A New Place for Lace
Several of Jane Atkinson’s contemporary lace banners currently hang against opulent red damask at The Sherborne, a vibrant new hub for the Arts in Dorset, UK, which opened this year.
She is showing as a member of Making Dorset, which runs under the umbrella of Dorset Visual Arts who now have their headquarters at https://thesherborne.uk/, a 300-year-old mansion which has undergone radical and costly philanthropic restoration and transformation in recent years.
‘Lace doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it needs its place in our material world, enhancing our lives in some way – on the walls of a home or gallery, or adding style to an outfit,’ Jane believes.
Contemporary crafts add pleasure to our lives, in the form of beautiful ceramics, sculptural glass, glittering jewellery or sensuous woodwork, so she feels it is an honour to be part of Making Dorset’s first show at this wonderful new venue.
Jane first joined the professional craftspeople of the short-lived Dorset Craft Guild nearly 40 years ago and found being able to assess her work alongside other media a vital part of her education. ‘I didn’t fit in, to begin with,’ she acknowledges. ‘Even though I was designing new patterns, my work looked out of place, old fashioned and took too long to make.
‘With the Craft Guild (which set up the Crafts Centre where I held my solo show in 2018), I learned that I needed to increase the impact of my work and decrease the labour involved, to achieve economic pricing. I would not be working at the scale I do today (my most recent work being 11ft wide) without that experience.’
The banners at The Sherborne hang alongside other textiles such as quilting and embroidery, as well as printmaking and art glass. ‘Lace spends too long inside its own bubble,’ feels Jane. ‘Exhibiting in the craft world, I allowed myself to spread my wings, taking inspiration from the elements and from nature. This was quite unusual in the lace world at that time.
‘A friend read me a quote from Henry Thoreau: “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
I have this on the wall of my studio, in the form of a print I bought at Thoreau’s home, Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts, when Lauran Sundin kindly took me there. I had been listening to the hum of the potter’s wheel and the rasp of the saw.
‘We had not had a crafts group in Dorset for the more than 20 years, so I have shown instead with the painters and printmakers of Bournemouth Arts Club, but I was very glad to join in when Making Dorset was formed.
‘I need to see my work out of the lace context although it’s not an easy place to be, and people there still question why we make lace in the 21st century? I know I have only scratched the surface of the huge potential it still holds to entrance and energise us, which our TAL members are now busy exploring. I love being in a place where I can help to encourage them on.’
There will be three evening Conversations during November and December between DVA director Paul Newman and makers in different disciplines: Ceramics on November 21; Lace, Glass and Jewellery on November 28; Wood on December 4, all 6-7.30pm. Bookings may be made through https://thesherborne.uk/events/ The exhibition continues until January 12.
