NGV x Craft: Craft Now for Melbourne Design Week

For Melbourne Now, NGV has collaborated with Craft Victoria on Vessels to showcase the work of 15 artists, craft and design practitioners, whose creative practices explore the vessel, an enduring cultural and social object that merges utility with form. The objects featured in the exhibition were created using innovative and diverse materials, ranging from ceramics and fibre to mixed media and experimental biomaterials.

Building on this collaboration, for Melbourne Design Week Craft Victoria and NGV come together to present an afternoon celebrating contemporary craft practice in our community.

1.00–1.45pm: Conversation – Craft Now

Every generation builds on what has come before – driven by the past to create new histories. But instead of killing their predecessors, artists today are rediscovering and embracing traditional techniques. Across Melbourne Now, there is an abundance of technical skill and mastery, deep material knowledge and ingenuity exhibited. These practices have not only endured but through the hands of artists they are flourishing.

Craft Victoria director, Nicole Durling leads a discussion exploring the strength and vitality of contemporary craft practice reflected throughout Melbourne Now in conversation with Damien Wright, award-winning furniture designer, sculptor and craftsman, and Melbourne Now exhibiting artists Sim Lüttin and Kate Jones.

2.15–2.45pm: Artist Talk & Demonstration – Lorraine Brigdale

Lorraine Brigdale, an exhibiting artist in Melbourne Now with work included in Vessels, presents a talk and live demonstration sharing insights into her creative practice in which she  creates contemporary forms using traditional materials informed by her Aboriginal family and heritage.

Header image credit: Installation view of 'Vessels' on display as part of the Melbourne Now exhibition at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne from 24 March – 20 August 2023. Image: Tom Ross.