August Craft Month Exhibition

22 May 2024

Craft NI are delighted to welcome applications to take part in the 2024 August Craft Month Exhibition. This exhibition will have a number of prizes aimed at supporting makers at different stages of their careers and will take place during August as part of the August Craft Month celebrations, held in the Craft NI Gallery, Belfast’s only dedicated crafts venue. All exhibitors will benefit from the promotional activity around August Craft Month, the support of Craft NI communications and Gallery staff and profile on Craft NI’s exhibition website.  

Exhibition Brief: Reaction

This year, applicants are invited to respond to the theme Reaction. What reactions between materials made it possible for your body of work to come to life, is there a particular technique that you find fascinating? Or was your response found exploring your creative process, ‘reacting’ to events and influences in your environment?

We’re excited to see how your respond to the theme Reaction and welcome your thoughts on how the physical nature of the work submitted and your creative process intertwine.

Header image: Anna Smyth, photography by Nathanael Smyth.

Guild Prizes

We are particularly grateful to the former Guild of Northern Ireland Designer Makers (The Guild) who have given us a legacy gift for the development and promotion of the craft sector in Northern Ireland.

We use these funds for awards for work in the annual exhibition highlighting the work of both emerging and established makers. There will be five prizes in all: 

1st prize: £500

2 x commended: £250 each

2 x Emerging Maker prizes: £500 each for makers who have been practicing for five years or less.

Eligibility

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

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.

• 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.

Submitted work can be:

• a new piece of work that responds to the theme,
• existing work you would like to showcase as part of August Craft Month 2024 and meets the theme,
• All work must have been made within the last three years
• Submissions must respond to the exhibition theme and this should be made clear in your work description

Online

To ensure the exhibition reaches the widest possible audience, we are delighted to announce that all work chosen for the exhibition will be viewable online on our website’s dedicated exhibitions section on www.craftni.org.  All the pieces will be photographed and available digitally as a series of 360’ rotational images. The work can be made available for sale in our Craft NI Gallery as well as directly from our website, increasing the opportunity for craft enthusiasts, buyers and collectors.

Panel

Selection will be made by Craft NI’s Quality Group, led by Board Members Kim Mawhinney, Senior Curator at National Museums NI, Dr Christopher McHugh, Lecturer in Ceramics at Belfast School of Art, and Patricia Flanagan, specialist facilitator of design thinking/creative problem solving.

This year’s special guest curator is to be announced.

Submission

To apply, you will need :

• Up-to-date CV
• Max 3 high res images (3-5 MB) of the work
• Description of your work and what motivated you to make it, reflecting on the exhibition theme Reaction (100-300 words)

Please email your submission(s) through to imagescraftni@gmail.com by Friday 28th June.

Applicants notified by: Wednesday 10th July

Important Dates

All applicants will be notified of the results of their submission via email. If selected, responsibility for the delivery and collection of work is the maker’s own. Work must be:

• Delivered to the Craft NI Gallery between: Friday 19th, Saturday 20th or Monday 22nd July
• The 2024 August Craft Month exhibition will take place from Thursday 1st August – Friday 30th August.
• Collected, if unsold between: Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd September.

Upon notification of your successful application, you will be prompted to select a time/date for drop off and collection dates to avoid overcrowding at the gallery.