IC:Innovative Craft Blog

The first tentative signs of Spring

Posted Thursday 26 March 2009, 04:36pm

Amanda Game writes:

A bluewash of hyanciths outside the front door. Sun slanting across Edinburgh roofs – but a biting, don’t-abandon-your-coat-yet wind still whipping from somewhere Baltic. March has slid by in a blur of more studio visits – Scottish maker Drummond Masterton in Cornwall – and seeing extraordinary large computer milling machines thrumming like a giant foundry in the heart of Magnolia-lit Cornwall. 

Had a whistle stop tour of the screeching, grinding, juddering world of making at the University of Falmouth – a long way from the gentle thrup of throwing clay, or the scratching of the paintbrush. Reassuring that things are still made at art college, in Cornwall at least.

All the wonderful Cornish gardens were in full fledge – operatic camellias; subtropical magnolias and the pale blue seas beyond. It felt like an escape to Prospero’s magic island. Back in Edinburgh, Prospero prevailed in two extraordinary workshop days at the Dovecot given by a company of that name (www.prosperopartners.co.uk) to an assorted bag of arts professionals interested in fundraising (who isn’t these days?). It was a very focused, fascinating 48 hours – well planned and thought provoking. 

The previous week the Edinburgh Festivals had held a breakfast party at Dovecot to launch the Festival Expo Fund. Attended by Mike Russell, Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution, the mood was Festive and the Minister was engaged by the colour and activity of weaving in that exceptional space,. (Ironically, though, craft is not represented on the Festivals board.) More Festival talk looms, with the University of Dundee hosting a further session on 28 April exploring the idea of A Festival of Craft in Dundee in 2010. Each gathering in the building seems to feed into the energy and possibilities that it offers. 

At IC we are gearing up to installing Age of Experience next week in the South Gallery (open from 4 April – Wednesday – Saturday 11–5 until 20 June) and are working with Dovecot to prepare three linked shows in the Reception Area. The Reception shows begin with a display of paintings, monotypes and etchings on an Irish theme by leading Scottish painter Barbara Rae, alongside some of the works that she has created for the Dovecot Studios. 

On 21 April Dorothy Hogg will be giving a talk on her recent work at the Studios as another event in our Thinking Through Craft series. More details on our website next week.