Crafts Study Centre
Encyclopedia
England’s museum of modern crafts, the Crafts Study Centre is located next to the entrance of the University for the Creative Arts at Farnham
and its Foyer/James Hockey Galleries.
The Crafts Study Centre enjoys an international reputation as a unique collection and archive of 20th century and contemporary crafts. Its collection embraces ceramics, textiles, calligraphy, wood objects, furniture, jewellery and metalwork accompanied by makers' diaries, working notes and photographs. Much of the collection has been built up from donations and bequests and includes work by such influential figures as Bernard Leach
, Lucie Rie
, Hans Coper
, Ethel Mairet, Phyllis Barron, Edward Johnston
and Ernest Gimson
.
The Centre was established in 1970 when a small group of crafts makers and educators agreed it was vital to preserve and celebrate the best British crafts of the 20th century. The decision to establish the Crafts Study Centre led to a successful partnership with the University of Bath
which in 1977 housed its collections at the city’s Holburne Museum of Art.
In 2000 the Crafts Study Centre, a registered charity, relocated to Surrey to accept the generous offer of the University College for the Creative Arts at Farnham
to construct a new purpose-built space. In June 2004 the Centre opened in an elegant new three-story building located next to the entrance of the University College’s Farnham campus. The light and airy space features two exhibition galleries, a lobby and retail area, secure store for the collection and archive, and a library/research room which is available to the public by appointment. In its new location, the Centre is England’s first purpose-built museum for a craft collection.
In 2006 the Arts and Humanities Research Council
awarded core funding to the Crafts Study Centre. The Centre has also gained Accreditation from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, the national benchmark for standards in the country’s museums.
The Centre is a registered charity with a distinguished Board of Trustees chaired by the eminent potter and writer Professor Edmund de Waal.
Farnham
Farnham is a town in Surrey, England, within the Borough of Waverley. The town is situated some 42 miles southwest of London in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire...
and its Foyer/James Hockey Galleries.
The Crafts Study Centre enjoys an international reputation as a unique collection and archive of 20th century and contemporary crafts. Its collection embraces ceramics, textiles, calligraphy, wood objects, furniture, jewellery and metalwork accompanied by makers' diaries, working notes and photographs. Much of the collection has been built up from donations and bequests and includes work by such influential figures as Bernard Leach
Bernard Leach
Bernard Howell Leach, CBE, CH , was a British studio potter and art teacher. He is regarded as the "Father of British studio pottery"-Biography:...
, Lucie Rie
Lucie Rie
Dame Lucie Rie, DBE was an Austrian-born British studio potter.-Early life:Lucie Rie was born as Lucie Gomperz in Vienna, Lower Austria, Austria-Hungary the youngest child of Benjamin Gomperz, a Jewish medical doctor who was a consultant to Sigmund Freud. She had two brothers, Paul and Teddy...
, Hans Coper
Hans Coper
Hans Coper , was an influential German-born British studio potter. His work is often coupled with that of Lucie Rie due to their close association, even though their best known work differs dramatically, with Rie's being more functional and traditional, while Coper's was much more abstract and...
, Ethel Mairet, Phyllis Barron, Edward Johnston
Edward Johnston
Edward Johnston, CBE was a British-Uruguayan craftsman who is regarded, with Rudolf Koch, as the a father of modern calligraphy, in the form of the broad edged pen as a writing tool, a particular form of calligraphy....
and Ernest Gimson
Ernest Gimson
Ernest William Gimson was an English furniture designer and architect. Gimson was described by the art critic Nikolaus Pevsner as "the greatest of the English architect-designers"...
.
The Centre was established in 1970 when a small group of crafts makers and educators agreed it was vital to preserve and celebrate the best British crafts of the 20th century. The decision to establish the Crafts Study Centre led to a successful partnership with the University of Bath
University of Bath
The University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966....
which in 1977 housed its collections at the city’s Holburne Museum of Art.
In 2000 the Crafts Study Centre, a registered charity, relocated to Surrey to accept the generous offer of the University College for the Creative Arts at Farnham
University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester
The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in the south of England.-History:The university was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester, through the merger of the Kent Institute of Art &...
to construct a new purpose-built space. In June 2004 the Centre opened in an elegant new three-story building located next to the entrance of the University College’s Farnham campus. The light and airy space features two exhibition galleries, a lobby and retail area, secure store for the collection and archive, and a library/research room which is available to the public by appointment. In its new location, the Centre is England’s first purpose-built museum for a craft collection.
Craft research resources online
A major digitisation project managed by the Crafts Study Centre and funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the Headley Trust, has brought about 4,000 images from the Centre’s remarkable collections to the Internet. The vast database of images can be found along with a series of learning and teaching modules about the makers and their work via the Arts and Humanities data service website http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/collections/CSC.html.In 2006 the Arts and Humanities Research Council
Arts and Humanities Research Council
Established in April 2005 as successor to the Arts and Humanities Research Board, the Arts and Humanities Research Council is a British Research Council and non-departmental public body that provides approximately £102 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the...
awarded core funding to the Crafts Study Centre. The Centre has also gained Accreditation from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, the national benchmark for standards in the country’s museums.
Exhibitions and gallery talks
Since its opening at Farnham, the Centre has provided an imaginative presentation of its permanent collections through inspiring exhibitions and gallery talks. It also features temporary exhibitions of innovative new work by leading, contemporary British craft practitioners. The Centre’s aim for the future is to continue its high standard of exhibitions and related activities, with objectives to establish a reputation for quality of learning, teaching and research activity.The Centre is a registered charity with a distinguished Board of Trustees chaired by the eminent potter and writer Professor Edmund de Waal.