NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1979

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Craftsmanship is our Business

Finnish Glass I.S.D.C. Exhibition

Craft Council's 1979 conference, which is being held at the Silver Spring Hotel in Cork, on 2, 3, and 4 November, is business-oriented and at a professional level for professional craftsmen who earn their livelihood from their craft. Details of the conference will have been circulated at the time of going to press but the names of speakers will not have been included.

This year's speakers will be drawn from both working craftsmen and from business advisory agencies so that the discussion and dialogue may be as fruitful as possible and examine the problems of the professional craftsman as a business­man which, if an adequate living is to be earned, the craftsman must be.

Key speakers will include: Mr P O Slattara, Chairman of IDA; Mr Eamonn Cahill of Irish Productivity Centre; Mr W Leaney of Allied Irish Banks; Mr Val Sheehan of the VAT Office; Mr Bill Moloney of Aer Rianta; Mr N Millar of Bord Failte and Mr John Makepeace, the UK master craftsman in furniture. Other speakers at time of going to press were not yet con­firmed.

The conference, as usual, will open with a dinner at which, this year, the Minister for Labour, Mr Gene Fitzgerald, will be the speaker and will officially open the conference.

The conference weekend will cost from a maximum of £42.50 for single room and all meals in Silver Springs to what­ever participants can arrange for them­selves in guest house accommodation.

The registration fee for all participants is £5.00.

Sponsored by the Crafts Council for Kilkenny Arts Week, and opened by Mrs Patsy Duignan, the exhibition of Finnish Glass drew very high critical acclaim from the press. The exhibition, a travelling exhibition and one on which little expense was spared, was brilliantly mounted. The glass exhibits were superb examples of • design and craftsmanship. In many cases the startlingly simple and beautiful works were the ideal blend of the designer and the master glass blower, the former the creator of the concept, the latter the technician without whom the finished work would not have been possible.

Mrs Duignan, in her opening address, said that based on a very long tradition of Soda Glass making, the Finnish glass industry appeared to have been steadily built up through a well-designed pro­gramme and that it appearedito her that the main key to its success was possibly because the programme planners recog­nised, accepted and acted on the con­cept, which she quoted from Fin/and— an Introduction: " In order that a sound technical knowledge and theoretical terms could become part

of the designers' preparation for their careers, close cooperation between industry and the art colleges was essential."

Mrs Duignan said that this cooperation, though not easily obtained, was achieved

c. 1920/1930 and almost overnight the success could be measured and Finnish Design and craftsmanship quickly gained the international accep­tance and acclaim which it continued to hold. " I believe there is an important

The Irish Society for Design and Craftwork are holding their annual exhibition in the Bank of Ireland Exhibition Centre, Baggot Street, Dublin 2 from 15 to 26 October. This exhibition of the oldest society of craftsmen in Ireland annually attracts both leading craftsmen and students to show their work and provides one of the few opportunities . for craftsmen to exhibit work for sale in Dublin.

The concentration on improving standards of necessity make it a relatively small exhibition in craft terms but one well worth the support of the public. It is all too easy to mount a large exhibition provided the funds are available or to fall between the twin dangers of, on the one hand being a mini trade fair, and on the other, showing the widest selection irrespective of merit.

The Society's encouragement of student works of high merit is commendable as, apart from the National Crafts Com­petition, they have scant opportunity of offering their work to the public on exhibition.

message here for the Irish craft industry and all who are involved in it," said Mrs Duignan who expressed the happiness of Crafts Council of Ireland at being associated with the exhibition, as sponsors. She congratulated the organiser of the Kilkenny Arts Week for providing an opportunity for as many people as possible to see and learn from the ex­hibition as visual exposure to good work from other countries was essential for design stimulation and for measurement of quality.

Fourth National Crafts Death of Aileen O.Webb Trade Fair-1980 Details of the Fourth National Crafts Trade Fair 1980 have recently been announced and some are reprinted here for the benefit of readers who may not have had them.

Next year's Trade Fair will be a larger affair than last year's big fair and the number of stands will be 160, and exhibitors will be limited to one stand only.

Stand costs, like all costs, have unfor­tunately increased due to increases passed on to the Crafts Council. Never­theless, every effort has been made to hold costs down and in particular to ensure that the smaller craftsman is less affected by cost increases.

Conditions of entry have been tightened to make certain that only the work of Irish craftsmen is shown and that the maximum amount of manual work is used in the production.

As high standards are of vital importance to the health of the craft industry, exhibitors will be bound by selection, and craftsmen whose products are new to the Fair will have to submit these to a panel.

In addition to the prize offered last year of a free stand at the next National Crafts Trade Fair to the best organised stand, there is, this year and for the future, a perpetual trophy being offered by the Industrial Development Authority.

Exhibitors will be confined to individual craftsmen and small craft industries.

Individual craftsmen must have a well-designed product range of good crafts­manship; the ability to produce in reasonable quantities and deliver on time; a business-like approach which will be evident from price lists and promotional material.

