Art of Craft Exhibit Design/”By Hand” Curator Talk – presented during the Museum of Vancouver Art of Craft curator talk and tour evening, January 14, 2010
by Kirsti Wakelin

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Earlier this spring, Darren Carcary of Resolve Design, and I were handed a stack of paper containing photographs and dimensions of over 120 objects for “Unity in Diversity” and “By Hand” that were to make up two of the three galleries in the Museum of Vancouver’s January 2010 exhibition Art of Craft. Immediately inspired by the objects we were to be working with, we began by creating a virtual model of each piece so that we could begin the long process of designing the Art of Craft exhibition.

It became quickly apparent that this was an incredibly diverse show. For all intents and purposes, the only thing many of these objects had in common was that they were made by skilled hands. We also realised that we wanted to keep the design out of the way of the objects. This approach informed our colour pallete and typographic treatment for all three galleries, and the pathing and display decisions for “Unity in Diversity” and “By Hand”.

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Dawn MacNutt, N.S | Springtime [detail], bronze | Art of Craft/”Unity & Diversity” (Flora & Fauna), Museum of Vancouver

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Alex Anagnostou, ON| Seeding Clouds [detail], glass | Art of Craft/”Unity & Diversity” (Water), Museum of Vancouver

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We kept the palette neutral, carefully selecting colours that would transition quietly from one room to the next, unifying the exhibition while not competing with the works. We recognised that the objects themselves would bring colour and texture into the space. By dropping the paint line we created a more intimate, human sizes space while introducing a line that drew visitors through the exhibit spaces.

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Art of Craft/”By Hand”, Museum of Vancouver

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Lilach Lotan | Cactus Flower [detail], translucent porcelain, unglazed | Art of Craft/”By Hand”, Museum of Vancouver

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“Unity & Diversity” came to us ready-curated by Dr. Sandra Alfoldy, with specific requirements for themes. The exhibit is broken into seven sections, with each theme hinging on a transition object that bridges its own theme and the next – and we pathed the exhibit around these solid markers. Placement of objects within each theme was chosen carefully, based on consideration of medium, colour, shape and meaning. Considerations were made for sight lines and for introducing the exhibit in stages by erecting walls and positioning large pieces in a central area. Additionally, by winding the pathway through the space, new artwork suddenly becomes visible around each turn.

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Art of Craft/”Unity & Diversity”, Museum of Vancouver

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In both “Unity & Diversity” and “By Hand”, we were faced with the challenge of space vs number of objects, ruling out a typical approach. We focused instead on groupings and clusters of objects that rise and fall through the space, perhaps not unlike how a grouping of objects might be arranged in a home, on shelves, placed on a hearth or on a cabinet. We were further challenged by maintaining security and safety for the objects, while keeping them as unhindered by cases as possible.

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Chung-Im Kim, ON| Dawn [detail], textile wall hanging | Art of Craft/”Unity & Diversity” (theme: Arrivals), Museum of Vancouver

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Taliaferro Jones, ON | Embrace [detail], | Art of Craft/”Unity & Diversity” (theme: Water), Museum of Vancouver

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Art of Craft title wall, Museum of Vancouver

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The Art of Craft title wall presented it’s own challenges – quite frankly we were intimidated, design-wise, by the large, adjacent taxidermy lion and row of deer heads. We debated how our title wall would command attention while maintaining the subtle aesthetic of the interior design. Our solution was to introduced a projected slice of close-up photographs of some of the objects within the exhibit. By focusing on details within the pieces we remind visitors that objects are not always what they seem. Stitches don’t always follow straight lines – sometimes they loop like vines across a sleeve, messages are hidden among playful airplanes, and the finish on a ceramic tea-inspired wall sculpture is subtly festooned with a tone on tone floral pattern – invisible to the casual glance but a reward for closer scrutiny.

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Rosalind Aylmer | Hanji Jacket [detail] | Art of Craft/”By Hand”, Museum of Vancouver

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Art of Craft/”Craft from the Republic of Korea”, Museum of Vancouver

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While Dr. Sandra Alfoldy’s “Unity & Diversity” highlights craft as a medium of expression and identity and the main emphasis of Mr. An’s “Craft from the Republic of Korea” explores how craft is integrated into everyday life and how people interact and use craft, we designed “By Hand” to touch on how the objects came into being. Our intention with “By Hand” is to invite visitors to consider the origins of the pieces they are viewing, to imagine the process from a technical point of view and perhaps consider what ‘craft’ means. Whether the objects were conceived to communicate ideas of identity or issues, to have decorative function or be put to functional use, or if they are medium inspired or location inspired – crafted objects came into being at the hands of a maker. Sometimes those hands are separated from the materials by tools and other times they are themselves the tools – pushing, pulling, twisting, smoothing and forming.

As designers both Darren and I have a fascination with process – the physical process of creating an object as well as the thought process behind the creation – and we knew we wanted to explore this in “By Hand”. We chose to organise the exhibit by material. Truthfully, there are pieces that bridge one or more media – but the basis of our decision was to link the viewer to maker through the materials.

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Michell Sirois-Silver | Hosta 6, [detail] hand hooked loop pile, hand dyed 1/2″ wool fabric strips on linen | Art of Craft/”By Hand”, Museum of Vancouver

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To further explore this idea, we included “On the Make”, a multimedia component to the exhibit that offers a glimpse into the physical and thought process of crafting objects. We included a series of 4 very short films, created as a personal project. The focus of the films is solidly on the act of making and how the artist approaches their craft through years of learned experience, their relationship with their materials and the aspects of their process that is important to them – either for practical or conceptual reasons.

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On the make – the art of process | Art of Craft/”By Hand”, Museum of Vancouver

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We were surprised and delighted with what we learned during the film-making process and it is our hope that this small window into a maker’s world prompts visitors to retrace their steps through the exhibition to view the objects with another layer of discovery and to realise to what extent each maker is a master of their materials. “By Hand” is designed around the premise of introducing visitors to crafts people – to shine a light on why and how makers create – that as diverse as the objects are within and between all three galleries, the reasons why and how are equally diverse. Some honour the materials, some honour the concept or combinations of both, but all are incredibly skilled at coaxing form from raw material and ideas.

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Jinny Whitehead, wood-fire potter | film still

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all photographs:: ©Kirsti Wakelin 2010

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Thank you to Joan Seidl, Director of Collections and Exhibitions, who was more than wonderful to work with on this project. We look forward to embarking on the next project with you! And to Sandy Blair, MOV’s Senior Display Technician and Chris Friesen, Display Technician for their fantastic building support, ideas, 3D problem solving and wicked plexi skillz.

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For more information please see:

• the Art of Craft page on the Museum of Vancouver website.
• the Canadian Craft Federation website page “Unity & Diversity – Selected Works”
• more photos of the exhibition build and install in progress
• the Four short craftmaker films can be viewed on my website, on the Resolve Design website, or on the Resolve Design vimeo account.
• previous articles on the Art of Craft design on this blog
• photos of the exhibit design on my website.