Roswaan, Taco pull 2018, stainless steel, 300 x 150mm. Image courtesy the artists.

Open Door: Contemporary Makers and Designers

Lionel Bawden
Kristel Britcher
Mark Edgoose
Warwick Freeman (NZ)
Gillian Garvie
Tallara Gray
Sharee Harper
Cassie Leatham

Beverly Meldrum
Rowsaan
N’dene Riley
Rebecca Robinson
Vipoo Srivilasa
Lisa Waup
Dominic White

24 August– 5 October 

Mon – Fri 11am-6pm 
Sat 11am-4pm 

(OPENING)

(ARTIST TALK)

Thu 29 August, 6-8pm

Thu 12 September, 1-2pm
Conversation with the artists - Working with local materials
Karen Abernethy, Julie Ewington, Warwick Freeman, Lisa Waup

at 

Craft Victoria 

Watson Place, off Flinders Lane 
Melbourne 3000 

WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE

Warwick Freeman, Lava Handles 2015, found volcanic lava, various sizes. (L: work detail, R: install detail). Image courtesy the artist.

Open Door: Contemporary Makers and Designers considers how contemporary makers think about arrival and welcoming. Entrances are highly charged, signalling social as well as physical transitions. Doorways identify inhabitants; a good doorway makes a great start to the day and a happy return; as feng shui suggests, energy enters through the front door. Yet the importance of the doorway, and the threshold, is often overlooked. This exhibition includes contemporary door-furniture by artists and makers in a variety of media, considering how this aspect of the built environment is beautiful, as well as useful, in Australian life.

​Curated by Julie Ewington.

Lisa Waup, Ancestors (detail) 2018,  feathers, ceramic, glaze, oaten hay, fibre, birds wings, wool, cotton, 300  x  300  x 200mm.

(ABOUT THE ARTISTS)
​
Kristel Britcher is an Adelaide-based glass artist and designer. Based at JamFactory in Adelaide, South Australia, Kristel produces glass products for wholesale, bespoke design-ware and exhibition pieces. Her art practice explores the notions of space, landscape and the natural order of things through sculptural applications of hot glass; while her design practice explores alternative processes to create innovative glass products.

Kristel graduated with first class Honours from the South Australian School of Art in 2007. She has exhibited throughout Australia, including the Ranamok Glass Prize, Object Gallery's Annual Manual, and was selected to exhibit at Hatched 08 National Graduate Exhibition at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art. She was the recipient of the 2010 Fleurieu Youth Scholarship Prize and the Carclew Youth Arts Ruth Tuck Scholarship in 2012, and the Stephen Procter Fellowship in 2015. Kristel completed the JamFactory Associate program in 2011 and is currently Program Manager in the JamFactory glass studio.

Working at the intersections of craft, design and architecture and fuelled by an interest in both traditional and hi-tech materials, Dr Mark Edgoose has made a significant contribution to Australian object-making since 1989. A global expert in titanium, Mark worked with specialists from RMIT’s D_LAB, Industrial Design, Engineering and Rapid Prototyping to produce an innovative new ceremonial mace for RMIT.
Mark’s material-driven research also manifests in exhibitions that explore the form and metaphor of the rail, in its multiple definitions. These meticulously produced objects, created largely from titanium, enable Mark to explore his interest in craft objects as they exist in space and time – the rail is a linear structure that viewers experience by travelling along it. Mark’s works also interrogate notions of form and function and experiment with new significations for an object – his rails reference ubiquitous forms in the world but they also offer unexpected delights and new possibilities. Iterations of the rail have been exhibited at the Cicely & Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award (National Gallery of Victoria, 2012), Unexpected Pleasures (Design Museum, London and National Gallery of Victoria, 2012), Melbourne Now (National Gallery of Victoria, 2012).
 
 
Warwick Freeman has been a jewellery maker since 1972. In the early 1980s Warwick emerged as a leading practitioner in the development of a significant style of jewellery making that is now recognised internationally as a unique expression of New Zealand culture. This work is characterised by the use of natural materials such as bone, stone and shell.
 
Warwick was a partner in Auckland's jewellery co-operative Fingers 1978 – 2003, and was a founder of Objectspace, Auckland. His works are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia; Auckland Museum; the Dowse Art Museum; Danner Stiftung Pinakothek der Moderne; Houston Museum of Fine Arts; the V&A; Stedelijk Museum; Schmuckmuseum; Te Papa, Museum of New Zealand, and others. He was made a Laureate of the New Zealand Arts Foundation, and the Françoise van den Bosch Foundation, Amsterdam, in 2002. He lives and works in Auckland.
 

Rowsaan is a metal-based creative practice, run by designer-makers Rowan McLachlan and Saan Davidson. It is based in Kyneton, Victoria, and their collections are hand made in their home workshop. Working primarily with steel, brass and aluminium, they say ‘our designs focus on function, material and making process with an aim to make objects with beauty and integrity.’ Rowsaan makes fine door furniture in a variety of designs, but also excellent forged chefs’ knives. They have designed fittings and accessories for domestic use, and also for prominent public spaces and businesses, including the Brae guest suites in Birregurra in regional Victoria, and Attica and Higher Ground in Melbourne. rowsaan.com
 

Vipoo Srivilasa works predominantly in ceramics, creating contemporary porcelain sculptures, vessels and figures to transmit a universal message about cross-cultural experiences. His works explore similarities between the cultures of his native home, Thailand and his adoptive home, Australia. His work is a playful blend of historical figurative and decorative art practices with a healthy dose of contemporary culture.
 
For more than 20 years, Vipoo has exhibited both internationally and throughout Australia, including Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Saatchi Gallery, London; Ayala Museum, Philippines; Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan; Nanjing Arts Institute, China and the National Gallery of Thailand. His work is held in national and international collections including the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia, GOMA, and the Craft Council, UK. vipoo.com
 

Based in Mornington, Victoria, Baluk Arts supports artistic, career and audience development for Aboriginal visual artists of the Bayside, Mornington Peninsula and south-east Melbourne. 
 
Baluk is a local Kulin word meaning many or group of people, clan or mob and this reflects our members close connection and the diversity of our artists. Our emerging and established artists hail from all over Australia and their art expresses their identity and diverse cultural heritage in a contemporary context.
 
Through Baluk Arts, family groups and members of the stolen generation have reconnected with their culture, and express their histories through strong artistic practices to support their cultural and creative wellbeing. Baluk Arts encourages community development, youth leadership, participation and interaction, and Indigenous governance through innovative arts practice.