Craft Event To Look Forward To In 2021
The exhibitions, fairs and biennials to enliven the year ahead.
We all need a dose of culture in our lives, after a year spent mostly at home. With the vaccine roll-out now begun, we’re feeling hopeful about the year ahead. Read on for our guide of craft exhibitions and cultural events across the UK in 2021. Event dates are a moveable feast right now, so we'll continue to update them as the weeks and months progress.
WINTER
Crafting a Difference
London’s SoShiro gallery starts the year with a show celebrating the diversity of the crafts industry. Bringing together over 150 objects from makers spanning the globe, Crafting a Difference offers a beacon of hope and togetherness, after a year of being forced apart. Curator Brian Kennedy has selected works from five London galleries. The second part of the show, commencing in late February, will feature works that are part of the virtual Collect art fair.
19 January –2 March; SoShiro, 23 Welbeck Street, London W1G 8DZ; soshiro.co
Elliot Walker: Plenty
For his exhibition at Messums London, artist Elliot Walker presents a body of glasswork that does away with the medium’s dainty reputation and replaces it with a feast of pieces that express ‘excess and gluttony’. Plenty marks Walker’s first solo show, and is presented as part of Messums’ emerging talent programme, for which the gallery seeks out artists that fuse together traditional techniques with contemporary concepts.
26 January – 13 February; Messums London, 28 Cork Street, London W1S 3NG; messumslondon.com
Epic Iran
Iran’s contribution to art history is monumental and yet remains relatively unknown. The Victoria and Albert Museum’s Epic Iran exhibition is looking to change that, with a show that explores 5,000 years of Iranian art, design and culture. Over 300 objects from ancient, Islamic and contemporary Iran will be placed across ten sections, set within an immersive exhibition design that will transport visitors to an Iranian city.
13 February – 30 August; V&A, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL; vam.ac.uk
Pioneering Women
Ten pioneering potters – all women who are (or were) based in the UK – are the focus for this exhibition at Oxford Ceramics Gallery. Together, their work spans the 1950s to present day, encompassing a virtuosic range of styles and techniques centred on the vessel form. They range from Lucie Rie’s mid-century, wheel-thrown wares, to Magdalene Odundo’s hand-built earthenware vessels.
More at Crafts Council
