics decorated with hair. Such works can be seen to both subvert and expand upon the traditional understanding of what constitutes craft today and those who create it.

This year, more than most, emerging makers have found few opportunities to build their profiles. For many of those exhibiting at Making It, this marks their first time showing their work publicly - a pivotal point in their careers.

The 2021 exhibitors, all of whom are resident in the South West, were selected from 72 submissions by a panel drawn from creative organisations across the area. They were asked to respond to one or more of the themes of  diversity, innovation and collaboration in their submission, as well as meeting the criteria of having either graduated/finished training, or being self-taught and having started their career within the last five years.

Becky Dodman Wainwright uses tasseography, a fortune-telling method that interprets patterns in tea leaves, alongside her own illustrated tealeaf dictionary and a collection of bold colours, to create vivid geometric textiles. Her tufted and tapestry art combine new technologies with traditional craft to produce bespoke psychedelic energetic artworks that also act as abstract portraits of her subjects. 

Seran Francis' work is connected to her experiences as a black British female creator, exploring themes surrounding empowerment, hair, identity, repetition and culture. Frequently combining ceramics and digital photo manipulation, Francis decorates stoneware vessels with braiding hair to create Afrofuturistic/Afro-surrealist inspired pieces that embrace black power in all its forms. 

Gavin Keightly is a designer-maker with a passion for process, investigating unexplored and undervalued methods to reveal new and innovative results. Initially trained as a joiner, in his furniture designs he creates textures and various components generated by casting into moulds made from unconventional sustainable sources such as food including mashed potato, agar jelly,  puffed rice and wheat cereals, and bread.

Oscar McNaughton uses 3D printed repair structures based on scar tissue to restore various broken everyday ceramic and china objects. Largely self taught, McNaughton, who is due to start his MA in Design later this year, seeks to create relationships between technology and craft with nature at the forefront through his complex cellular designs.

Katie Allen’s knitted designs are handmade in her Gloucestershire studio using the wool from her flock of rare breed sheep. Truly circular in her work, which she deems ‘soil-to-soil’, Allen’s bold geometric patterns are shown alongside undyed pieces, used in her Fibreshed certified collection, only one of two in the UK, to showcase the natural colours her flock’s fleeces produce and is rooted in the South West of England throughout every stage of her sustainable production.

Colin Wilkes is a former builder who, after 15 years in the industry, transferred his skills to focus on glass blowing. In combining vibrantly coloured organically shaped glass with waste concrete and timber, Wilkes merges both his former and new skills into sculptures incorporating these seemingly opposing materials.

Will Thomas uses photographic and moving image to examine the difficulty in discerning reality from fiction. The resultant prints are made through traditional darkroom processes using a digitally produced negative of entirely fictional, digital landscapes. Through this process Thomas brings together the latest digital scenery generation software with one of the oldest forms of photographic print making.

The full list of exhibitors is – Abeer Kayani, textile; Alexandra Holmes, jewellery; Alison Brown, sculpture/jewellery; Amy Goodwin, signwriting; Colin Wilkes, glass; Emma Studd, screen printing; Freddie Crossley, ceramics; Gavin Keightley, furniture and ceramics; Iona Hall, jewellery and silversmithing; Jess Strain, textiles; Katie Allen, textiles; Laura Drayson, jewellery; Lauren Collier, printmaking; Lorna Yabsley, ceramics; Oscar McNaughton, sculpture; Becky Dodman Wainwright, textiles; Rheanna Davison, textiles; Seran Francis, sculpture and digital photography; Teän Roberts, photography; Theo Crutchley-Mack, sculptural painting; and Will Thomas, photography and film.

The Making It exhibitors will be taking part in a programme of creative development run by partner organisations Cultivator Cornwall and Design-Nation. Many of them continue to become Associate Members of Devon Guild of Craftsmen, receiving support through its exhibitions and education programmes. There are also additional prizes awarded during the exhibition which include a free stand at Craft Festival 2022 and a free listing on Find a Maker, a year's full membership of Design-Nation with a package of support and opportunities to nurture the creative practice of the winner, for 'excellence in new creative practice' and numerous mentoring opportunities.