Jobs and opps

9 December 2008

The Spark Plug Award is an annual award scheme that supports curators and professionals in the UK to develop ambitious and innovative exhibitions that engage with contemporary craft. The scheme selects a minimum of four curators each year and awards them £5,000 for the fixed period of one year of research activity, during which time the awardees are required to research and develop an original exhibition project. Proposals must relate to an aspect of craft with craft practice at the core of the making process.

The successful Awardees are selected by an independent panel comprised of four professionals representing a range of curatorial and creative disciplines. The 2007 panel was; David Falkner, Shreela Ghosh, Nima Poovaya-Smith and Hans Stofer. The Chair was Claire West (Director of Programmes, Crafts Council).

The award attracted 43 applications and from a shortlist of ten proposals six curators were selected to receive the Award. The panel were extremely impressed by the high standard of applications and the challenging and inventive ways in which curators were proposing new ways of engagement with contemporary craft. The successful candidates were:

- Janis Jefferies and May Cornet with a proposal to investigate the dynamic relationship between maths and textiles
- David Littler with Sampler; a proposal for collaboration between music and textiles by looking at the use of samplers.
- Sally Moir with Cut and Paste; an investigation into craft within the work environment.
- Sanna Moore with Compulsive, Obsessive, Repetitive; a proposal that looks at repetition in design and the process of making.
- Paul Purgas with Vintage Future; a proposal that explores the nature of craft in the age of mass technology.
- Zoë Shearman with Craftivism; a proposal which explores the relationship between contemporary art practice and craft traditions.

www.craftscouncil.org.uk

Organiser/employer: Crafts Council »

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