The popular gallery Craft in the Bay is celebrating its tenth birthday since opening the doors to the refurbished ‘D Shed’, a Grade II listed Victorian maritime warehouse in the heart of Cardiff Bay. It is 10 years ago this month that the organisation successfully fund-raised £1.4 million to open the building to the public. The group says that the key to its on-going success is the strong cooperative ethos at it’s heart. With it’s membership of 76 of some of the very best craft-makers in Wales who are involved in all areas of the organisation, each craft-maker volunteers their time to help staff the gallery. Visitors to the gallery can meet a different craftmaker each day in the spacious, light, airy exhibition and craft retail area, or take part in hands-on craft workshops, hire a conference space, and visit the ever-popular Kemi’s café. The Guild also has a large programme of community work, the most recent being a START project in conjunction with the Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts –
Start Project Exhibition
Opens- 21 Jun 2012 until 08 Jul 2012
An exhibition celebrating the colourful work made by primary school children over the previous six months. Three Cardiff schools (Oakfield Primary, Kitchener Primary and Baden Powell primary) have visited Craft in the Bay to see and explore the exhibitions. Working with craft maker-members of the Makers Guild in Wales, Year 5 and 6 pupils have learnt new craft skills and applied these to making individual and group art works.
Sewing, casting in plaster, papermaking, printing – just some of the processes explored.
Craft in the Bay is located opposite Wales Millennium Centre on the “Flourish” in Cardiff Bay. The building is the home of The Makers Guild in Wales, an craft charity which was established in 1984 to bring together and promote the best Welsh craft makers. Since then it has grown and developed into a strong and dynamic organisation with an international reputation for quality and artistic innovation. Membership of the Guild is by rigorous selection, and there are currently 76 craft maker-members of the Guild all of whom live and work in Wales.
Over a million people have visited Craft in the Bay since it opened its doors in 2002.
To find out more about current exhibitions, quality craft work on sale, workshops and birthday activities, visit the website http://www.makersguildinwales.org.uk/ or call 029 2048 4611.
Craft in the Bay, The Flourish, Lloyd George Avenue, Cardiff CF10 4QH