The nuances of curating for craft

Curators spinning familiarity into curiosity through different approaches to working with craft objects and exhibitions.
2024 FUSE Glass Prize, installation view at JamFactory Adelaide. Photo: Connor Patterson. A gallery space with black walls and timbre floor where a series of innovative glass objects are placed on several narrow tables. A large red neon work is installed on a wall to the right.

Craft is part of our everyday encounters – think of bowls, vases, jugs – and seen commonly in domestic settings. It is not bound historically to the framework of museum displays, but in many of the craft exhibitions seen today the work on display showcases breadth, variety and innovation in exhibition design and curation.

As artists continue their journey into creating curious objects that challenge our perception of what craft is and can be, curators are helping bridge this narrative to a diverse range of viewers.

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Celina Lei is an arts writer and editor at ArtsHub. She acquired her M.A in Art, Law and Business in New York with a B.A. in Art History and Philosophy from the University of Melbourne. She has previously worked across global art hubs in Beijing, Hong Kong and New York in both the commercial art sector and art criticism. She took part in drafting NAVA’s revised Code of Practice - Art Fairs and was the project manager of ArtsHub’s diverse writers initiative, Amplify Collective. Celina is based in Naarm/Melbourne. Instagram @lleizy_