In a New Light - Heritage Craft Project
In 2021 we helped head up a project alongside Edward Crumpton which focused on endangered heritage craft. Here are some insights into the project and how it developed.
THE BEGINNING OF IN A NEW LIGHT ART PROJECT
In early October 2021, we were thrilled to receive funding from Arts Council England for a new and exciting 14-month project which highlights and evolves North Devon heritage skills, intending to inspire their revival through new and exciting art and craft.
The project will see Edward Crumpton, painter Hester Berry, WWW.HESTERBERRY.CO.UK and furniture designer and maker Edward Wild, WWW.EWCF.CO.UK, learning a new endangered skill from heritage skill practitioners.
Edward will be learning the red-listed skill of Copper Smithing from the master coppersmith Michael Johnson at The Copper Works Newlyn, WWW.THECOPPERWORKSNEWLYN.COM.
Hester will be learning Tile Making from the international ceramicist Sandy Brown, WWW.SANDYBROWNARTS.CO.UK and Edward Wild will be learning gilding from the Verre églomisé artist Danni Bradford, WWW.DANNIBRADFORDSTUDIO.COM.
The project will culminate in talks, demos, workshops and an exhibition at The Barnstaple Museum, WWW.BARNSTAPLEMUSEUM.ORG.UK, from October 2022 until February 2023. In the exhibition, Barnstaple Museum will also display linked heritage craft items from their archive.
Why endangered skills?
This project idea was formed in 2019 in a café with my partner, Jess (Shimnix Films) WWW.SHIMNIXFILMS.CO.UK, whilst attending the International Guild of Knot Tyer, WWW.IGKT.NET, annual conference in Dorset. A concern of the guilds that had become apparent was their need to engage the next generation of potential knot-tying enthusiasts. The worry was that if this did not happen, the many skills involved could eventually be lost and with it important English heritage.
As an artist involving the heritage skills of knot tying in contemporary work, it felt very apt to follow this thread and look at how this may be expanded to include other endangered craft. Through research, we found The Red List.
It is worth pointing out that the updated 2021 Red List, moved Tile Making and Gilding from the endangered category to the viable. I was thrilled that these skills were no longer endangered, however, upon finding this out, the project’s focus shifted from only focusing on endangered skills from the Red List to also including endangered/heritage skills connected to Barnstaple. Tile Making connected to the pottery of Brannam’s and gilding connected to the furniture of Shapland and Petter.
Photo Credits:
Hester Berry Image by Jose Walker, Edward Wild Image by The Maker Series, Edward Crumpton Image by Guy Harrop.
Michael Johnson Image by Luke Brown
Images from the project:
Final Work
Talks and Community Engagement
PANEL DISCUSSION: DO TRADITIONAL SKILLS HAVE A PLACE IN OUR MODERN WORLD? at the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon
On the 13th of October, we held a panel discussion at The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon with the question – Do traditional skills have a place in our modern world?
Hosted by Jessica Pearson, the panel consisted of Daniel Carpenter from Heritage Crafts, Artist, Danni Bradford and Furniture Maker, Edward Wild.
You can watch a recording of the talk here:
TALK AT SANDY BROWN’S MUSEUM
On the 18th of November, we held a talk at Sandy Browns Museum. The talk started with a viewing of the project’s film and then was followed by a panel discussion between Hester Berry and Edward Crumpton. Jessica Pearson hosted the event and also asked both artists questions. The talk ended with a Q&A from the audience.
WEST BUCKLAND SCHOOL ROPE WORKSHOP & PETROC COLLEGE STUDENT VISIT TO BARNSTAPLE MUSEUM
WEST BUCKLAND SCHOOL ROPE WORKSHOP
In a New Light had a three-day rope workshop held at West Buckland School. It involved demonstrating to three groups of Year 9 pupils the craft of knotting, but also how this craft can be used in fine art. We showed them two current exhibitions in London where rope or thread is being as a medium in their practice. These two are Barbara Chase-Riboud: Infinite Folds at the Serpentine Gallery and Magdalena Abakanowicz: Every Tangle of Thread and Rope at the Tate Modern.
The workshop was held by myself and Colin Byfleet. Colin went through the fundamentals of rope and knots with examples of the different rope mats he made while I gave a description and explanation of the In a New Light project.
