Legacy at HIGH CROSS HOUSE DARTINGTON

HIGH CROSS HOUSE

As well as celebrating the significance of one of the most important modernist houses in Britain, we support and promote talented artists, craftspeople and designer-makers from all backgrounds through all stages of their career.

We strive to raise standards in the contemporary art, craft and design sectors, making an important contribution to the local culture and economy.

From january 12 2013 until March 4 2013 we present LEGACY a show involving a wide and diverse selection of artists: - Jack Doherty, Anthony Amos, Fabrizia Bazzo, and a cutting edge selection of artwork from Plymouth based contemporary art space KARST artist co curated by Carl Slater featuring Richard Stone, James Maclardy, Blue Curry, Gwenael Belanger and Karen Henderson.

Normal National Trust admisison fees apply to all non members, open Wed - Sunday 10.30 - 5pm, limite dparking on sire, nice cafe and little shop selling great acrhitectural books.

Curator's Statement

LEGACY - Everyone has a story to tell...

Typically the word ‘Legacy’ means inheritance; bequest, gift or donation.
In this show we wanted to present artists that brought a new depth, richness and energy to our cultural landscape. Like much of the most satisfying art of the 20th and 21st century, legacy exists where abstraction and representation, the observing eye and the analysing mind meet mingle and contribute to a much bigger overall legacy than individual elements can make.

Our Legacy artists each offer a unique and individual contribution. The starting point for the show was Dartington; it’s ethos of culture, experimentation, and progression and the many eminent and prominent creatives it has attracted through the ages. High Cross House stands as a testament to this, and as we stand on this iconic architecturally significant site, it is important to continue the conversation of the legacy that not only our past designers, makers and creatives have offered but also to examine what the contemporary artists working today are contributing. It seems fitting to reflect as broad a scope as the title itself suggests and in the spirit of High Cross House we also discuss how the immense influence of modernist ideology has impacted on current art practice.

By presenting KARST’s cutting edge work from fresh emerging artists that are already on an international circuit, we continue the legacy of experimentation and progression. With bold challenging pieces we are juxtaposing playful with historically loaded intellectual concepts. As much as volume space and form were the primary concerns of modernist architecture we begin to see these theories resonate throughout the whole show.
We have embraced our unique domestic setting in order to discuss the boundaries of the functional and non functional.

A prime example of this is lead ceramicist Jack Doherty who also continues an ongoing discussion around the presentation and promotion of art and craft. Likewise there is an interesting dialogue between the representational that is blurred in Richard Stone’s work and the strong sense of the rich human experience in Anthony Amos’s special collection of paintings and Fabrizia Bazzo’s exquisitely crafted glass.

By maintaining the human element in the exhibition we also ask you to consider your own legacy, your story. We all have one, however it is the passing of time that will show what immeasurable inspiration and influence you have had.

Emma Carter - Arts Programme Manager

For more information visit http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/high-cross-house/