We are continuing to meet weekly on Zoom, so we can see each other as a group. Back in July we did a virtual tour of Unit Twelve’s exhibition ‘Ten’.

Unit Twelve is a craft gallery and maker studios run by paper artist Jennifer Collier and print maker Iain Perry (known as Print Garage). The gallery is a converted cow shed on a farm in Staffordshire and has space for six artists, including Jennifer.

This is an introduction to the gallery and studio by R&A Collaborations (scroll to the film at the bottom of the page): http://www.unittwelve.co.uk/

Ten exhibition

To celebrate their tenth anniversary Unit Twelve is showing ten of the finest contemporary craft makers in the country which have been picked by ten leading professionals, who curate, organise, plan and shape the world of contemporary craft.

For our Zoom session we started with a video which describes and shows you round Unit Twelve and discussed the gallery’s aims:

• The workshops compliment the exhibitions and give people a chance to see more work and meet more makers
• Recognise the importance of the public seeing makers’ work and meeting them
• Keen to make people comfortable, everyone welcome – beverages are offered and cake is an important part of the workshops!
• Encourage people to feel welcome, stay and spend time looking round
• Champion craft – interested in traditional methods – shown in a new way
• Work on display is always well made

We then watched a tour of the Ten anniversary exhibition on You Tube. Whilst we looked at the exhibition film Emma, Craftspace’s Exhibitions and Project Development Manager, read notes about why the work was chosen and what ideas/stories the makers are trying to convey with their work. This led to conversations about narrative in craft, mass production, the value of craft and craft skills.

As always we also talked what we liked most about the exhibition:

Amy: It’s interesting to see different products and makers’ different styles: the materials, ideas, thoughts and feelings. Each collection is so personal to the maker. It makes you remember it. My favourite is Melanie Tomlinson’s work. I love all the colours.

Marie: I really liked Richard McVetis work, it is really nice, so detailed.

Yeelah: I liked Jaejun Lee’s work and the description Emma read of his practice. I like the minimalist, under stated look. His ideas, thoughts behind his work make me think how you can’t get time back.

Kiki: I like Melanie Tomlinson’s work, we worked with Melanie before and seeing her work makes me think of those happy times.

Rebecca: I like Julie Arkell’s work. So many stories you can make from them.

We are planning a new collection next year which we hope will be influenced by our various cultural backgrounds, so this was a great exhibition to look at to see and talk about how people tell stories through making.

‘Ten’ is on show at Unit Twelve until 5th September. Do look at their website to plan a visit: http://www.unittwelve.co.uk/