Craftsmen not previously exhibiting must submit samples of product and promotional material for assessment.

Small craft industry is that in which there is a predominance of manual work and which is not merely the assembly of machine made components.

Products must be made in Ireland.

Selection of exhibitors will be at the discretion of Crafts Council of Ireland.

Mrs Vanderbilt Webb, founder with Mrs George W. Patch of World Crafts Council, died at her home in Garrison, New York, on 15 August, aged 87.

Readers who were present at the World Crafts Council General Assembly in Dublin in 1970 will remember Mrs Webb, then President of World Crafts Council, and will have recognised her dedication to the cause of craftsmanship and to the world brotherhood of craftsmen which was her deep conviction.

Mrs Webb's interest in crafts began during the Depression in the USA in the 1930s and her original development, Putnam County Products, which was designed to help to fund markets for her neighbour farm and dairy products, preserves and handicrafts, was an attempt to relieve dis­tress caused by the Depression.

She later expanded this small organisation into Handcraft League Craftsman, operating America House, a crafts-shop in New York, for some twenty years.

The American Crafts Council, the American Craft Museum and the World Crafts Council, the latter formed in 1966, were all her brain children. She was also founder of the US crafts magazine, Craft Horizons.

Mrs Webb is quoted as saying: "people who are able to have power over their hands in doing creative work, have power over their lives" and also, "we have removed crafts from the level of the church fair in this country—now we must do it for the world."

It would, indeed, be a fitting tribute to Mrs Webb if her latter aim in the widest sense of eradicating poor craftsmanship and improving public appreciation of good craftsmanship could be achieved.

All exhibitors will be bound by the conditions of exhibiting only the work of their own partnership or company under their own name, and may not act as agents for other partnerships or companies.

Allocation of stands will be by ballot.

Invitations to buyers will be issued only by Crafts Council of Ireland.

The closing date for stand applications is 1 November 1979.

Fourth International Exhibition of Miniature Textiles 1980 The 4th International Exhibition of Miniature Textiles, organised by the British Crafts Centre, will be held in London from 22 August to 4 October 1980.

Among the conditions of entry are that work in any textile medium may be submitted, provided that it does not exceed 20 cm (8 inches) in any dimension. "Textile medium" is under­stood to include any combination of new or traditional techniques or materials. The Selection Panel will be looking for work that is complete in itself, and which shows a fineness of concept, technique and material appropriate to the miniature scale.

Two miniature textiles may be submitted. Selection will be from the work itself, and not from colour transparencies as in past years. The work will be selected by a small international panel. Their decision will be final; no reason for rejection will be given, and no corres­pondence or discussion entered into.

Entrants must enclose with the work:

a The completed entry form, either typewritten, or in BLOCK CAPITALS, in English;

b One 35 mm colour transparency of each miniature textile submitted, labelled with entrant's name, the number of the piece (1 or 2) and marked "TOP";

c One black and white photograph, approximately 5" x 8", of each miniature textile submitted, labelled with entrant's name, the title of the piece, the number of the piece (1 or 2) and marked "TOP";

d The non-returnable submission fee of £10, which must be paid in sterling, and made payable to the British Crafts Centre.

Parcels must reach the British Crafts Centre between 1 February and 20 March 1980.

Full details and entry forms are available from Diana Hughes, Exhibition Organiser, British Crafts Centre, 43 Earl-ham Street, London WC2H 9LD.

The BowlThose who will have seen The Bowlexhibition which was presented jointlyby Crafts Council of Ireland andKilkenny Design Workshops cannotbut have been impressed by the beautyof the bowls from various countries, orin the many different media. Alsoimpressive was the exhibition itselfwhich was a model of simplicity andgood design and those who saw thissame exhibition of bowls in Sweden,Denmark and London were equally ofthe opinion that Frank Ryan's treat-ment in the Kilkenny Design Showroomsin Dublin was superior to the others.Press coverage was excellent and thiscooperative effort by the variousEuropean crafts councils or equivalentwas a most commendable exercisewhich it is hoped can be repeated inanother form.

This sort of cooperation is essentialto the future of official recognition ofthe importance of crafts as not only ofcultural importance but of the benefitswhich can flow from investment incrafts in an economic sense. While manyof the works were those of mastercraftsmen and individuals more akinto artists than more commerciallyoriented craftsmen, neverthelessstimulation of the public interest infine craftsmanship is vitally importantto the latter, from whom the likelihoodof job creation stems.

Travelling ExhibitionThe Crafts Council Travelling exhibitionwhich opened in Strokestown duringSeptember and which was covered byRTE Television in Countrywide, willnext be seen as a fringe event at theWexford Festival—opening on 25October at the YMCA Hall.

It is hoped to mount the exhibition inCork to coincide with the Conferenceand that the venue will be CorkCraftsman's Guild.

