JULY/AUGUST 1984
Crafts Council of Ireland.Thomas Prior House Merrion Road Dublin 4
Telephone 680764 / 603070
MINISTER APPOINTS NEW CHAIRMAN The Minister for Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism has appointed Mr. William D. Finlay as Chairman of the Crafts Council of Ireland to succeed Professor Justin Keating whose term of office was completed after the A.G.M. at the end of June. Mr. Finlay, who gave up a distingushed career at the bar as a Senior Counsel to join the Bank of Ireland as a director was Governor of the Bank prior to the present Governor. He has done much to ensure the continuation of the Bank's help to various organisations inthe provision of exhibition space at its Dublin headquarters. Mr. Finlay is also on the Board of Governors of the National Gallery.
SIX NEW FACES ON THE COUNCIL'S MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE At the A.G.M. on 20th June, two new members were elected: Margaret Walsh of the National College of Art and Design who is in charge of textile printing there, and Philip Murphy the silversmith and jeweller, representing the Tower Guild in Pearse Street. The Minister for Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism has announced the appointment of the following four members: Mr. Pat Connor, Manager, External Training at AnCO; Mr. Hugh Doyle, Manager of the Furnishing (including Craft) Division of C.T.T.; Mr. Nick Marchant, Assistant Chief Executive of Kilkenny Design Workshops and Mr. Kieran McGowan, Manager Small Industries Division of the I.D.A.
The Minister of State with responsibility for the craft industry, Mr. Eddie Collins, T.D., with Mr. William D. Finlay newly appointed Chairman of the Crafts Council of Ireland and other members of the Management Committee at the first meeting of the new Committee at the Council's offices.
PATCHWORK WINS AWARDS IN U.S. AND CANADA The Irish Patchwork Society was invited by organisers of the International Quilt Exhibit at the University of San Diego to send exhibits from its members. Twelve exhibits were sent to the exhibition which took place from 1 st to 4th June 1984. Quilters International was honouring a number of countries in this 1984 exhibition. Included with Holland, Kenya and Egypt and two U.S. states, Kentucky and Hawaii, was Ireland.
Of the twelve Irish exhibits in a total entry of over 300, Linda Shaw's won the $1,000 prize for Best of Show, Rosemary McCarthy-Morrough's exhibit won the $300 prize for Best Quilt from Another Country, and the award for Best Quilt With An Irish Influence was won by Jennifer Kingston. The exhibits went from San Diego to McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario where at the Ontario Bicentennial Quilt Symposium Exhibition of over 500 quilts, the Irish entries took another three prizes'. And just to add a bit of cream to all this, quilts by James Lawlor, Grania McElligott, Jennifer Kingston and Rosemary McCarthy-Morrough of Patchwork Mania '84, an exhibition organised in Nottingham to raise funds fortheN.S.P.C.C.
MINISTER PRESENTS CERTIFICATES AT KILWORTH
in the areas of marketing, design, training etc.
1983 was a very important year in the history of our craft industry. I would like to dwell briefly on some of the more important events of that year. We hosted, and very successfully I might add, the 1983 European Crafts Conference and Assembly. Last year saw the beginning of a new stage in the development of the craft industry in Ireland.
I am most anxious to ensure that the activities of all the State Agencies concerned be co-ordinated and used to the fullest possible extent so as to ensure maximum development of the craft industry. Here at the Kilworth Workshops we have an example of what can be achieved by the combined co-operative efforts of the Kilworth Community Council, the Crafts Council and AnCO. I would hope that the close co-operation in evidence here would also apply nationally. Indeed, we do not have to confine ourselves to the State sector but should try to get as much support and help as possible from private sources.
