The Summer Edit
Summer is well and truly with us and so this edit includes our pick of exhibitions and events to enjoy in the sunshine in some of the world’s most beautiful landscapes, as well as our selection of material driven artists and works to see now across the UK.
Following the success of the Loewe Craft Prize exhibition in Seoul, which closes this weekend, the Loewe Foundation is once again opening applications for this prestigious award. If you think this could be your year then see further details below.
Image: Mèlisses, Andros, where Maria Sigma will be holding a weaving retreat this October.
Culture Fix
Discover our pick of exhibitions and events across the UK
Born from Earth, Richard Saltoun Gallery
Richard Saltoun Gallery presents Born from Earth, a group show that brings together ceramics by 11 contemporary artists, from pioneers of the craft to emerging artists pushing forward the medium today. The exhibition features a bespoke display designed by Lisa Chan, founder of It’s a Local Collective, transforming the gallery into an earthen landscape and creating a dialogue between art and architecture.
Image: Installation View, ‘Born from Earth’, Photography by Ben Westoby. Courtesy Richard Saltoun Gallery London and Rome.
Festival of Quilts, NEC Birmingham, 18-21 August
In Translations: Trans-Atlantic and other Journeys, acclaimed quilter Michael A. Cummings applies his signature style to explore and imagine the African diaspora experience, as he has so memorably done throughout his extensive craft career. Using found objects, applique techniques, and his characteristically dynamic palette, Cummings’ exhibition will be a highlight at this annual international event.
Image: Michael A. Cummings, ‘James Baldwin: Born Into A Lie’, 2019. Courtesy Michael A. Cummings.
Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe, Modern Art Oxford, until 21 August
Don’t miss Citizen of the Universe, the much anticipated exhibition of works by the visionary artist, educator and activist Ruth Asawa. The exhibition features her signature hanging sculptures in looped and tied wire, and celebrates her holistic integration of art, education and community engagement by displaying prints, drawings, letters and photographs.
Image: Ruth Asawa Working on a Wire Sculpture at her Saturn Street Home, 1957. Photograph: Imogen Cunningham. © 2022 Imogen Cunningham Trust. Courtesy David Zwirner.
In the Black Fantastic, Hayward Gallery, until 25 September
In the Black Fantastic, now on at the Hayward Gallery, features works by 11 artists, including Nick Cave, Sedrick Chisholm and Kara Walker. Blending myth, spiritual tradition, Afrofuturism, and science fiction, the show reveals how fantasy becomes a zone of creative and cultural liberation and a means of addressing racism and social injustice. A landmark exhibition.
Image: Installation view of Nick Cave works, ‘In the Black Fantastic’. Courtesy Hayward Gallery.
Travel Diary
Hauser & Wirth Menorca, Illa del Rei, Menorca, on view until 13 November
Art, education and conservation are brought together on Illa del Rei. Alongside the gallery buildings – repurposed from 18th-century outbuildings of a naval hospital – and immersed in the natural landscape of Illa del Rei, works by Spanish masters Joan Miró and Eduardo Chillida feature together with sculptures by modern icons Louise Bourgeois and Franz West as well as a new commission from Martin Creed.
Image: Franz West, ‘Autostat’, 1996 © Archiv Franz West © Estate Franz West Private collection. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Daniel Schäfer.
Between Humankind and Nature, Istanbul ’74, Bodrum, until 10 September
Spread across the distinctive natural setting of the Aegean Riviera, Between Humankind and Nature, presented by Istanbul ’74, seeks to explore and nurture the creativity and artistic collaboration inherent to the cultural textures of this ancient location. Discover ceramics, sculptures, site-specific installations and collectible design pieces by national and international artists in crafts and cultures from around the world and across generations.
Image: Installation view of Cristián Mohaded works, ‘Between Humankind and Nature’. Courtesy Istanbul ’74.
Spool of Golden Thread, Andros, Greece, 20-23 October
Award-winning weaver Maria Sigma cites the Cycladic landscape of Andros, Greece, as a continuous source of inspiration. Join her for an island retreat at Mèlisses, Andros, where you can learn the art of both frame and band weaving while soaking up the last of the summer sun.
Marguerite Escape, St Ives, Cornwall, 15-17 August
Join Marguerite, the club for women and non-binary people in the creative industries, for an escape to St Ives, Cornwall. Discover the natural landscapes that inspired Barbara Hepworth’s modernist sculptures, visit Tate St Ives and enjoy a stay at Harbour View House.
Loewe Craft Prize 2023
Now open for applications
We’re pleased to share that LOEWE has opened submissions for the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2023, which will take place in New York in spring next year.
The LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize was launched in 2016 to showcase and celebrate excellence, artistic merit and originality in modern craftsmanship, but the incentive for the prize goes back to LOEWE’s beginnings as a collective craft workshop in 1846.
Originally conceptualised by LOEWE’s creative director Jonathan Anderson, the award aims to acknowledge the importance of craft in today’s culture and to recognise working artists whose talent, vision and innovative approach set a standard for the future.
‘Craft is always going to be modern. It is about creating objects that have a formula of their own and speak their own language, creating a dialogue that didn’t exist before. It is about newness as much as it is about tradition.’ Jonathan Anderson, Creative Director, LOEWE.
Entries to the sixth edition of the prize will be accepted until 25 October 2022.
