Crafts advisors
Alison Bell
Louise Butler
Eileen Gatt
Sara Keith
Craig Mitchell
Inge Panneels
Dr Louise Taylor
Helen Voce
Les Mitchell
Alison Bell lives on an island full of spiritual stillness. The spiritual stillness of a place and finding time is something that Alison constantly needs to find and it is here that her creative source lies.
Alison calls herself an enabler, in the broadest sense, and firmly believe in the sharing of tacit knowledge if we are to continue as creators within our culture. As an artist Alison has a strong sense of curiosity and finds that these combine to drive her forward.
Alison graduated in Textile Design and Printmaking from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in 1975 and since then she has had a varied and interesting career as an educator and creator of painted and printed textiles.
Since 2001, Alison's practice has increasingly harnessed digital technology, supported by awards from the Scottish Arts Council and research in the Netherlands and the USA. Integrating this technology with traditional hand techniques and analysing her creative response to their unexpected interactions is creating new directions in her work.
Alison has exhibited widely throughout the UK and in 2005 she was selected for inclusion in 'Digital Perceptions' at the Leedy Voulkos Art Centre, Kansas City and 'Recursions' at the Museum of Design, Atlanta, USA.
All these experiences will help Alison to provide a solid framework as a specialist advisor and will enable her to contribute positively.
Louise Butler held posts as a costume and textiles curator in UK and US museums, before moving to the Scottish Borders in 1990 where she set up Exfactor, a project management company working with arts / business development initiatives.
Louise has maintained her work as an independent curator, specialising in contemporary crafts, but with a particular interest in Scotland's indigenous skills. She wrote Scottish Arts Council's advocacy document for traditional crafts, 'Glorious Obsession' and curated 'Celebrating Scotland's Crafts' for National Museums of Scotland, which toured throughout Scotland and the USA, including the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC in 2003. Louise is also a Board Member for craftscotland and a Director of Applied Arts Scotland.
Eileen graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1997 with a master’s degree in Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork and Jewellery. She then returned home to the Highlands and received a “Scottish Arts Council” “Setting up grant” which enabled her to set up her own workshop and base herself in the “Black Isle”
This location provides Eileen with the perfect environment in which to work as she is inspired by the mystical interaction between man and the sea. Eileen is fascinated by ancient myths and customs and uses this as a starting point when designing her Jewellery and Silverware. She produces “one-off” pieces as well as a range of batch produced Jewellery and Silverware, which she sells through various exhibitions and fairs at the high end of the giftware market.
Eileen teaches part-time on the “Jewellery and Metal Design” course at the University of Dundee. She was awarded a “Creative Development Grant” by the “Scottish Arts Council” enabling her to produce a new collection of work, inspired by Scottish folklore. She is working with three Highland Story Tellers, and basing her design ideas around their stories. Eileens new collection of work was exhibited in “The Castle Gallery” in Inverness in September 2007.
Sara graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1990, BA Honours in Embroidered and Woven Textile Design. Based in Glasgow and London, then she worked in costume for a variety of companies; Scottish Opera, Royal Opera House, Royal Ballet, STV, Channel 4 and BBC. Sara’s roles within TV, film and opera varied from costume maker in the beginning, to assistant, supervisor and finally Costume Designer.
After coming back from London Sara set up her own label and studio, with the aid of a Start-up Award from the Scottish Arts Council, designing accessories for boutiques and department stores such as Liberty, Whistles, Barney’s New York etc.
For the last few years Sara has been lecturing part-time in Performance Costume, Edinburgh College of Art, Textile Design and Jewellery and Metal Design at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art.
Sara’s field of specialism lies within mixed media textiles. With the support of a Creative Development Award in 2004 from the Scottish Arts Council, Sara was able to research combining textile structures with jewellery techniques, creating a new media.
This research led to a textile /metal hanging being awarded a Silver Award at the 2005 Cheongju International Crafts Biennale in Korea and a body of collaborative jewellery, commissioned by the National Museums of Scotland for the touring exhibition, Cutting Edge 2007. Sara is now studying a Practise Led PhD in Applied Art at Dundee University.
Craig Mitchell has been a ceramic artist for over 15 years graduating from the Royal College of Art with an MA in ceramics in 1992. Craig's work is hand-built, primarily figurative and comments on contemporary culture and universal themes in a humorous way.
Craig has regularly exhibited at both a national and international level and at key events such as S.O.F.A USA and Collect at the V&A and been a prize winner at four international competitions. His work has also been published in several ceramic books. Alongside his own practice he has always been involved in education, initially as a ceramics technician and latterly as subject-leader in ceramics at The University of Sunderland.
Teaching at degree level means Craig is skilled at assessing work and giving feedback as part of a team, key skills that he can bring to the role of a Specialist Advisor. Craig also brings a broad understanding of ceramic processes and an excellent knowledge of contemporary and historical ceramic practice and over the past 15 years he has developed a good network of contacts within the field.