The restructuring of the Crafts Council's Management Committee to allow for Ministerial appointments and my own appointment as Minister with special responsibility for the crafts sector all point to a new recognition of the valuable contribution which the craft industry can make to employment and wealth creation in Ireland. The National Crafts Trade Fair is now an annual fixture in our calendars and indeed in the calendars of important overseas buyers. Sales at this year's fair were of the order of £3.3 million, of which £1.6 million was in export orders. A similar event fo the retail trade has been organised for next September and my wish is that it will be as successful an event as the January Trade Fair. Late last year the Crafts Council began work on the preparation of a Plan for the crafts sector and after full consultation with all the interests concerned with the development of crafts, drew up a document which outlines in broad detail, the general objectives of the sector for the next 5 years. I agree with the general thrust of the document. Some points of the Plan are still being considered by me, and on others I feel we need to be more specific in our objectives and plan of action. I will shortly be discussing these aspects with the Council's Management Committee. As you know all Government Agencies are operating under severe budgetary constraints and there is a limit to the amount of Exchequer funding which can be provided. Indeed many State bodies had to suffer cuts in their Exchequer allocations this year. The Crafts Council were fortunate in having their 1984 allocations maintained at the 1983 level. We have to be aware at all times of the need to make maximum use of our own resources and indeed to avail to the full of the services being provided by other State Agencies. I would strongly urge the Crafts Council to utilise fully its own in house resources and expertise and those of other State Agencies particularly 2
I see a Register of Craftsmen as an absolute necessity and I understand that by the end of next month will have been completed on a basic register. Good design must be an intrinsic aspect of our products. Recent studies have shown that firms now frequently rate product design as taking precedence over price in the market place. While here at Kilworth the stress has always been on the business aspect of setting up on one's own eventually, experience is now pointing to the need for more attention to be paid to design.
Of course the Workshops' main aim is to help young craftsmen of talent, who have completed their formal studies, to develop their entrepreneurial skills to a stage where they can confidently set up their own workshops. I understand that the majority of the 18 trainees who have participated so far in the Kilworth Workshops have opted to set up their own studios. Of course not everyone wishes to do so immediately. Some prefer to gain further education and work experience before undertaking the major step of setting up in business. The problems of setting up and successfully running a business cannot be underestimated and the better trained and equipped an entrepreneur is the better the chances of success in todays competitive world.
Irish Spinners Ltd. Kiltimagh, Co. Mayo Pure new wool bainin and coloured hand knitting yams. Telephone (094) 81156
We must match, both nationally and internationally, the highest design standards. We must also always keep in mind that the market place is the true test of a product, there is no point in producing just for the sake of producing — a product must sell.
Hugh Coveney, Christine McDonald, Mrs. Coveney and Laurence Hutson at the opening of the new Cork Craft shop, "Crafts of Ire/and."
N.C.A.D. SHOW Progress in studio glass at the N.C.A.D. is steady and positive judging by the end of year show. There is a greater sureness of touch, of the use of colour and of the strength of colour when this is required. The quality of the work overall is heading along the right direction. Not having equivalent years in U.K. Shows to use as a comparison it is difficult to place what is being done at the N.C.A.D. in any worthwhile context, other than one year against another.
Jewellery was much of the same mixture as in recent years without any outstanding invention. Ann O'Rourke's mixture of silver and wood was quite nice, but a little heavy. While it is difficult to say where design is to come from, the weight seems to be on natural forms which, curiously, appear to have more limitations over the years than one could imagine, given the richness of nature.
GLASS O F ' 8 4 The Coleridge Gallery in London is holding an exhibition in August of glass chosen from the various colleges final year exhibitions. Chosen from Ireland are pieces by Roisin de Buitlear, Justine Carpenter and Sandra Byrne.
NCAD: glass by final year students.
The work of final year students, Justine Carpenter and Roisin de Buitlear, was very interesting and their future development will be worth watching. Justine's art deco set was well achieved. It would be a pity if both did not seek further experience with appropriate master craftsmen to ensure that their underlying technical knowledge is sound. Among the other areas of interest in the N.C.A.D. end of year show was weaving where the work of Jane Sorensen and Janette Murray was particularly noticeable, and of good quality. In other textile media good work was exhibited by Caroline O'Hanlon, Rosalin Shaw and Carmel Sheehy. Ceramics was a great improvement on last year. Angela Condon had some good pieces and one, 'Marble Bowl', was that in which she appeared to have achieved precisely what she had intended. Deirdre Greers work was also good, though a bit derivative. For the rest, the pieces were workman-like, but there was something missing.
