To directly mark the world that surround with messages, symbols and writing is an enduring human need and there is great material complexity to this expression. Some practices use fluid techniques atop a surface: brushwork, calligraphy, slip decoration, graffiti; others use inscribing techniques: letter carving, etching, scratching, sgraffito. This exhibition draws on the collections of the Crafts Study Centre (CSC) to explore and celebrate the sensorial diversity arising from the different material encounters of writing on, or into a surface.
A variety of work from across the material areas of the CSC’s collections fit the thematic matrix of this exhibition. Fluid brushwork in the calligraphy of David Howells, Ewan Clayton’s work in Japanese ink, Gaynor Goffe’s large sweeps, the exquisite detail in Irene Wellington’s pieces; the slip decoration of Shōji Hamada and Bernard Leach; underglaze marks by Henry Hammond; the painterly ceramics of Eric James Mellon, Alan Caiger-Smith and Alison Britton; and the painted silk of Carole Waller. Inscription is manifest in the letter carving collection, including work by creator of the Crafts Study Centre logo, Tom Perkins, sgraffito decoration by Siddig el Nigoumi, glass engraving by David Peace.
In an increasingly digital age when most people are equipped with smartphones, communication feels easy, straightforward, uniform, linear, and something that demands little attention. The CSC’s calligraphy collections tell a different story: of craftspeople devoted to exploring the affordances and expressive possibilities of writing and mark-making, inscribing into different materials, and uniting treatment of material with the message. This same attention to the materiality of communication is evident across the different media of the CSC collections.
This exhibition highlights the importance of embodied knowledge, the mobilisation of the whole body and gesture in the course of mark-making, set against the ubiquity of digital writing. It will celebrate the complexity, subtlety and skill of brushwork and inscribing techniques within the CSC collections and assert the relevance of this art to contemporary audiences. The exhibition will provide the basis of a public programme comprising of workshops, talks, performances, and tours with special events will take place during Farnham Craft Month in October.
Edward Johnston, Up-hill, 1897. Broadside, on skin, written in black ink. Crafts Study Centre, C.86.5.
Alan Caiger-Smith, detail of bowl, 1970s. Tin-glazed earthenware with lustre. Crafts Study Centre, P.77.2.
Ewan Clayton, Tranquillity, 2006. Written in shakyozumi ink using a balsa wood pen on handmade Japanese paper dyed with persimmon juice. Crafts Study Centre, 2006.26.
