Exhibition Showcase Application
We are delighted to invite applications to take part in the annual August Craft Month Showcase exhibition, which aims to celebrate and profile some of Northern Ireland’s many talented makers. The exhibition gives us a welcome opportunity to showcase some of the work and talent of makers here, particularly during the busy summer season, to a range of audiences.
The exhibition will take place during the month of August and into September, as part of August Craft Month celebrations. It will be held in Craft NI Gallery in Belfast City Centre, which is 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 so we can also help participants to reach audiences who are unable to come to the physical space.
This year, we are delighted to partner with Cork Craft and Design and the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland to promote together all the craft events taking place across the island of Ireland during August, so we can share and grow audiences for craft.
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 have been asked to use these funds for a range of awards for work in the annual exhibition for the coming years, 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.
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:
- work taking your craft practice in a new direction; or
- existing work you would like to showcase as part of August Craft Month 2022
- All work must have been made within the last three years.
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.
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 they will be joined by special guest curator Daniella Wells.
Bringing over 20 years of experience to the August Craft Month Exhibition Showcase, Daniella has worked in the art market with a focus on museum quality craft and as a freelancer, she works as a market consultant for Collect. You can find out more about Daniella’s experience here.
Photography: Moritz Herzog
Submission
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. (100-300 words)
Please email your submission(s) through to info@craftni.org by Tuesday 28th June.
Applicants notified by: Tuesday 12th July
All applicants will be notified of the results of their submission via email, approximately 2 weeks after the deadline. 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: Monday 25th July to Friday 29th July
- The 2022 August Craft Month exhibition will take place from Thursday 11th August – Thursday 15th September.
- Collected, if unsold between: Friday 16th, Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th 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.