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OLD IRISH GLASS Some people seem to consider that "good" old Irish glass is clear flint, heavily cut with diamond and prismatic designs. Such a concept would make many craftworkers of the past "turn in their graves" since it does not seem to take cognisance of the high technical and artistic standards achieved in Ireland at times other than during the late eighteenth century. Technically, Ireland used the contem porary glass-working techniques of other European countries. The quality produced can be seen in the colourful beads found in Iron Age contexts or the glass studs and millefiori used for embellishment in the Early Christian period. Scholars of such calibre as the late Francoise Henry have suggested that even glass chalices were used in Ireland in the seventh-eighth centuries. However, in correspondence with other manu facturing techniques, glass-making may have waned for a time in Ireland because in the Viking period the main glass manufacture seems to have been beads made from imported cullet. That Irish people continued to have a sophisticated appreciation of good glass may be seen in that clear Venetian fragments have been found in twelfth century contexts in the Dublin excavations and there is documentary evidence that coloured, probably stained, glass was imported to Drogheda in 1296 and to Youghal in 1358. As window glass was made in Ireland at this time the question is posed then as to whether the early stained fragments found in Dublin, Clonfert and Cashel are native or imported. Coarse drinking glasses in Venetian styles were made in Ireland in the late sixteenth centuries. That they were indeed coarse is suggested by the fact that, for example, the glasshouse of Ballynageragh, Waterford, got their ashes "gratis" from the local castle and tannery while the kelp was simply carted from Cork or Kinsale. The extra ingredients, sand and fern ash, seem to have been so easily available as not to warrant discussion. By the late seventeenth century Irish glasshouses had moved away from forest to seaport locations. At this time also George Ravenscroft was developing his new flint glass in London and in September 1675 he was given a special licence to "transport" (or off-load) some of his new ware to Ireland. The coarse native glass made in the traditional style would have been little competition for such a new commodity.
However in the early 1690s Captain Philip Roche decided to compete with London by starting a flint glass manu factory in Dublin. By the early eighteenth century his "Round Glass House" produced flint drinking glasses, salvers, baskets with handles and feet for desserts, fine salts ground and polished, all sorts of decanters, lamps etc. and "for the encouragement of dealers tis proposed to sell them much cheaper than they can import them from England or elsewhere". Throughout the eighteenth century Irish glass-workers developed their skills in blowing, cutting, engraving, moulding and enamel-work. For example, drinking glasses were made in a variety of bowl shapes and decorated with diamondpoint or wheel-engraving and the stems were either plain pillar or decorated with a "tear", air-twist or enamel-twist stem. There was a similar variety in other wares produced, all of which conforming to London fashions. Yet from 1746 to 1780 the Irish glass industry was constrained by the dictate that no Irish glass could be exported to other glass re-exported from Ireland, and none could be imported into Ireland except English. However when Britain crippled its own glass industry by punitive taxes in 1777 some glassworkers emigrated to Ireland and there established a couple of extra houses to make, in particular, table, ornamental and scientific wares. This transfusion strengthened the Irish glass industry and because of that it became virtually unique amongst Irish industries in winning permission in 1779/80 to export products "to all parts of America and the British colonies in the West Indian Islands and Africa", as well as to France, Spain and Portugal. This commercially viable period for Irish glass-houses has been described by enthusiastic historians as the age of exuberance. The term is certainly apposite when considered in relation to the cut glass decoration — a decoration particularly suitable for candlelit rooms. Because of the importance attributed to this period historically it may be of interest to look at the type of glass made in the Waterford Glass Factory in 1786 and 1828. Their ingredients are given in a manuscript which is at present in The National Museum of Ireland collection. It is mentioned there that these recipes were used by John Hill and passed on by him to his successor, Jonathan Gatchell.
