Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home: an exploration into the subversive elements of the domestic is this years title of The Hub's annual exhibition of work by UK Graduates in Craft & Design.

For me the highlight of the show was Rebecca Fairman's ceramic quilt; Cold Comfort. Usually associated with warmth and comfort this quilt of cold, hard, unglazed ceramic segments was at once beautiful yet disturbing. The absence of the body in conjunction with the unyielding nature of the materials requires the audience to fill in the blanks and correct the misinformation from their own experiences.
As a lacemaker I was naturally drawn to the patterns of lace that had been impressed into the surface which had often left accurate enough images to identify the construction method of the piece.
Charlotte Agius uses discarded objects to evoke emotional responses, her source material are rooted in domestic culture. I had been drawn to the mop made from real hair in the Hub's newsletter but in reality it was it's counterpart brush that I was more attracted to.

Yuvinia Yuhadi's Not-so-ubiquitous Knitted Chairs amused me; cardigans for garden chairs and keeping Granny out of mischief were the thoughts that came to mind rather than the uncanny. However having recently become aware of the skull under the Princess Chair, by Tord Boontje, I would have dearly liked to unbutton the front of this chair to see if had any interesting secrets hidden beneath its innocent exterior. I was also amused by her blog.

Although for me Megan Randall's installation of tiny porcelain vessels didn't work in this setting I could see that, as suggested, placed on cliffs or in abandoned factories they would be fascinating and quite uncanny. Her website is still under construction but what is currently there gives a good insight into her work.
Beatrice Baumgartner is showing an animation and the miniature house in which it was filmed. La Maison Oubliée is a delightful film, inspired by Gothic fairy tales, that peeps into the world of decay that takes over the house as it gradually returns to nature. Normally I don't like to hear the soundtrack of a film while I'm looking at other pieces of work but the tinkling jewel box and occasional soft clanking that accompanied this piece were not intrusive but conversely invited the audience to consider looking again at either the film or its accompanying house.