Craft / 2025 Craft + Design Canberra Annual Members Exhibition. Until December 13. Reviewed by MEREDITH HINCHLIFFE.

The Craft + Design Canberra Annual Members Exhibition is highly anticipated.

This year exhibitors were asked to limit themselves to creating a work within the size of 40 x 40 x 40cm.

The guest curator, Merryn Gates, pointed out that this was an invitation to work within a more intimate format. She also noted that the exhibition addresses the limitations of the installation of the works – safe wheelchair access, none of the plinths is too high, text is readable and the exhibition itself has a spacious, open appearance.

It is pleasing to see several new – to this reviewer – names of exhibitors. Susan Buret is exhibiting two black and white vessels with decorative rims in bright colours. She draws her inspiration from indigenous flora and how they are gathered and displayed.

More artists are exploring lighting systems, or lights. Kirstin Guenther created three Inner Lights. The shades are from satin silk, with stippled striated surfaces. These are beautifully resolved pieces and undoubtedly would present a completely different appearance when lit, in a darkened room, or when unlit in daylight.

Established glass artist Lisa Cahill is exhibiting Unfurl #2, a sheet of glass which captures the movement in glass – glass held in motion. Its surface is satiny, and invites touch. This work could only be created in glass – and no other material .

Another artist working in glass, Robyn Campbell, is exhibiting two works from her ongoing series Illume, showing replicas of a brass plumb bob combined with a found piece of rusty equipment. The contrast of the smooth and shiny glass contrasts with the corroded, rusty surfaces of the found pieces.

An artist whose work is well known and who has exhibited widely in Canberra, Dianne Firth, is showing a work featuring her stitched works, this one titled Blown by the Wind. Reddy-brown leaf shapes are captured between layers of dark net, giving a sense of the gentle movement of leaves. Firth is one of Australia’s leading quilters and exhibits widely around the country.

Another leading textile artist based in Canberra, Monique van Nieuwland, is a weaver who uses a Jacquard loom. She is exhibiting two Handwoven scarves in cashmere and silk. Titled Noughts B/W and Crosses B/W they break the 40cm limit, as they are hung lengthways to their full 165cm. These scarves are graphic, simple in design and stunning in appearance.

This exhibition shows us that Canberra has a large group of artists who are accomplished in design and form, are masters of their craft. As an audience we are extremely fortunate.