Flint Glass cwt. qrt. 4 1
lbs. 9
3
0
10
1
1
0 14
lbs. (485) Sand (346)
Lead
(140) Ashes ( 14) Saltpetre Manganese
6ozs
Enamel (opaque glass) cwt. qrt. lbs. lbs. (300) Sand 2 2 20 3
Lead
0
24
(360)
3
14
(118) Saltpetre
24
( 24) Arsenic
You may use Enamel Cullet if you have it with the batch. For Blue Use the flint batch and any Sort of Cullet and about 8oz of Saphora to every 20 lbs. of Cullet or batch, but Saphora differs so much in quality, that there is no certain Rule for Quantity — but judge of the Colour by the proofs in melting. For Green Use the flint batch and Cullet and to every 20 lbs put 8oz. Calcined Copper pounded fine — if not dark enough use more copper. The proportions used in recipes varied little between 1786 and 1828 The variety of products produced at Waterford in December 1799 is suggested from a small order placed by Martha Ba (the surname is illegible) of Edenderry: — 6 doz. best flint tumblers 6 doz. egg cups 6 doz. best most fashionable wine glasses 2 doz. vinegar cruets 2 doz. mustard pots 2 doz. salt cellars 1 doz. decanters not too high priced 6 doz. midling wine glasses 4 dpz. beer glasses 1 doz. small pickle glasses By 1825 it could be claimed that there were 11 flint glass factories in full production and that one of these alone, The Terrace Glass Works, Cork, employed 24 glass-blowers, 16 apprentices and 30 glass-cutters along with "several clerks, packers and labourers". Those days, when the Glasshouse band entertained the people of Cork contrasted greatly with a decade or so
Wine glass, Irish, about 1800. Enamel twist stem. The bowl is engraved with a depiction of a bottle and the toast "Bausgon saugart" (Death without a priest).
later when the Excise tax of 1825 had taken its toll. That tax was levied on the, weight of metal and to ensure "honest accountancy" stipulations were made such as: — "Six Hours Notice is required, previous to opening the Lear for the Purpose of heating the same; and if the Fire is not lighted within one Hour after such Lear shall be opened, the Notice becomes void—" "No Pot for the making of Flint Glass can be gauged by an Officer of Excise, unless the Glass-maker, to whom such Pot shall belong, shall give Notice to such Officer of his Desire to have such Pot examined and gauged; and no Pot can be put into any Annealing Arch, for the Purpose of hardening or drying the same, until the proper Supervisor shall
have examined and re-gauged such Pot, and shall have marked the same with Initials of his Name." Considering that there were many other stipulations in similar vein it is not surprising that some Irish manufacturers worked hard at not paying tax — a ploy which meant that they maintained their business for a while longer. From the recipes mentioned above it is obvious that Waterford did not work exclusively in diamond-cut clear flint glass. Yet by the beginning of this century shops such as the prestigious Whyte and Sons, Sth. Great Georges Street, Dublin could indicate patriotism and an appreciation of the excellent quality of Irish glass manufacture in the late eighteenth century by boasting that "A speciality is made of glass in the old Waterford styles." However that attitude and fashion may have been due in some part to the fact that in the Cork International Exhibiton of 1902 the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction employed experts to prove
Glass made of Muckish sand at the Cork Exhibition 1902.
that glass could be made from Irish materials, particularly sand from Muckish mountain in Donegal. Using an inadequate kiln at the exhibition these experts blew and cut glass in a style which could be placed side by side with the early Waterford and Cork glass exhibited. Their success can be seen in the accompanying illustration. Few, however, mention that the first item produced in this experiment was a glass mouse! Mairead Reynolds.
Photographs courtesy of National Museum of Ireland.
"STITCHES FROM TIME"
LACE EXHIBITION
This is a selection of examples of Irish embroidery from the Art and Industrial Division of the Museum. Many of the items have not been on public display for a number of years.
For 1985 Mrs. Betty Boulez-Cuykx, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Betonac Ltd., at Sint-Truiden (Belgium) has organised with the co-operation of the "World Crafts Council-Flanders" an international lace-competition "Lace as an A r t " to promote the creation of lace-work as an original and indepen dent work of art.
