Craft Anonymous

Curated by Polly Dance as part of Adelaide City Council’s 2014/15 Emerging Curator Program

Craft Anonymous brought together South Australian regional and metropolitan textile, glass, metal and ceramic artists for an exhibition in the iconic Adelaide Town Hall in 2015 and now a tour of regional South Australia throughout 2016-17.

Five regional South Australian and four Adelaide-based artists whose practices employ traditional handicraft techniques such as weaving, embroidery, knitting, felting, enamelling and hand-dying are showcased within a contemporary art context; where old meets new.These artists have dedicated numerous hours to perfecting and nely crafting handmade works of art in what is often a painstaking but pleasurable process of making and through making with one’s own hands, the artists tell their story.

Craft Anonymous addresses ideas around the body: approaching themes of adornment, embellishment, desire/disgust, and identity: public/private, femininity/ masculinity, domesticity, place, family history and a sense of belonging.

Presented in partnership with Country Arts SA, Eleanor Scicchitano, Visual Arts Coordinator, Craft Anonymous aims to extend exhibition and professional development opportunities for artists and to encourage further exchange between metropolitan and regional artists.

Polly Dance is a curator, arts writer and artist currently based in Adelaide. Her practice is concerned with modes of communication, curation and materiality. In 2012 she graduated from the University of Adelaide with Masters in Curatorial and Museum Studies. Prior to this she completed a Bachelor of Visual Art (Honours), specialising in History and Theory at UniSA. In 2014-15 she was employed as the Emerging Curator at the Adelaide City Council and established a number of partnerships and collaborations including working with Country Arts SA to present Craft Anonymous at the Adelaide Town Hall and now on tour throughout regional South Australia.