Women's Work

This summer, Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft presents a major new exhibition on the work of craftswomen who turned their practices into successful businesses between the two World Wars. Women’s Work focuses on pieces made by textile artists, weavers, ceramicists and silversmiths, many of whom were informed by their experiences travelling during the First World War. Often overshadowed by their male counterparts, these pioneering women achieved success by looking to past techniques to create contemporary designs, which went on to inform future generations of craftspeople.

Featuring over 100 pieces, Women’s Work focuses on a core group of makers – Ethel Mairet, Alice Hindson, Phyllis Barron & Dorothy Larcher, Enid Marx, Catherine ‘Casty’ Cobb, Katharine Pleydell- Bouverie, Denise Wren and Elizabeth Peacock – some of whom are relatively unknown yet hugely significant to the development of the Arts and Crafts movement.

Working with pre-industrialised technique led to livelier results for the makers. The exhibition will include textiles by groundbreaking designers Barron & Larcher and ceramics from leading potter Denise Wren.

Until 13 October 2019, Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, Lodge Hill Lane, Ditchling, East Sussex, BN6 8SP

Images courtesy of Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft. Read next: Celia Joicey's article Radical Expressions in the current issue. Subscribe to Selvedge here.