Collection Pieces

Collection Pieces is one of the most exciting craft exhibitions ever mounted in Melbourne. It is the first event in the official programme of the Victorian Ministry for the Arts state-wide festival of the Crafts – Arts Victoria 78, and is sponsored by David Syme & Co. Limited, publishers of The Age.

Collection Pieces essentially surveys, as far as possible, the type and variety of Australian craft that seventeen selected public or corporate collections have acquired during the past seven years, 1970–77.

This exhibition, consisting of 171 craft pieces representing the work of 103 Australian craftsmen, gives us all the opportunity of seeing work which in some cases has never been shown before in Victoria as well as other work to which we normally have little access.

Collection Pieces also clearly demonstrates the vast range of Australian crafts made within the last seven years.

The National Gallery of Victoria has always played an active role in the collection of craft work, but it is interesting to see other galleries and corporate bodies, such as Philip Morris (Aust.) Ltd., supporting and purchasing works by Australian craftsmen.

Some of the pieces in the exhibition will startle viewers from the pre-conceived idea of what is craft, e.g . the life-size fibre cow, which demonstrates that the natural fibres have uninvestigated sculptural qualities. Other works may surprise and entertain: an assemblage of life-sized crocheted figures and landscape components; a pendant in memory of Elvis Presley; and a ceramic cherub diving head-first into a bowl of fruit.

The exhibition has been arranged by the Festival Committee of Arts Victoria 78, the second in a series of triennial festivities of the Victorian Ministry for the Arts.

Sourced from: Exhibition press release