As a recipient of an award for Creative Development from the Scottish Arts Council. Craig has experience of the application process and feels well placed to contribute in the assessment of other makers.
Professor Les Mitchell studied Interior Architecture at Liverpool School of Art and has worked in aircraft; retail, restaurant, leisure, theatre and museum environments. He is a liveryman of the Furniture Makers Company and a Freeman of the City of London. He is a visiting professor to the College of Fine Art, Shanghai University and is an Institutional Reviewer for the European Universities Association.
Ongoing professional activities include designs for museum display and design standards for signature artefact and equipment/exterior furniture for the Forestry Commission in Scotland. These include bridges, barriers, directional and interpretative signage, shelter, tables; seating and access. Professor Les Mitchell is currently Head of the Schools of Design & Applied Arts and Visual Communications at Edinburgh College of Art.
Professional design activities have included National Theatre Museum, Covent Garden; Glasgow and Gateshead National Garden Festivals, Museum of Dentistry; Royal & Ancient Golf Club and National Museum of Golf; Millennium Cycleway signage and furniture for the Kingdom of Fife. He has contributed to various publications on Art & Design education, including editing a CD-ROM for the National Museum of Scotland and contributing case studies to the Scottish Consultative Committee on the Curriculum.
Inge Panneels set up and has been running IDAGOS glass studio since 1998. She has been working on major large scale architectural glass commissions for corporate and private clients alike, with clients such as BT, Pizza Express, Lloyds TSB, NHS, Dexia Bank and the Scottish Executive.
She currently also lectures part time at the glass department of Sunderland University located at the National Glass Centre.
As well as working on bespoke commissioned work, Inge also exhibits her work nationally and internationally. Notably her work has been shown at the Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh, National Glass Centre, Hannah Peshar Sculpture Garden as well as numerous galleries throughout the country.
Inge has received various grants and awards for her work such as two Scottish Arts Council Individual Development awards and two VIZO Craft Awards.
She has work in the collection of the Flemish Government and Dexia Bank.
Inge is also a board member of Applied Arts Scotland.
Born in Yorkshire in 1968, Peter Toaig has been a practising furniture maker since 1991. After graduating in Mathematics from the University of Manchester he chose to return to spurn more lucrative career options and trained for City and Guilds qualifications in furniture design and making at Manchester College of Art and Technology.
Peter then worked with experienced maker Garry Olson for 5 years, learning essential workshop management skills while refining a personal approach to wood. He moved to Stirling in 1998 setting up his own woodworking workshop.
From 1998 to 2002 Peter worked on the onetree project, a groundbreaking touring exhibition using as much as possible of a single native oak tree. The project involved 75 different artists and makers and toured 5 major venues across Britain. The idea has inspired many single tree projects across the world and Peter has advised on several. He is currently curating an exhibition using an elm felled in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, culminating in August 2008.
Peter has been a visiting tutor on the 3D-design course at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Peter is currently secretary of the Scottish Furniture Makers Association, working to raise the standard and profile of making in Scotland.
Helen has worked and studied in craft and design since 1995. As Craft Development Officer in Dumfries & Galloway, she jointly manages delivery of the Art andCraft Sector Trade Development Project, addressing audience and market development needs for the region’s craftspeople through a portfolio of initiatives including the Spring Fling open studio event.
Following undergraduate studies in three-dimensional design, and a postgraduate in the History of Design at the Royal College of Art, Helen was previously employed by the British Crafts Council. Initially supporting projects such as Chelsea Crafts Fair, the Gallery Education Programme and the National Register of Makers Helen was latterly employed as Photostore Officer.
In this role she coordinated the Selected Makers Scheme, managed the Photostore Online resource and Regional network of terminals and related services, commissioned photography and ran the commercial picture library. Helen also works freelance as a Lecturer and Exhibition Designer/Technician for a UK based distance learning textile school.
Dr Sandra Wilson is a contemporary jeweller. Her work explores the interface between craft and science and this innovative approach has won awards from the British European Designers Group, the Audi Foundation, and the Scottish Arts Council. Her work is also in the collection of HRH Princess Anne. She is a member of the Association for Contemporary Jewellery and her skills include computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacture e.g. rapid prototyping.
Sandra is a full-time lecturer at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, University of Dundee, she combines being an active maker with contributing to teaching in Jewellery & Metalwork Design, Design History and managing jewellery/craft research projects. She is a committee member for the AHRC - Craft: Past, Present and Future Research project and its associated New Craft Future Voices Conference planned for 2007 in Dundee.
Her PhD established craft as founded in an organic philosophical paradigm as opposed to the mechanistic dominant world view. The facets of the organic paradigm include an intimate relationship with nature and the natural world and a focus on the processes of transformation and growth.
Sandra brings experience in education, health, sustainability, social inclusion and an understanding of craft theory and practice
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