There are examples of specialist embroidery which are characteristic of different parts of Ireland. These include Donegal "sprigging", (white embroidery on linen) and Mountmellick work. The "sprigging" on display was worked for Mrs. Hamilton of Brownhall, Ballintra, who introduced this style of embroidery to Donegal in the late nineteenth century. The Kenmare mitre, embroidered in the Convent of the Poor Clares, Kenmare and displayed at the Cork Exhibition of 1902, shows the impact of the Arts and Crafts Movement on Irish embroidery styles. This can also be seen in a most unusual item included in the exhibition. This comprises panels of embroidery illustrating lines from W. B. Yeats's poem "The Lake Isle of Inisfree". These were designed by Percy Francis Gethin and worked by the Rt. Hon. Maud Wynne about 1910. It is said that Yeats was inspired to write his poem while on a visit to the Wynne family home at Lough Gill. This exhibition also illustrates the wide variety of embroidery techniques worked in Ireland between the 17th and 20th centuries. They range from "gold" and "silver" work, stump-work, embroidery with china ribbon or chenille thread and bead-work to the simple samples in which children (boys and girls) practised their stitches. Many people today consider embroidery as the hobby of middle-class women of the past, women who were forced by the prevailing ethos to display virtue and good breeding by keeping their hands busy at a lady-like occupation, for which they could not get remuneration. Yet men worked at embroidery in Ireland professionally from at least the fifteenth century. Many Irish people survived the poverty and hardship of the nineteenth century through the money which they made in embroidery. Indeed one official report of 1857 claimed that 200,000 women worked in their homes in Ireland for embroidery agents in Scotland.
The planned competition is a new initiative to encourage lace-artists to put lace techniques at the service of present day artistic expression. The organisers believe that, if modern art refuses to accept restrictions of any kind, it is also free to impose severe discipline on itself, In a work of art the medium plays a secondary role: it is the content which is determining This competition and exhibition aims at putting lace-techniques at the service of present-day expressions of art. The organisers are looking for works of art that deliberately break with the traditional lace-design in order to reach an expression that uses lace-techniques in an automatic way. The jury is composed of: Mr. J. Walgrave, Critic of Arts — Antwerp; Mrs. M. Coppens, Curator of the Museums of Arts and History, Department "Lace" — Brussels; Mr. L. Raskin, Cultural attache — Hasselt; Mr. A. Daniels artist — OudHeverlee. The pre-selection will be done on the basis of the colour slides. The prize amounts to 50,000 BF. Besides, two consolidation prizes of 10,000 BF each are available. The exhibition of the works selected by the jury will be held in the buildings of Betonac Ltd. at Sint-Truiden, Hazzeltsesteenweg 172, from April 13th till 28th, 1985 The competition is open to all laceartists and lace-workers from Belgium and abroad. The lace-creations have to be tissues designed and carried out by the competitor with thread on bobbins: bobbin-lace as itis called. Any other technique is excluded from the com petition. Registration forms and competition rules can be obtained from Mrs. B. Boulez-Cuykx, N.V. Betonac, Hasseltsesteenweg 172, B 3800 SintTruiden (Belgium). Registrations are accepted until 31st January 1985.
U L S T E R POLYTECHNIC D E G R E E AND DIPLOMA SHOW Perhaps the most interesting section in the Ulster Polytechnic's Degree and Diploma show was that of jewellery and silversmithing. Jonathan Fyffe's iron knives, with their laminated steel blades polished to reveal to the full the colourfully swirling effect of the laminations were lovely and it was very satisfying to find in this country someone new in the under represented craft of wrought iron. Small ornaments and interestingly beaten out wrought iron spoons completed his display. Ann Morrison's tiny silver loys, designed for cutting chunks of cheese, were a good idea beautifully realised. The jewellery varied from tiny delicate pieces to large colourful wooden objects for wearing. The colourful clocks of Vicki Fallis completed a quite stimulating section. Elaine Houston's constructed textile sea shore was perhaps the most spectacular piece in its section. It was hardly possible to tell- where the biece of rusty, barnacle studded, twisted oil drum ended and its fabric constructed and embroidered other half started, so exactly were the colour, texture and minute details of the original captured. Other flotsam was faithfully reproduced and the inclusion of original shore items in her shorescape served further to illustrate her skill. In the ceramics section shore objects were again present in the work of Peter Graham. The matt grey and white glazes with which he had decorated his elegant •vases were inspired by stones picked from the beach at Newcastle, Co. Down. Eileen Crooks delicately pale white, pink and blue pieces added to the cool sophistication which characterised the ceramics section. Geraldine Osmond's textiles explored the effect of embroidered sculptural forms using various naturally occurring materials such as dried rush and crisp, brown onion skins. Her constructions from brown paper were also eye catching. While the standard of design originality was not uniformly high throughout the show, the craftsmanship on display was good and some of it outstanding.
