Collect mission 2024 -Report

What is collect?

Collect showcases exceptional fine craft work made by contemporary makers currently working in the craft industry. The galleries exhibiting at the fair curate or commission new bodies of work to be debuted at this fair. The work spans many disciplines including ceramics, glass, Lacquer, art jewellery, precious metalwork, enamel, textile and fibre, wood and paper, resin and bone. The fair aim’s to introduce and cultivate purchasing audiences to develop and grow the financial and intellectual value of craft at this level. Collect, organized by the UK Crafts Council is well regarded for its credibility, sector authority and leadership with an openness that the crafts council prides itself in delivering Collect art fair .

Bernard Burton, Executive Director of Craft Alliance Atlantic Association was the driving force behind organizing the booth at Collect. Bernard conceived the idea, contacted the UK Crafts Council, negotiated the terms that allowed for a Canadian association to take part, and got of the funding to obtain the booth, ship the work to UK, help the makers participate in the fair, publish a brochure representing the artisans from the Atlantic provinces and bring staff to operate the booth. The work that showed at Collect was carefully selected from Atlantic Canadian fine craft makers. Here is the link to the catalog Collected works from Canada’s Atlantic Coast

My week at Collect:

February 27- arrived at Somerset house at 8 AM and was overwhelmed by the sheer grandeur of the building. Once in our space we unpacked 10 crates that contained over 130 pieces made by 18 artisans from Atlantic Canada. The booth, that was curated by Bruno Vinhas from NL showcased the work beautifully. Our space called HERE & NOW- Collected Works from Canada’s Atlantic Coast, was a beautiful space with lots of natural light well positioned on the second floor, and served as a wonderful background for the pieces to be sold. We spent the day mounting pieces on their displays and positioning them according to the gallery layout that Bruno mapped out for us.

Here and Now Brochure for Atlantic Canada representatives

Jessie Anne Fraser, Mengnan Qu and Sorrel Van Allen

Bruno Vinhas, Kelly Jerrott and the High Commission of Canada in the UK, Ralph Goodale

Key_Yeon Son with her piece that sold to the V & A Museum

February 28 - we dressed up and got to the gallery for the 11:00AM start, to welcome the special invitees, and international Gallerys and museums. The evening reception Gala preview started at 6:00 pm -9:00. The gallery was very busy and we were delighted by a surprise visit from the High Commission of Canada in the UK, Ralph Goodale and his wife. A lot of the artists were on hand to inform and answer questions. Our two artists from P.E.I., Isako Suzuki and Rilla Marshall both sold pieces during the opening night and through out the show.

We sold many beautiful items to different collectors and we were especially excited that one of Key-Yeon Son (NS artist )pieces was purchased by the Victoria and Albert museum.

February 29-The following day was very busy and again the evening was a reception and gala preview and ended at 9:00pm.

March 1-3 The next three days were open to the public and proved to be even busier days with lots of visitors during the open houses 11:00- 6:00. Many collectors students and local makers came through and many questions about technique and use were presented to the artisans. We had an artisan talk everyday at 1:00 pm in our booth, Friday- Metal artist Brigitte Clavette , Saturday -Mi’kmaw mask carver Gordon Sparks and Sunday- textile artist Jessie Fraser. Gordon Sparks participated in a panel about woodcarving on Sunday. For many of the booth visitors this was their first time viewing Canadian and indigenous craft in particular. They were intrigued by our artisans explaining practices and materials such as mask carving and sweet grass.

On closing day we had the crates delivered to our booth and artists on hand helped with dismantling the show and packing the work.

Atlantic Canada Craft and Ayelet Stewart

March 4- We completed the crate packing by noon and spent the rest of the day parting from new friends we made at the show and touring the city.

During the week long event we were thrilled to be able to tour the Goldsmith’s Centre which offers educational, training and professional development programs for artists and a wide variety of studio spaces, including a special program aimed at students ages 16-19 years of age. We had the opportunity to view the students exhibit and check out some of the spaces including the “ hammer room”.

On Thursday we had the opportunity to visit cockpit Arts.

Cockpit studios is owned by the local council and has helped artists for the past 40 years develop their businesses in a sustainable model. The facility located right downtown, houses 175 craft makers that have been there from one year to thirty five years. Although this is an incubator space it’s really more exploratory. Cockpit offers business development training and coaching and the makers learn from each other. We got to tour three studios for metal, ceramics and textile.

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The Crafts Council would like to acknowledge and thank Innovation P.E.I. for their financial support that made this project possible.

Collect London 2024 - Here + Now