Powerhouse Museum Sydney. Finalist in international lace Award

Helen Snell been chosen as a finalist for the Powerhouse Museum International Lace Award competition. Her laser cut paper work "Fish Aid Boat" will be displayed at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia from July 2011.

The International Lace Award seeks to encourage contemporary design and challenge conventional notions of lace and its application in the areas of fashion, the built environment and digital multimedia. The Award defines lace as an openwork structure whose pattern of spaces is as important as the solid areas.

Over 700 entries from 33 countries have been received for this competition.

A fascinating variety of materials and techniques has enchanted us here at the Museum. Metal, glass, tapa cloth and plastic, laser cut, oxyacetylene welded, woven, needle and bobbin made – there is no limit to the variety and the entries lend a whole new meaning to the idea of lace.

The Powerhouse Museum is planning to make a number of short documentaries/vox pops about some entrants and their work. This will appear on the Museums’ website and be used to promote the exhibition.
PRESS RELEASE
Lace artists cut ties with tradition for spectacular international exhibition
15 September 2010: Finalists of the Powerhouse Museum’s International Lace Award launched in late 2009 have been chosen by five international and Australian judges from an outstanding field of 700 entries. A major international exhibition of over 135 spectacular designs from 22 countries around the globe will be staged at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, in July 2011 when the final cash prize winners will also be announced.
Lindie Ward, Curator of Design and Society, Powerhouse Museum, and one of the Lace Award judges, said that the work of finalists was selected for visual impact, originality and creativity, innovation in design, materials or techniques and skill in execution.
“Many entries brought great surprise and excitement. The sheer size, bold execution and diverse materials used were quite unexpected and fulfilled our aim of breaking away from traditional perceptions of lace making and design as a delicate female pursuit,” says Lindie Ward.
“The focus on ‘openwork structures’ has inspired works from many disciplines that might not have been traditionally associated with lace. The use of steel and ambitious three dimensional works that play with negative space have amplified the scale of the exhibition from the Museum’s previous Lace Awards.
“The exhibition in 2011 will showcase works ranging from delicate filigree jewellery to grand steel designs. Textiles and metal will feature prominently, along with a great variety of extraordinary materials that promise a visual feast of contemporary lace works,” says Lindie Ward.
The works so far have been presented to the Powerhouse Museum as design concepts. They will now be created by artists and designers and delivered to the Museum in January next year to take part in an international exhibition of lace at the Museum from July 2011.
Some of the exquisite works that will feature in the exhibition include large-scale screens, garments of linked silver, and a bracelet laser cut from a pencil-drawn scribble. Delicate works made from unusual materials such as mulberry paper painted with persimmon juice, echidna spines, fine threads of glass, native grasses and knitted human hair, will be part of the exciting line up.
In December 2009, the Powerhouse Museum invited professional and amateur artists, designers and practitioners around the world to submit an ‘expression of interest’ for its third International Lace Award. The Award seeks to encourage contemporary design and challenge conventional notions of lace and its use in the areas of fashion, the built environment and digital multimedia.
Lace is defined by the award as an openwork structure whose pattern of spaces is as important as the solid areas. This very broad definition enabled entrants to use a wide range of materials and techniques.
The first prize winner and five category winners will be announced when the Powerhouse Museum opens the exhibition in July 2011. First prize is A$20,000 cash and category winners will each receive A$4,000 cash.
A panel of local and international judges includes: Anne Kraatz, lace and fashion historian and author and Doctor of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris; Chris Bosse, Partner / Director, LAVA, Laboratory for Visionary Architecture Asia Pacific, Sydney; Peter McNeil, Professor of Design History, University of Technology, Sydney; Rosemary Shepherd, OAM, lace maker, author and historian, Sydney; and Lindie Ward, Curator, Design and Society, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.
The inaugural International Lace Award and exhibition was held by the Powerhouse Museum in 1998 and subsequently in 2001. The Award presents an opportunity for the Powerhouse Museum to encourage and support the work of creative artists globally, bringing together an unusual range of skills in textile, wood, paper, glass, plastics, metal and multimedia in a unique showcase of contemporary lace from around the world.
-Ends-
Further media information, images or interviews:

For more information visit http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/