About Craft ACT: Our history

1995: Craft Council of the ACT changed its name to Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre. With the change of name came a new strategic plan addressing the need to relocate to a more central, accessible and visible location. The first edition of the Accredited Professional Members Directory was published in this year and exhibition highlights included Marie Funaki in Containers and containers for light; Off the wall, featuring new emerging artists curated by Catrina Vignando: and Contemporary cloth showing works by 22 leading artists from across Australia, curated by Liz Williams.

1998: Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre was the first not for profit contemporary craft organisation to show at the Melbourne Art Fair (formerly the Contemporary Art Fair); was co-host for a 2 day conference with the Canberra School of Art, Art Theory workshop titled Marking new ground; and finally Craft ACT gained local government bi-partisan support for the relocation of its premises to Civic Square, a central location in the city of Canberra. Highlights of the exhibition year included Recent work by Klaus Moje, Playing false, an emerging artist exhibition curated by Jenny McFarlane and Conviviality, an exhibition that looked at contemporary chair design curated by Ian Gutheridge.

2000 was a dramatic year for Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre. Executive Director Jenny Deves, who had been the powerhouse behind the recent dynamic changes of Craft ACT and in particular had worked extremely hard on gaining support and funding to relocate the organisation, fell seriously ill leaving Catrina Vignando with support and assistance from the Management Committee, in particular its President Anne Brennan and Vice President Diana Williams to step in fill very big shoes. Catrina as the new Executive Director successfully managed the transition from one location to another, and the transition of one Director to the next with grace and professional ease. Her enthusiasm and vision combined with support from all staff, produced dynamic programs and resulted in successful next round ot triennial funding. This team presented for the first time in Canberra the touring exhibition the RFC Glass Award (now known as the Ranamok Glass Prize). It was also the year that Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre presented and sent on national tour the Rings of history exhibition. The largest touring show the organisation has developed, this exhibition went right around Australia reaching more than 50,000 people.

This touring show was followed in 2002 by an innovative initiative by Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre to develop a touring exhibition for primary school students. Titled Exhibition in a suitcase this project showcases contemporary craft and design with a detailed and engaging education package. This "touring show" has been on tour for over three years receiving wonderful feedback from the schools as it went to across the ACT region.

2003 farewelled Catrina Vignando who took up the post of General Manger for Craft Australia and Barbara McConchie took up the position of Executive Director, with Jason Hugonnet the new Curator of Exhibitions. With the results of the Myer Report being announced at the end of 2003, critical extra funding was finally injected into the visual arts field, ensuring the ongoing stability and sustainability of Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre and its peers. Craft ACT was part of a trade mission with Austrade attending the 2004 Birmingham Spring Fair, showcasing the work of a number of members, not to mention assisting other members of Craft ACT to attend as businesses in their own right.

Craft ACT developed exciting exhibitions and audience development events in 2004 with the Still lives and Content(s) projects. Still lives looked at the relationship of objects and film and presented an exhibition and six film screenings with introductory talks. Two performance works exploring the way in which objects have meaning and tactility within our everyday lives were developed as a project titled There's no time. This project in conjunction with Still lives and Exhibition home, an offsite exhibition furnishing a 1950's Bauhaus style townhouse designed by Sydney Ancher, were brought together for a one day forum titled Content(s) which engaged in critical discussion of the role of objects in our everyday lives. The object as material; the object as narrative; the object as ephemeral; the object as ritual and finally the object as experience were the topics discussed.

In the following year Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre developed three offsite projects as it continues to define new ways for audience engagement. It included an exhibition, Earth water fire at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre, reaching new geographic location in Canberra and showcasing emerging ceramics. Chora - a temporary site specific public art work by invited Canadian artist Penelope Stewart. The work included a large screen printed textile work in the Rose Gardens of Old Parliament House. And the final project, Memories In Place: Art in high country huts, was a project that involved three separate installations in three heritage pastoral huts in Canberra's Namadgi National Park. This was complemented by an exhibition at Craft ACT and a one day forum looking at art as a vehicle for audiences to engage with place, historical sites and issues of the environment.

Barbara McConchie
Executive Director
July 2007