Young Designer AwardDeclan O'Donoghue, a young Corkcraftsman in wood studying at theJohn Makepeace School for Craftsmen,Parnham House, Dorset, got a furtherstudy award of £1,850 in the 1979 YoungDesigners Award sponsored by theKilkenny Design Workshops. Declan,who is now in his final year of a veryexacting course, is returning to work inIreland.

The Muriel Gahan Scholarship

Forging Iron

The first Muriel Gahan Scholarship will be made at An Grianan on 18 October. Crafts Council of Ireland, it will be remembered, made this scholarship possible through a special presentation to Dr Gahan on her retirement as Chairman. The scholarship enables a chosen student to attend an An Grianan course.

Patchwork Guild Formed The Patchwork Guild has recently been formed as a result of the growing interest in this craft engendered in particular by the Kilkenny Design Workshops exhibition "Patchwork" which has been so successful.

Any craftsmen working in patchwork and interested in joining the Guild should write to Mrs Deborah Baillie, Secretary, Patchwork Guild, 288 Stranmillis Road, Belfast 9.

The Art of the Blacksmith Today A Victona.apd Albert Museum 1981 exhibition will be devoted to the work of international contemporary blacksmiths. The aim of the exhibition is to demon­strate the artistic potential of forged metalwork and to show the quality and variety of work being produced from original design by craftsmen using all the modern tools and techniques available.

Selection of material for inclusion will be made in January 1980.

SPINNING WHEEL AND LOOM SOUGHT Joyce P Mann of Inishowen, Woolhara Park, Douglas, Cork, is seeking both an old spinning wheel and floor weaving loom. Any reader with either or both for sale should make contact direct.

LOOM FOR SALE 45" single width fly shuttle Donegal loom for sale, complete with shuttles, pins and reed. Also 24", four shaft table loom as new.

Contact 0503-55680 for further details.

More details are now available on the UK Crafts Council's second inter­national conference and workshop which will be devoted to the black­smiths art of forging iron. It will be held from 23 to 29 July 1980 at Ironbridge Gorge Museum, Telford, Salop, and Herefordshire Technical College, Hereford.

The conference is intended for pro­fessional blacksmiths who have already reached a high level of technical skill and are actively seeking ways of developing new designs and new approaches in their work. Some places will also be set aside for others, such as architects and interior designers, who are not full-time craftsmen but who work with the materials and tech­niques of the craft.

It is expected that two-thirds of the participants will come from the British Isles and the remainder will attend, by invitation, from many other parts of the world. We are delighted to be able to announce that two distin­guished artist blacksmiths from the continent—professor Antonio Benetton from Treviso, Northern Italy and Manfred Bermeister from Ebers-berg, near Munich—will be giving key lectures at the conference. There will also be a group of smiths from the USA, where the craft is enjoying a vigorous revival. Participants will also be invited from France, Spain, East Europe, Scandinavia and the Far East.

In addition to case histories from out­standing craftsmen, the programme will include a thorough discussion of the materials used. This will be led by Neil Cossons, Director of Ironbridge Gorge Museum. The conference will also tackle the problems of finishing, design, the place of ironwork in architecture today, and the training of blacksmiths. It is hoped that groups of smiths will work together to demon­strate their special skills and exemplify some of these subject areas in practice in the workshops.

The cost of participation, covering the week's board and lodging in a college hostel, and a registration fee, will not exceed £100.

A conference of this nature, which aims at a highly professional and intensive exchange of information and ideas, has to be limited to be effective and manageable. Accordingly, attendance will be by invitation. Any full-time pro­fessional blacksmith who has already filled in the Council's questionnaire on the conference and indicated an interest will have the opportunity to attend and will receive a booking form with this announcement. Others are asked to write to Caroline Pearce-Higgins, Education Officer at the Crafts Council, at the address below, stating the nature and extent of their professional interest in contemporary blacksmithing. Practising craftsmen are asked to send not more than ten slides or photographs of their work, which will be returned. Closing date for applications is 30 October 1979, and all applicants will be notified of their position in January 1980. The Crafts Council of Britain apologises, at this stage, for any disappointment this arrangement may cause.

The address to write to is: Crafts Council, 12 Waterloo Place, London SW1Y 4AU. Telephone: (031) 839 1917 and 839 6306.

Weaver Sought

Crannog Pottery is seeking to widen the scope of work being produced there and is seeking a competent resident weaver. In general, the terms offered are that the weaver would be provided with a work­shop on the Crannog Pottery premises and a small flat as accommodation. For this consideration, the weaver would be expected to have her or his own loom and be of sufficient experience to make saleable works of a good standard which, if satisfactory, Crannog would buy and market.

It is envisaged that this arrangement, which would be formally agreed, would operate from early Spring 1980.

Weavers interested in this opportunity should contact Ms Valerie Landon at Crannog Pottery, Banagher, Co Offaly. Telephone: Banagher 24.