IRISH SOCIETY FOR DESIGN ANDCRAFTWORK A somewhat disappointing and tired show at the Bank of Ireland with few remarkable works and little in the way of innovation or exploration. In general; same exhibition, same style. Elizabeth O'Driscoll however never fails to. produce fine work and each year her jewellery makes its point with meticulous care. A gold pendant in blue ceramic bead was bought, and, rightly so, even before it was announced that Elizabeth O'Driscoll has won an award. Marja Almquist's handwoven jackets were as interesting as were Liam O'Neill's turned wooden bowls: he improves all the time. A late entry in the glass section was a bowl with a coloured weave pattern by student Roisin de Buitlear.
Stoneware bowl. Oxydisation. Wax resist. Anita Taarsted Jensen.
CERAMICS AT LIMERICK The end of year show at Limerick School of Art and Design was confined to ceramics in the craft area as usual. Not very many exhibitors on show but it was interesting and satisfying in that the students set out to achieve and did so with some degree of authority. This was evident in the large castings by Elaine Woods — pieces of some strength showing a control of technique. Kay O'Brien's panels were well controlled and suited to her dramatic theme. The city as she depicted it with its broken buildings, new scaffolding, sightless windows, was reminiscent of some U.S. paintings of the 50s and 60s. Anita Jensen's work was also well controlled and in particular her black and white glaze technique worked well. Helen Duhig had both interesting shapes and colours, but the work seemed more exploratory than arriving. All the work shown was competent and thought through.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS Michele Hughes and Alison Erridge combined in exhibiting under the above title a series of wall hangings interpreting various myth and legends in their own unique way with patchwork and applique. Texture, colour, imaginative design and the use of different but always appropriate fabrics together with their own view of what they were illustrating made for an exhibition that deserved the interest it evoked and deserved a bigger audience. The Children of Lir is about as hackneyed a theme for Irish craftworkers and artists as one could imagine in this valley of tearjerkers, yet they managed a new interpretation which, with the use of one simple stitchwork feather relating to the large hanging conjured up the whole essence of change from human to bird, from earth bound to soaring, from the here to thevastness of space and the long time of return. As with this theme, so with the others: the milkiness of the Glasgeivnagh Cow caught in a white see-through effect of fabric and stitches; the contrary, everywhich-way winds of Aeolus could be felt as could the essential snakiness of snakes in the St. Patrick legend and • the leafiness of the hazels above the pool of knowledge at the Shannons source. One could go on . . . and all hangings of course done with impeccable craftsmanship.
This exhibition used to attract more student work. If the timing of the show does not suit the students, a time that does should be arranged. A good mjection of gutsy and even outrageous student pieces in the exhibition could do everyone a lot of good.
ART, CRAFT AND DESIGN FAIR December 12-17 are the dates for the 4th Art, Craft and Design Fair which takes place at the Mansion House, Dublin.. The Fair gives selected artists, designers and craftspeople who produce one-off or limited edition pieces the opportunity to sell in the heart of Dublin's shopping area. Application forms are available by sending large s.a.e. to Jacqueline Corbiere, Hon. Sec, 50 Merrion Square, Dublin 2. They should be returned at the latest by September 14. Early application is advisable as booking is brisk. For further information you may telephone 680734 on Friday morning only, between 10 o'clock and 1 o'clock.
FOR SALE Gas kiln. K & F, 10cu. ft. Perfect Order. IRC1,200 to include furniture, controls and pyrometer. Contact Michael Jackson 056-27175. Flying shuttle, 1 mtr 80 cm, 6 shafts, with seat, beech, good quality jack-type loom for sale. Available immediately. Price I R£1,000. Contact: Nicole de la Hay, (0402) 5265.
