craftsNo 50May/June 1981
Publishing Director Marigold Coleman
Editor Martina Margetts
NewandReviews Editor Christopher Reid Art Editor Bruce Brown Advertising Manager Stanley Enright Promotions Terry Ilott
© Crafts Council 1981 CRAFTS is published by the Crafts Council from 8 Waterloo Place, London SW1Y4AT six times ayear in January, March, May, July, September and November Available fromcraft shops and selected booksellers andon subscription. Single copy by post: UK£1-60, USAandCanada$4-20, all other countries £2-00 post paid. Annual subscription by post: UK£7-20, USAand Canada$23, all other countries £9-20 post paid. All obtainable fromCRAFTS magazine, 8 Waterloo Place, London SW1Y4AT (01-930 4811). All enquiries about subscriptions and circulation must be directed to this address. For single copies, please send cashwith order. Claims for missing issues only accepted if made promptly- UKtwomonths, Europe three months, elsewhere six months. USMailingAgent: Expediters of the Printed Word Ltd., 527Madison Avenue, Suite 1217, NewYork, NY 1002 Published: Bi-monthly USA subscription price: US$23 per annum Printed inEngland Application tomail at Second Class Postage Rate is pending at New YorkNY Phototypeset and printed by Belmont Press, Northampton
During his sixty years of making pots - in St Ives, at Winchcombe in Gloucestershire, in Africa, and at Wenford Bridge in Cornwall Michael Cardew’sreputation as one of the world’s great potters has been established and continually reaffirmed. In 1976, the then Crafts Advisory Committee’s retrospective exhibition of Cardew’s work, which was toured in England and abroad, brought his pottery to a wide audience, who were perhaps for the first time made fully aware of his achievements since Cardew had worked for almost half his life in Africa.
The importance and significance of those decades in Africa is covered in the conversation between Michael Cardew and Patrick Heron in this issue. Patrick Heron, one of Britain’s leading painters, awriter about art and aTrustee of the Tate Gallery, who has lived for over thirty years near St Ives and maintained a lifelong friendship with the late Bernard Leach, talks at length with Cardew about creativity. One view put forward acknowledges the significance of other art as a source of creative inspiration. It is a view which would perhaps be shared by Jacqueline Poncelet, whose new ceramics are the subject of another article in this issue. Jacqueline discusses the inspiration derived from Frank Stella’s recent, exuberant wall structures and from contemporary high-rise American architecture.
Many who see Jacqueline Poncelet’s ceramics in the Crafts Council’s touring exhibition will raise the question which attaches itself so often to discussion about crafts: what is their function? (Must they have one, beyond that of being decorative/sculpture?) In this issue of CRAFTS, the question is a raison d’etre of an article about new chairs made by ten of Britain’s best-known furniture craftsmen. The craftsmen who made the chairs are pictured with their work: are they sitting pretty - or sitting ducks? The article presents some considered opinions.
I would welcome views from readers about the chairs, and thoughts on the question of function in crafts. Also in this issue is an article about selling your work. This is written from point of view of a gallery owner (David Canter, owner of the Craftwork shops). It would be of value to publish letters from craftsmen and women giving their point of view on the present standard of crafts shops and galleries in Britain (and abroad), and their experiences of dealing with them. As the main tourist season approaches, it would be interesting to know how well craftsmen and women think their work is being presented to the buying public. MARTINA MARGETTS
9 NEWS 13 CALENDAR 17 ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY? Anassessment of ten new hand-made chairs. Stephen Bayley reports. 22 AMERICAN GRAFFITI Jacqueline Poncelet discusses her new ceramics with Rosemarie Pitts 26 SELLING YOUR WORK Ideas and advice fromDavid Canter, ownerof the Craftwork shops 28 GALERIE RA and DETAIL SarahOsborn talked with their respective owners about these two important outlets for contemporary jewellery 32 PLAIN WEAVING MaryGodfrey, Rosemary Goldfrap and Amelia Uden explain their respective approaches toweaving lengths of fabric for practical use 36 MICHAEL CARDEW MichaelCardew, eighty on25May, talks with the painter Patrick Heron about alifetime’s potting 49 EXHIBITION REVIEWS 53 BOOK REVIEWS 55 BOOKS AND CATALOGUES RECEIVED 56 LETTERS ISSN 0306 610X
Cover
Details of twodrawloom-woven cotton cloths, 183x56cm each,
byAmelia Uden. Photograph byTerence Reed
