Fife Contemporary

INSIGHTS 5 – Craft Pods

As far as considering the environment when creating an art/craft display, the Craft Pods are good examples of regular reuse! They first toured Fife in 2009, and since then they’ve gone on the road 8 times. The artist, display and information changes for each tour, but apart from some minor refurbishment, they are the same units that we started with in 2009. Also they tour to venues where there already is an audience – so less travel involved.

Artists featured since 2009: jeweller Arabel Lebrusan; book art by Rachel Hazell, Phiona Richards, Alix Swan; handmade shoes by Carréducker; silver & iron spoons by Grant McCaig; ‘Masters of the Universe’ by Jasleen Kaur; 3D-printed jewellery by Lynne MacLachlan; designer book bindings by Derek Hood (sadly died Oct 2021).

The pods are toured by Fife Contemporary to mostly non-gallery venues. This began as libraries and community buildings around Fife, then secondary schools were included in the tour. On average they visit 9 to 12 different places each tour. The last couple of tours have also paid a visit to St Andrews University Library.

Artists are chosen as their work links to a theme or exhibition within our programme, or they have some relevance to libraries (the beautiful book bindings of Derek Hood for example) where the pods are often seen.

For 2021-22, we have 3 pieces of Sara Howard’s Circular Ceramics on show. The ceramics industry uses a huge amount of finite raw materials in its production. Sara’s aim is to design out waste, and this collection is made from industrial waste by-products. She has also shared her methods of how to substitute industrial waste in ceramic production for fellow ceramic producers in a book, Circular Ceramics.

You can learn more about this year’s Craft Pods’ tour here.