Craft Contemporary 2022 Returns This October

This October, Craft Contemporary returns, bigger than ever in a unifying gathering of contemporary approaches to the handmade. Craft Contemporary (1–31 October) is Craft Victoria’s annual festival amplifying the practice of craft in a state-wide program of talks, live demonstrations, exhibitions and more. Contemporary expressions of craft are explored within gallery, retail, educational and public spaces, calling attention to its ubiquitous and engaging presence.

Craft’s Watson Place gallery is the hero destination for the festival’s ambitious program. The headlining exhibition is The Chair, a celebration of one of the most iconic objects of functional craft and design with a material driven approach. The exhibition presents 24 chairs from 31 creative practitioners including Brodie Neil, Johnny Nargoodah & Trent Jansen, Nicole Lawrence & Thomas Coward, Brud Studia and Ash Allen.

Beading artist Camille Laddawan presents her first solo exhibition, Infinite Regress, in the Vitrine Gallery, while Unearthed, a collaborative exhibition with the Metro Tunnel Creative Program, showcases the work of eight artists, including Dale Hardiman, Tantri Mustika, Jenna Lee and more, repurposing discarded archaeological fragments into new crafted works. Artist and contemporary jeweller Zaiba Khan will lead a Round Table discussion exploring craft practice and the intangible.

Off-site, Craft Victoria presents the Poster Walk, an annual poster exhibition, this year featuring a selection of experimental chairs from seven makers exhibiting in The Chair: Anna Varendorff, Bonhula Yunupingu & Damien Wright, Isabel Avendano-Hazbun, James Lemon, Marta Figueiredo and Michael Gittings. The posters, photographed by artist Annika Kafkaloudis, will adorn the streets and laneways of inner-city Melbourne. In regional Victoria, a curatorial collaboration with Stockroom Kyneton presents the work of ceramic artist Pip Byrne in an experimental installation at the Kyneton gallery. And in Tallarook, established ceramic artist Sandra Bowkett opens her studio for an exclusive insight into the spectacle of her bourry box kiln accompanied by select Victorian wines courtesy of Bibendum Wine Co.

Online feature events include a special edition of our Advice Clinic hosted by ceramic artist and director of House Editions, Claudia Lau on the business of studio production. The Makers in Residence and Virtual Open Studios programs will offer audiences behind-the-scenes insights into some of Victoria’s most exciting craft artists’ practices.

Beyond the Craft Victoria feature events, the Satellite Program brings together a full calendar of third-party organised exhibitions, events and programs presented by individuals, collectives and organisations throughout Victoria including Alpha60, Collingwood Yards, Oigall Projects, Beulah STH BNK, Modern Times, Mud Australia, La Trobe Art Institute, Honey Fingers, UMSU Arts Lab and more. The Satellite Program offers diverse opportunities and perspectives for engaging with contemporary craft in all its different forms.

Program highlights:

• The Chair: Exhibition, 10 Sep–19 Nov. Craft, Watson Place
• Camille Laddawan: Infinite Regress: Exhibition, 4 Oct–5 Nov. Craft, Watson Place
• Unearthed: Exhibition, 1–31 Oct. Craft, Watson Place
• Craft Poster Walk: 26 Sep–23 Oct. Locations around inner Melbourne Round Table with Zaiba Khan
  27 Oct, 6–7 pm. Craft, Watson Place

Festival dates: 1–31 October 2022

More information.