Short-listing for Future Makers 2011 has been completed. Judging of shortlisted submissions will take place in Kilkenny on April 14th and 15th. Internationally renowned ceramicist Barnaby Barford and silversmith Anna Lorenz will join Louise Allen from the Crafts Council of Ireland to select this years Future Maker grant and award recipients.
Barnaby Barford
Barnaby Barford is an artist who works primarily with ceramics to create unique narrative pieces. He works with both mass-market and antique found porcelain figurines, cutting up and exchanging elements or adding to them and repainting them, to create sculptures which are often sinister and sardonic but invariably humorous. With irony, he draws a portrait of our contemporary lives.
In Barford’s world a kitsch figure of a 19th century peasant boy becomes a 20th century teenage thug in a hoodie; rustic maidens dancing on a bed of roses brandish guns; a charming scene of a Victorian family sharing a meal is undermined by the copious buckets of KFC fried chicken which they’re laying into. Through his unique works, Barford explores all aspects of our society. Following in the tradition of Hogarth, Chaucer, Dickens and Shakespeare; with a dark sense of English humour and satire, Barford’s work explores and celebrates the human condition.
Barnaby Barford (b. 1977) graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2002. He has been the subject of several solo exhibitions in the UK and Europe, and has shown in many group exhibitions in the US and Japan as well as across Europe. His work is part of both public and private collections.
As well as creating his one-off pieces, Barford has made projection based installations and worked with prestigious companies including Nymphenburg.
Barnaby Barford has also directed a unique film based on his highly acclaimed artwork made from ceramic figurines for Animate Projects which was broadcast on Channel 4 in September 2008. Damaged Goods is a tragic love story played out by porcelain figurines. It explores notions of forbidden love, material wealth and class divides using the traditions of value within ceramics. On the cluttered floor of a bric-a-brac shop a poor, down-at-heel boy looks up to the top shelf to see a beautiful girl in tears amongst the crystal and silver. Accompanied by an original composed score, the story follows the boy’s attempt to rescue the girl.
This touching film was funded by Arts Council England and Channel 4 and commissioned by Animate Projects who develop initiatives that explore the relationship between art and animation and the place of animation in contemporary art practice. www.barnabybarford.co.uk
Anna Lorenz- Silversmith and Contemporary Metalwork
Anna was appointed to a part time position at the School of Jewellery in September 2004. She is year coordinator for final year BA Jewellery & Silversmithing and shares teaching on other BA levels.
A practicing Silversmith, Anna exhibits nationally and internationally. Inspired by architecture, art and the mysteries of life itself, she creates contemporary objects and jewellery.
The desire to explore materials and processes drive her work as much as the joy of transforming them into structural and timeless compositions. Harmony, contrast, surprise, interaction and contemplation are areas she considers in her work.
http://www.annalorenz.com/