The pupils were split into three and we began showing the craft. I had with me my rope-making machine and showed them how to set the machine up for twisting the twine into rope. To make the workshop more colourful, I used different coloured twine so that when the rope is twisted it has a colourful nature to it. After the demonstration I gave them the opportunity to make more rope for themselves and in working together they were able to make 2 more lengths of rope. Making the rope requires hand-to-eye coordination, memory skills, awareness and collaboration which makes it an interactive and engaging workshop for all abilities.
There were two other tables with an art teacher on one and Colin on the other. Colin was demonstrating a Turks Head knot in a variety of ways; whether flat or round or thicker or thinner. This knot can be made using your hand as a jig and wrapping it around the different fingers. On the other table, the pupils were practising hitching around a ring, half hitching on its own and a Monkey’s Fist knot. There was a jig made for the Monkey’s fist knot as it made it easier to insert a ball in the centre. I was able to guide the art teacher and pupils in learning these techniques and the more they practised with their hands, the better they got.
This workshop was a practical class that improved the pupil’s motor skills, learning from seeing and developing their communication in collaboration.
& PETROC COLLEGE STUDENT VISIT TO BARNSTAPLE MUSEUM
The college students from Petroc came to Barnstaple Museum to listen to a presentation by Ed Wild, Hester Berry and myself. We wanted this conversation to describe the stages and stepping stones each person made in their journey into the art and craft world. The students were then able to ask questions at the end. We left some time for students to walk around the exhibition to get an idea of the project in more detail and see the final art pieces that were created. We had positive feedback from the teachers and the students in this discussion.
Project End
As we come to the end of the project, we are reflecting on our project journey which spanned over 4 years, from 2019 – 2023.
From the time we sat in a cafe in Dorset and thought about how we could highlight endangered crafts, to starting to write the Arts Council funding application and then having to put this on hold due to Covid-19.
Many times, in the beginning, we didn’t think this project would see the light of day. When sitting back down to write the funding big in early 2021, we decided that we would only pursue this project if it fell into place. We were lucky and many stars aligned when developing the project, from the Museum giving us an exhibition in their relatively new community gallery to finding match funding and support in kind.
The final make-or-break decision came from the Arts Council when the funding application was accepted. We were overjoyed with the result and couldn’t wait to start!
From this point, the learning of endangered craft skills commenced. We knew it was important to establish an understanding of how each skill fitted into the local history. We were thrilled when the museum offered a private view of their archival pieces that demonstrated the endangered skills highlight in the project.
Jess Pearson comments that “It was wonderfully rich documenting the learning and teaching process through film and photography. Each artist fully immersed themselves and the work produced was of such high quality. Everyone should be very proud of what they achieved during the project and what they continue to achieve beyond it.”
There were many highlights of the project and lots of positive feedback from the audience members made up of the public, artists and craftspeople, school and college students and teachers. We have heard of students wanting to learn more about endangered skills and also starting to include the skills demonstrated in their own work.
We want to thank all the organisations and people who have supported the In a New Light Project: The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon, The International Guild of Knot Tyers, West Buckland School, newly Copperworks, Sandy Brown, The Arts Council England, Heritage crafts and Rowden Atelier Woodworking School. We could not have run the project without every single one of these people and organisations.
What’s next?
From the exhibition, we were approached to help curate a new craft demonstration marquee at the 2023 Devon County Show. Edward Crumpton is also exhibiting at the county Show along with being invited to exhibit at two outdoor exhibitions. Hester Berry is using the skill learned from the project, within her painting practice and Edward Wild is continuing to use gilding as a decorative element within his furniture making. Danni Bradford has been invited to exhibit at The Bovey Tracy Craft Festival by Heritage Crafts and will also be holding more demos for students at Rowden Atelier Woodworking School.
Many artists and craftspeople have told us that they would like to be involved in a future project, so we plan to expand the project in the coming years, possibly looking at different historically endangered crafts in different counties. We would also love to continue to grow our professional relationships with the organisations and people we have connected to within the first project.
For the moment we are focusing on other projects, however, endangered crafts and being able to highlight them and inspire future use of them holds a special place in our hearts.
For more information about endangered crafts, you can visit the Heritage Craft Red List: https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/redlist/
The Red List is updated every couple of years and the 2023 list has recently been published.
