Makers Who Teach

12 December 2024

Building on the success of our 2023 ‘Makers Who Teach’ exhibition, Craft NI Gallery are inviting applications to our 2025 exhibition, which will open March 6th, 2025!

We know that many makers in Northern Ireland will teach others as part of their overall practice, whether it’s in classrooms, workshops and communities. We want to highlight the talent of these creative practices in our second exhibition.

This year’s theme will be Me. Here. Now.

We invite you to submit work that’s representative of where you are in your practice currently, as you balance teaching and making, with the demands each makes on the other. We want to shine a spotlight on your creative practice endeavours to ensure you are seen and appreciated not only as teachers, but also as makers. Many makers who also teach walk a fine line between passing skills on, nurturing and encouraging talent whilst still focusing on their own practice, and this exhibition will give them a welcome opportunity to share recent or new work with craft audiences.

The exhibition will benefit from in-house marketing and photography, organic social media promotion and PR, and will target both our existing audience and new customers in Northern Ireland and further afield. The exhibition will be hosted in Craft NI Gallery in Belfast city centre and also online. The exhibition will be juried by a panel of Craft NI Board members consisting of:

Kim Mawhinney, Senior Curator, National Museums NI and Chair of Craft NI

Dr Chris McHugh, Lecturer in Ceramics, Belfast School of Art and Craft NI Board Member

Patricia Flanagan, Consultant in Design Thinking, Craft NI Board Member

Eligibility:

– applicants need to be makers who are currently teaching or have taught in Further or Higher Education, in schools, full or part-time within the last 10 years. We also welcome submissions from makers working as technicians and those involved in community or private workshop settings;

– Makers should be working in one of the recognised craft disciplines listed here;

– applications should be new work or work that has been made in the last 3 years / has not been shown in Craft NI Gallery before;

– applications using drawings or works in progress will be accepted;

– all work should be the original design of the Maker and should also be made by the Maker;

– all work must evidence the skill of the Maker and must be a unique object, coming from the vision of that Maker, and as such:

• Demonstrate distinctive design and significant accomplishment in product construction and presentation;
• Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the material with which they are working;
  Shows high level skill in the techniques used;
• Demonstrate the individual creative signature of the maker;
• Demonstrate creativity or create design and innovation in the use of materials;
• Reflect appropriate standards in the products’ durability, size, weight and materials.

Before submitting this application, please ensure you have read through all information below:

Craft NI Gallery Terms and Conditions:  https://bit.ly/4882js0
Craft disciplines we support: https://craftni.org/about-craft-ni/who-we-support/

For any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us: gallery@craftni.org

KEY DATES:

Application Deadline | Friday, January 17, 2025 by 5pm.
Notification | week of January 20, 2025
Delivery of Work | by February 22, 2025

‘Makers Who Teach’: Me. Here. Now. | 6 March 2025 – May 2, 2025

Submit your application here.