9th NATIONAL C R A F T S TRADE FAIR
HANDWORK - K.D.W. The Kilkenny Shop in Dublin has recently opened a "Handwork" area as an innovation.
Details of the 9th National Crafts Trade Fair will shortly be going to craftsmen and craft-based industries.
The purpose of this area is to provide craftsmen, whose work is of a high standard but not necessarily currently stocked in the Shop, with the oppor tunity to exhibit their work in gallery type surroundings in the heart of Dublin.
This 1985 event, will have a few innovations: It will, for the first time since 1978, move out of the R.D.S. Industries Hall and into the Main Hall, with all exhibitors under one roof and no annexes or ante rooms.
To date it has not been possible to exhibit the work of a changing selection of craftsmen (especially artist craftsmen) for several reasons including:
It will also become a four day event: from Thursday 17th January 1985 to Sunday 20th.
The main objectives of the Kilkenny Shops which is to place emphasis on volume produced functional items and
It will also involve V.A.T. for registered companies, meaning that the V.A.T. element of stand costs can be set off against V.A.T. claims, thus reducing the cost of stands to many exhibitors.
The wish to provide a continuity of stock from existing suppliers to satisfy the needs of the consumer. It is proposed to invite craftsmen to exhibit their work (after approval by an assessment panel) for a period of one to three months on a sale or return basis in the "Handwork" area. Craftsmen can apply to have their work considered by the assessment panel or may be invited to submit work to it. In some cases it is likely that only one or two pieces may be selected for exhibition. In others a wide repre sentation of the craftsmans work may be chosen — in which case it will be placed in a separate area and promoted in the media through the issue of press releases. After the exhibition period unsold work will be returned to the craftsman; the maker will be asked to submit an invoice in respect of the items sold. Items exhibited will be subject to a retail markup of 50% with V.A.T. extra. Similar items to those selected should not to be sold through other outlets, or direct to the public, if the retail price undercuts that of K.D.W. Nor would K.D.W. wish to undercut any other outlets through which identical items are sold.
Editorial comment. While the formal P.R. announcement above reads well and explains the idea and reason behind it, it also works well well in practise. It must have required quite a deal of persuasion to get this much prime display space from a successful retail operation for an experiment, even though the experiment has long term implications and is close to being a craft gallery. Admittedly on a sale or return basis the financial costs of stocking the more exhibition pieces are low but the use of Jhe space cannot be discounted. The pieces are well chosen — fine woodturning, porcelain and jewellery and others are all well displayed but perhaps a little too removed from the commercial to invite purchase — one wonders whether to view only or whether acquisition is permitted. A craft gallery? It has been called for by craftsmen during the consultations leading up to the Strategic Plan for the sector for the years 1985-1990. It has been incorporated in that Plan which is now with the Minister of State.
Stand prices are, as far as possible, held down: the increase in the cost of a small (A) stand is 4%, but if the exhibitor is registered for V.A.T. then the stand cost is actually reduced by 12%. (B) stand prices are somewhat similar. Exhibitors should get their application forms by the last week in August or first in September. Note the closing date: September 21st. Yes, the Council is aware that the deposit has to accompany the application and that many will hang on as far as possible to avoid having to hand out this money, but delay can cost a chance to exhibit.
WORKSHOPS A V A I L A B L E Two workshops are available in Marlay Park: One 600 sq. ft. can be sub-divided. One 300 sq.ft. Rent 1 st floor £2.10 per sq. ft., ground floor £2.40 per sq. ft., subject to 50% grant subsidy.
Potential exhibitors will be expected to deliver their work to Dublin and collect it after assessment. Work will be assessed quarterly.
CORRECTION
Gerald Tyler, Kilkenny Design Workshops Kilkenny, is the executive in charge of the project.
It was stated in error (May/June issue) that the Arts Council was represented on the IDA jury for its Perpetual Craft Trophy at the National Crafts Trade Fair.
Contact Michael Galvin, Dublin County Council, 11 Parnell Square, Dublin 1. Tel: (01) 727777 Ext. 2121.