Irish Arts Review

The Collecting TraditionAuthor(s): Alison FitzGeraldSource: Irish Arts Review (2002-), Vol. 25, Irish Craft 2008: The Annual Craft Edition of the"Irish Arts Review" (2008), pp. 12-13Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20493444 .

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TheCollecting Tradition

Alison FitzGerald asks Irish collectors to select

favourite pieces from their craft collections

12

In 18th-century Europe, Asian porcelain

was such a desirable commodity that

Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, was prepared to swap an entire regiment

of soldiers for some coveted Chinese

porcelain. Though his resources were

atypical and his zeal obsessive, his

enthusiasm for acquiring ceramics

connects him to a long tradition of craft

collectors, reaching back to antiquity and

forward to the present day. The 'collecting

bug' has gripped mankind for centuries,

transcending historical, cultural and even

economic boundaries. In Ireland, while the

market for Irish painting has enjoyed

unprecedented growth in recent years,

contemporary craft still lags behind. This is

all the more surprsing given that high

quality work in this area is still

comparatively affordable. A series of recent

initiatives aimed at fostering links between

makers and collectors and encouraging

new collectors to support the best in Irish

design, seeks to address this by promoting

the value of the indigenous and handmade

as opposed to the imported and mass

produced.

At the end of last year the Crafts Council

of Ireland (CCol) launched Alainn, a

collectors club offering members a

series of benefits including studio

visits, invitations to exhibitions at

the National Craft Gallery in

Kilkenny and regular

newsletters highlighting nationwide events in the sector.

This followed the launch of

Portfolio, an annually updated

directory of work by some of Ireland's

leading designer-makers, selected by jury

and available as a CD or online through the

Crafts Council's website (www.ccoi.ie]. The

establishment of regional organisations

committed to showcasing the work of local

makers has also been significant. CORE,

launched in June in Ballinahown, Co

Westmeath showcases the work of sixty

craft businesses from the Midlands and is

part of the CCol's Regional Craft Access

Programme. Elsewhere in the country,

Louth Craftmark and the Leitrim Design

House are dedicated to supporting the

sustainability of local industry.

Kathleen Moran, of the Kilkenny Design

Centre in Kilkenny city, argues that well

designed contemporary pieces can

improve with age rather than become

outmoded. She cites a favourite piece from

her own collection, a rosewood chair by

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furniture maker Eric Connor, which has

deepened in colour over time and a

hand-carved sculpture by Oisin Kelly. In

Moran's own words, Connor's chair

'draws her in'. Having worked for the

Kilkenny Design Workshops in the area

of marketing (a role that involved

promoting Irish design in the US),

Kathleen took over the retail outlet in

1989. She began forming a personal

collection in the 1990s, acquiring work

by makers like Sonja Landweer, Roger

Bennett and Liam Flynn. She is quick to

encourage young collectors, stressing

that good purchases can be made for

relatively small sums of money and

suggests identifying one area to begin

with, like ceramics, jewellery or glass.

James Keogh, proprietor of the Lord

Bagenal Hotel in Leighlinbridge, shares

Moran's enthusiasm for collecting. He

describes his taste as eclectic,

encompassing 19th-century painting and antique porcelain as well as

contemporary craft. He advises new

collectors to buy the best that they can

afford, and was drawn initially to the

work of Irish designer makers by the

quality of their workmanship. While

favourite pieces include work by Glenn

Lucas and by Nicholas Mosse, he has a

current 'wish list', which includes work

by Kevin O' Dwyer and Joseph Walsh.

Keogh jokes of having to avoid

exhibitions at times, because the

temptation to buy is so great and

commends the CCoI in particular for the

standard of their shows.

Mary Gallagher, who chairs the CCol's

exhibition advisory panel, has sound

practical advice for new collectors. She

recommends using the Crafts Council's

website to identify work of interest,

registering for newsletters in electronic

or hard copy and visiting graduate shows

in search of emerging talent. In the case

of large purchases she is quick to stress

that flexible payment arrangements can

often be facilitated and that many

makers will accommodate studio visits.

A mariime consultant, Gallagher advises

corporate clients on collecting and is

currently working on an exhibition called

'Gifted' which will open at the Wexford

Arts Centre later this year.

While personal tastes differ, all those

consulted for this article were

unanimous on certain issues: the

versatility of contemporary craft, which

can be functional or solely aesthetic, the

good value available relative to other

spheres of collecting and the enduring

pleasure which favourite pieces offer.

The joint purchase scheme initiated by the National Museum of Ireland in

collaboration with the CCol is now in its

fifth year. Through this scheme, the

work of makers like Laura Mays, Anthony Carey, Sara Flynn and Deirdre Rogers

have all been selected for the permanent

collection of the National Museum. What

better place for a new collector to start

than by visiting the Museum's collection

at Collins Barracks? Though recent

acquisitions have been dictated by gaps

in the collection as well as by quality, the

priority has been to acquire work across

the disciplines of ceramics, glass,

jewellery, metalwork and fumiture. This

ensures the continuation of a tradition of

collecting dating to the establishment of

the Museum in 187E 0

AJison FltzSerad is a leturer in the Department of History, NUI, M4ynooth.

I Glass vessel by Deirdre Rogers,

National Museum of Ireland

Collection

2 Necklace by Anthony Carey,

National Museum of Ireland

Collection

3 Kathleen Moran of the Kilkenny

Oesign Centre pictured with

a hand-carved sculpture by

Oisin Kelly

4 James Keogh of the Lord Bagenal

Hotel pictured with work by

Glenn Lucas

13

A~~~

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