Jerwood Contemporary Makers

Saturday was an absolutely glorious day, i walked from Borough, past the beautiful and very midget friendly Winchester cottages on Copperfield street, to an exhibition at the Jerwood Space. Winchester Cottages provided by the Church Commisioners were inspired by Octavia Hill. The small park opposite occupies the site of All Hallows Church which was bombed.

In the exhibition a collection of unique, hand-made objects crafted in a variety of materials, including felt, glass, clay, wood, plastic and woven basket ware were displayed on black mdf boards raised on car tyres.

I loved Nicola Malkin's brash and noisy My Charm Bracelet. A giant alternative to Links sweetie bracelet, charms included a "Roadmaster bus, a bunch of bananas, a well-crimped Cornish pasty, a pregnant Madonna and a loving partnership of Yale keys... High and low art are all mixed up together, the tasteful with the brashly kitsch, the rough with the smooth, the raw with the cooked." Imagine that hanging from your headboard!



Another artist exhibiting that i cant believe I have been missing out on was Laura Ellen Bacon's, her piece, Surface Form was made from willow. It was a beautiful sculpture resting on the edge of its ledge, overspilling and curling round it. The lovely girl at the reception showed me a booked full of Bacon's sculptures around the UK, and photos and descriptions of her process. She has taken the basic craft of basket weaving and transformed it into over sized contemporary sculptures for inside and out!



Finally Karen Nicol's Scribble, so beautiful, this exhibition was so inspiring for me on my MADS journey.