Visionaries

we eat - a symptom of our desire for
closeness and simplicity in the digital
age.
Craft ACT: Craft + Design Centre is one
of Australia’s longest running visual
arts membership organisations, and
has been supporting and sustained
by a vibrant membership base since
its inception. The annual membership
exhibition has played an important
role in this, highlighting the continuous
evolution of contemporary craft
practice as well as the ongoing
technical and material experimentation
of the diverse range of artists that
make up the membership body.
This year’s exhibition Visionaries,
includes almost 80 artists who are
accomplished representatives of a
diverse range of media, from glass,
textile and ceramic artists to those
who innovate through their work in
paper, metal, and wood. Those who
craft furniture, collect and assemble
found objects, collage, weave,
embroider, pin-prick, and weld.
exchange, and collaboration and act
as an anchor point between people
across time. They are both teachers
and mentors, students and mentees.
They represent a cross section of
practices, with long established makers
presented alongside emerging artists
whose creative voices are only just
developing.
Although Utopia itself will forever
represent an aspirational rather
than tangible vision of the future,
Visionaries is a fitting title for an
exhibition that celebrates connection
and the richness, openness and
diversity that is alive and well in
contemporary Australian craft.
Rebecca Edwards is the Sid and Fiona
Myer Curator of Ceramics and Design at
National Gallery of Australia
Most importantly however, this
group of exhibiting artists reflects the
strength of the craft community, and
the enduring ability of craft to produce
an inclusive space for connection,